When Raffles London at The OWO opened in the spring of 2023, it did so with an ambition of scale that was almost deliberately intimidating. The former Old War Office building on Whitehall — 57,000 square metres of Grade II* listed Edwardian baroque — had been in development for nearly a decade under the Hinduja Group's ownership. The resulting hotel: 120 rooms, nine food and beverage venues, a spa, residents' club and a price point in the upper reaches of London's luxury accommodation market.
Three years on, with the initial wave of opening coverage long subsided, the question is how the property has settled into the competitive landscape of central London luxury hospitality — and which elements of its extraordinary F&B programme have genuinely landed.
The Rooms
Raffles London's 120 rooms and suites — priced from approximately £1,200 per night for the entry-level room category — have sustained occupancy rates that industry sources familiar with the property describe as strong relative to the luxury segment benchmark but not exceptional for a hotel carrying this level of capital investment.
The challenge for any London luxury property opening in this period has been the combination of continued demand from international leisure travellers — particularly from the Middle East, the United States and Asia — with a more cautious domestic and European business traveller market. The OWO's Westminster location, which is a short walk from Parliament and the major government departments, was projected to generate corporate demand from the top tier of professional services and government-adjacent business. That demand has been slower to materialise consistently than the opening projections anticipated.
The residential apartments within the OWO development — sold at prices that set records for London's luxury residential market — are a separate commercial entity, but their presence within the building has been commercially beneficial to the hotel in creating a built-in anchor audience for the F&B programme.
The F&B Programme
Nine venues was always an unusual number for a hotel of 120 rooms, and the F&B programme has been the most scrutinised and discussed element of the OWO's operation since launch. The assessment from those who eat and drink there regularly is that the programme has found its footing unevenly.
Mauro Colagreco's Raffles Mauro's Kitchen — the headline restaurant collaboration with the three-Michelin-starred chef behind Mirazur in Menton — drew the most pre-opening attention and has received the most mixed post-opening assessment. Colagreco's physical presence in the kitchen is necessarily limited by his primary commitments in France, and the London expression of his cooking has been described by multiple critics as technically accomplished but lacking the personal energy that makes Mirazur itself exceptional. It holds one Michelin star and has found a steady audience among the hotel's residential and international guest base.
The Gurkha Bar and the OWO's more casual bar and lounge offer have, by most accounts, performed better than the formal dining venues — drawing a London audience beyond hotel guests and finding a genuine foothold in the Whitehall social geography. The spa, which operates as one of London's more exclusive day spa propositions, has built a loyal member and day-visitor audience that provides meaningful non-room revenue.
The Long Game
The consensus view among those familiar with luxury hotel development is that the OWO is a 10-year property — one where the investment thesis depends on brand establishment and real estate appreciation as much as year-one trading performance. The Hinduja Group's deep pockets and long-term asset holding orientation mean there is no pressure to optimise short-term trading at the expense of the brand's positioning.
What the first three years have shown is that London's luxury hotel market is deeper and more competitive than the OWO's opening trajectory assumed. Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, the Peninsula London and several upgraded luxury properties across Mayfair and Knightsbridge have all competed for the same top-tier guest. Standing out in that environment requires more than an exceptional building — which the OWO undeniably has — and the team are still finding the specific reasons that should make it the first choice among guests for whom all of these properties are viable options.
The OWO is one of London's most impressive buildings converted to hospitality use. Whether it becomes one of London's great hotels is still, at three years, a question being answered rather than settled.