I was most looking forward to checking out the highly anticipated Surenne wellness space. Or at least having some downtime in the sauna after being put through my paces with a cutting-edge fitness class in the hotel’s studio, run in partnership with Gwyneth Paltrow’s personal trainer Tracy Anderson.
In a studio heated to 30 degrees celsius and streaming with red ribbons, I was unclear whether I had entered Dante’s third circle of hell or my mother’s womb. The instructor performed complex aerobic and toning exercise sequences to blaring music, in silence. I came out streaming waterfalls of sweat, before entering spa heaven – a whirling festival of snow showers, underwater pool music and lockers stocked with Alice Temperley-print dressing gowns. My “ballet bodywork” massage, with magnesium worked into my tired muscles and restorative stretch poses, was just the ticket.
Of course in the end, guests at the Emory are paying for an incredible suite experience. With units on every floor perfected to the finest detail by a different world-acclaimed designer, that is exactly what they get. I stayed in a glass-walled pad conceived by the Hong Kong artist Andre Fu, dotted with hand-cast ceramics and decorated in a flattering palette of pistachio and pink. The views of London were sublime. Sipping a glass of champagne in the egg-shaped bath overlooking Hyde Park was a moment of pure bliss that will be forever seared into my memory.
And then I made the mistake of poking my nose into the outside world. After an hour spent being elbowed by tourists on the main thoroughfares and then rattling around empty designer shops, I fled back into the cloistered calmness of The Emory, to watch the roller skaters cruising down the road over a pot of Yunnan white tea. For those with the budget, there really is only one way to appreciate Knightsbridge.
Doubles from £1,620, including breakfast, minibar, airport transfers and complimentary chauffeur use.
Old Barrack Yard, London SW1X 7NP (the-emory.co.uk)