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The Biltmore Mayfair London
I recently completed a 4 night stay in London at the beautifully renovated, flagship Hilton LXR property, The Biltmore Mayfair. Over the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure of staying at 3 other Hilton properties across London: The Waldorf, Queen’s Gate, and Conrad, but the Biltmore Mayfair is in a league of its own. It recently completed a £50 million (nearly $90 million) renovation in September 2019 before shutting down due to the pandemic. Prior to closing, prices for an entry level room were in the £500+ a night club.
The Biltmore Mayfair recently reopened its doors, albeit with some limited services, and we were able to stack Hilton Diamond status acquired from the American Express Hilton Aspire Credit Card with Hilton Impresario VIP benefits booked via Josh King at Largay Travel. The result…4 nights in drop dead gorgeous One Bedroom Suite overlooking Grosvenor Square that ranks as our best stay in London…and booked for just over £200 a night. How’s that for a deal?!
Other London Properties I’ve stayed at and reviewed for comparison:
- JW Marriott Grosvenor House
- Marriott Park Lane
- Intercontinental Park Lane
- London Edition
- Waldorf Hilton London
- Hilton Queen’s Gate
- St Ermin’s Autograph Collection
- Conrad London
- Hotel Xenia Autograph Collection
- Radisson Blu Edwardian
- Kimpton Fitzroy, Russell Square
TikTok review
@zacharyburrabelReply to @zacharyburrabel VIP hotel program hack put to the test ##hilton ##London ##BiltmoreLondon ##travel ##travelhacks ##traveltips
Stay Details:
- When: July 2021
- Where: London, England – Mayfair
- Booked with: Cash via Impresario
- Room upgrade
- $100 property credit
- Breakfast daily
- 2x Hilton Points
- Status: Hilton Diamond
- Upgrade: Base room to One Bedroom Grosvenor View Suite
- Room Number: 317
- Points earned
- 60k points at 64x per qualifying dollar spent ( a little under $1k for a 4 night stay )
- 30x points promo
- 10x via Impresario
- 10x via Diamond
- 14x paid with Amex Hilton Aspire
- 60k points at 64x per qualifying dollar spent ( a little under $1k for a 4 night stay )
Benefits of booking via Hilton Impresario – their VIP program
If you’re unfamiliar with Hilton Impresario, it’s their VIP program aimed at providing additional benefits when using an authorized travel advisor to book. Most hotel chains have these hidden VIP programs that provide immense value, but they aren’t always the best deal, so make sure you double check prices from various outlets. You can read about Secret VIP programs here.
I work with Josh King, you can email him at Josh@largaytravel.com if you’d like to work with him…let him know we referred you 🙂
Hilton Impresario benefits
- The Biltmore Mayfair was offering a 3rd night free
- Comped Breakfast for two
- $100 food and beverage credit
- Upgrade subject to availability
- Double Hilton Honor Points
Can you stack Hilton Impresario with the Hilton Honors program?
Yes, you can, and we did. In fact, it contributed to how we ultimately earned 60x points on every qualifying dollar we spent at the hotel.
Benefits of keeping Hilton Diamond Status
We keep Hilton Diamond status via a single credit card: The American Express Hilton Aspire. The annual fee is quite high, at $450, but we have extracted more than the fee in value every year we’ve had it ( it also comes with a $250 Hilton resort credit and $250 airline incidental credit + a weekend night certificate ). Undoubtedly, having Hilton Diamond status helped catapult us from an entry level room to their best, non specialty suite.
Below you can see a full breakdown of Hilton Honors benefits; however, the most impactful benefits of Diamond status to me are:
- 10x points
- Executive lounge access
- guaranteed breakfast or breakfast credit
- room upgrades
Location:
The hotel overlooks Grosvenor Square which is where the former US embassy was located ( soon to be a Rosewood hotel ) and offers one of the very best locations in all of London. You’re a 5 to 10 minute walk from Hyde Park, Oxford Street, Bond Street, multiple tube stations, and loads of great restaurants, etc.
Check In
We arrived into Mayfair around 4pm the day of the Wimbledon final AND Euros Final, and lemme tell you, Grosvenor Square was packed with people watching Wimbledon on a large theater style screen. Very cool vibe which was quite an interesting juxtaposition to an otherwise very quiet London. We were asked for our passports, but nothing regarding a finished quarantine, etc. We had been already completed a quarantine in the north of England for the two weeks prior to this stay, but we didn’t need to provide any documentation.
The lobby is drop dead gorgeous and features a dramatic chandelier and fresh floral display. Check in is immediately behind.
We were given a welcome packet that included menus, notepads, etc
I would assume that this is only during Covid…the coolest part was the complimentary shoe shine service.
We were upgraded to a One Bedroom Suite with a Grosvenor Square View
Booking via Impresario and carrying Hilton Diamond status really paid off. We even extended our stay by a night and they honored the £206 rate – it was a tremendous upgrade, but the extension was over and above and something that will undoubtedly be remembered when looking to visit London again. Twice daily housekeeping was also offered.
I looked up the rate on Hilton.com ( shown above ) and our suite was nearly £1000 a night.
The suite is roughly 750 sq feet, massive for London, and offers a separate living room, walk in closet, bedroom, and a stunning bathroom complete with a fancy bidet toilet. I loved the herringbone, wide plank, hardwood flooring and all of the molding.
The living room
Underneath the flat screen was 2 bottles of water, a nespresso machine, and a cabinet replete with an empty mini bar. The water was refreshed daily as well as bedside water in the evening. Both sparkling and still were provided.
The Bedroom
The bedroom featured high ceilings, two windows, a king size bed, small sitting area, and large flat screen tv.
At turn down more water was offered, a mat for slippers and all the blinds were closed. Both sides of the bed also had outlets ( UK ) plus usb ports. One cool thing that they did was change the pillows and blanket each night with different colors – I’ve never had that before in a hotel.
The Bathroom
A drop dead stunning bathroom dripping in marble featuring a stand alone tub, dual vanities, a full suite of amenity products (toothbrush, qtips, sewing kit, etc) and a fancy bidet toilet. I realized that I forgot to take a wide shot of the bathroom, but you can clearly see it in my TikTok up above.
The shower offered some of the best water pressure I’ve had in a hotel ever via either a true rain shower head or a hand held wand.
Dining
There are a couple of dining options as well as a bar; however, with Covid restrictions the bar was closed and limited service was offered in the cafe and tea room. We had breakfast each day in Cafe Biltmore Restaurant and Terrace by Jason Atherton which was complimentary via Impresario ( we would have been offered it with diamond status as well ) and it was a very pleasant atmosphere. The only negative would be the limited menu and the issue most establishments are facing…staffing issues. There was often times when it was very apparent they needed more help, but I would guess this will take care of itself as the country emerges from Covid and staffing normalizes.
We also got a $100 Credit which I used for Room Service – it was absolutely delicious. I ended up getting 2 beers, a coke, a pasta dish, the chicken curry, and dessert. Easily enough for two people; however, my fiancee was out to dinner with friends and I ended up using it all on my own lol.
The Gym
Hands down one of the best hotel gyms I’ve ever encountered, especially for a city hotel. A large cardio area, private group studio, and a large weight room that featured a sled track – something most traditional gyms don’t even offer.
Overall
We had a tremendous stay and I would highly recommend this property. The service was top notch and if you’re lucky enough to score a rate anywhere near what we paid, book it and forget about it. If you’re looking to redeem a Weekend Night Certificate from a Hilton Credit Card for a luxurious weekend away in London…I’d recommend this hotel over the other Hilton properties in a heartbeat.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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