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Overall, the two score the same.
The Lanesborough leads on wellness (+2.5); COMO The Halkin on dining (+2). Level on service, rooms & design and location.
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London, United Kingdom · Oetker Collection
Butlers who remember thermostat settings a year later and a doorman greeting guests by name at the curb carry this score.
A Regency-style Oetker Collection hotel in Knightsbridge, London, facing Hyde Park, with a basement wellness centre and hydrotherapy pool.
Read the full verdictLondon, United Kingdom · Como
The afternoon tea and coconut waffles get singled out repeatedly, with Lewis and Morris named for making the room feel personal rather than routine.
A 41-room boutique hotel on a quiet Belgravia street near Hyde Park Corner in London.
Read the full verdictIf you reserve via this button, we might earn a not-so-fat commission. Helps keep the lights on.
Out of 20. The bars start at 10, so half a point still shows.
Overall Level
Overall: The Lanesborough 17.5 out of 20, COMO The Halkin 17.5 out of 20.Service Level Why
Service: The Lanesborough 18.5 out of 20, COMO The Halkin 18.5 out of 20.The Lanesborough: Butlers who remember thermostat settings a year later and a doorman greeting guests by name at the curb carry this score, though a lost-property accusation shows it isn’t flawless.
COMO The Halkin: Staff like Pammy and night-duty Raskmit turn up in review after review for solving problems on the spot, from a missed flight to a last-minute laundry request.
Rooms & Design Level Why
Rooms & Design: The Lanesborough 16.5 out of 20, COMO The Halkin 16.5 out of 20.The Lanesborough: Alberto Pinto’s 2015 refresh of the old St George’s Hospital building splits opinion: maximalist Regency rooms that some call a dream and others call dated.
COMO The Halkin: Rooms lean spacious and quietly modern rather than showy, with marble bathrooms and granite tiles doing the talking.
Location Level Why
Location: The Lanesborough 18 out of 20, COMO The Halkin 18 out of 20.The Lanesborough: Hyde Park Corner, the park across the road and the tube at the door put this above most London rivals on pure convenience.
COMO The Halkin: A quiet Belgravia side street that still puts you steps from Hyde Park Corner and the Tube, with the soundproofing to prove it.
Dining +2 Why
Dining: The Lanesborough 15 out of 20, COMO The Halkin 17 out of 20.The Lanesborough: The Grill and Library Bar get real praise but the Bridgerton afternoon tea draws the sharpest complaints about stale sandwiches and thin flavor.
COMO The Halkin: The afternoon tea and coconut waffles get singled out repeatedly, with Lewis and Morris named for making the room feel personal rather than routine.
Wellness +2.5 Why
Wellness: The Lanesborough 16.5 out of 20, COMO The Halkin 14 out of 20.COMO The Halkin: Guests mention the spa-scented bathrooms more than any actual wellness facility, suggesting this isn’t the reason to book.
Strengths of The Lanesborough
Strengths of COMO The Halkin
Trade-offs of The Lanesborough
Trade-offs of COMO The Halkin
The Lanesborough COMO The Halkin Only at The Lanesborough
Only at COMO The Halkin
The Lanesborough is 93 rooms in a converted Regency hospital at Hyde Park Corner, and the thing people actually talk about isn't the building, it's the staff. A doorman who remembers your name on the second visit. A butler who found out a guest's mother had been hospitalized and sent flowers to her room without being asked. The service here is the reason regulars keep coming back instead of trying the new openings. One traveller who's cycled through the Connaught, Rosewood and the OWO said this is still the one that feels like home.
The rooms split people. It's maximalist Regency decor, chandeliers, rich fabrics, nothing minimalist about it, and if that's not your taste you won't be converted by a good stay. The decor won't work for everyone, and that's a real preference, not a flaw. The more consistent complaint is the Bridgerton afternoon tea: several guests paying £300-400 for two found the sandwiches dry and pre-made, the cakes bland, and the tea selection thin for the price, even as others call it the best in the city. Breakfast queues on busy weekends and a stiff door policy at the cigar lounge are the other recurring gripes, worth knowing before you book a packed holiday week.
None of that touches what happens upstairs. Guests who travel with kids get a miniature butler uniform and a backstage tour, the house cat Lilibet has her own following, and the quiet here, even steps from Hyde Park Corner traffic, keeps coming up as a genuine surprise. Book it for the staff and the Library Bar, skip the themed tea if food quality matters more than the photo.
Pammy Liu comes up more than anyone else in the stack of reviews on this place, and for good reason: one traveller missed a flight entirely and she rebooked the room on the spot, no fuss, no charge for the drama. Another checked in with laryngitis and the restaurant's Morris kept her stocked with tea and berries all week so she'd have a voice left by the end of the trip. A late-night laundry emergency got sorted by the night team in minutes rather than met with a shrug. The service is the reason to book this hotel, not a nice extra alongside the room, and it's held steady from last year straight through this spring.
This is a 41-room Edwardian townhouse in Belgravia: no real spa, no grand lobby, nothing to linger in beyond your room and the restaurant. If a gym and pool matter to your trip, they're not here (the Corinthia, a short walk away, has both). What you do get is a quiet street near Hyde Park Corner, rooms that run genuinely spacious by London standards, and a breakfast and afternoon tea that keep getting singled out on their own merits rather than as an afterthought (the coconut waffles come up more than once, and so does Lewis walking guests through the menu at tea).
Book it for a couple marking an occasion or a family with young kids: a surprise birthday cake, a themed drawing left in the room for a five-year-old, an upgrade nobody had to request. Skip it if you want a scene, a big lobby, or proper wellness facilities on site. Small and intimate cuts both ways here, and it's worth knowing which one you're booking for before you do. On the staff, though, the accounts line up: quick to solve a problem, warm about it, and never going through the motions.
We’re Sofie and Nicolas, and we’ve stayed in hotels like these ourselves. Tell us what the trip is and we’ll tell you which one we’d book, and why. We’re not really a booking service, but a few times a year we plan one properly for someone; if that’s what you’re after, say so.
It's just the two of us, so we take on a handful of trips at a time. If we're full, we'll say so. We reply within a working day. The hotel pays us, not you: your rate is the same as booking direct, and the perks come on top.
The Lanesborough: Butlers who remember thermostat settings a year later and a doorman greeting guests by name at the curb carry this score. COMO The Halkin: The afternoon tea and coconut waffles get singled out repeatedly, with Lewis and Morris named for making the room feel personal rather than routine.
The Lanesborough is ahead on winding down. COMO The Halkin is ahead on the food. The Lanesborough adds Wellness and Architecture; COMO The Halkin adds Culinary. Both are tagged Urban, Heritage, Family and Romantic.
COMO The Halkin leads on this. The Lanesborough: The Grill and Library Bar get real praise but the Bridgerton afternoon tea draws the sharpest complaints about stale sandwiches and thin flavor. COMO The Halkin: The afternoon tea and coconut waffles get singled out repeatedly, with Lewis and Morris named for making the room feel personal rather than routine.
They land level here. The Lanesborough: Butlers who remember thermostat settings a year later and a doorman greeting guests by name at the curb carry this score, though a lost-property accusation shows it isn’t flawless. COMO The Halkin: Staff like Pammy and night-duty Raskmit turn up in review after review for solving problems on the spot, from a missed flight to a last-minute laundry request.
Both are in London, about 214 m apart — close enough that the choice is the hotel, not the neighbourhood.
The Lanesborough, with Two Michelin Keys in the Michelin Guide’s 2026 hotel selection; COMO The Halkin holds One Key. The Keys come from the guide’s own anonymous inspections and are separate from the Fat Score.
Fat Voyage scores every hotel out of 20 across five dimensions — service, rooms & design, location, dining and wellness — read from the trip reports in the most active luxury travel communities, critics’ reviews and verified guest reviews, with the long, detailed and recent ones counting most. Nothing is paid for, and no hotel can buy a place.
