The world’s 50 best hotels have been named – and 3 are in London

It turns out you don’t need to cross the Channel to find some of the finest hospitality on the planet – you just need to navigate Mayfair or Whitehall. The latest World’s 50 Best Hotels ranking has dropped, and while the glitzy ceremony moved to Paris this year for the first time, several London properties once again secured their place among the world’s elite.

Leading the way was Claridge’s in Mayfair, which ranked at 13th place overall and is also a Time Out favourite (back in July, our own reviewers named it London’s best hotel). Claridge’s feels like you’re stepping into a film set, with a black-and-white marble art deco lobby topped with a swirling glass chandelier, around 200 rooms and a Fumoir bar dripping in old-world glamour. The hotel also has a taste for spectacle: every December since 2009, it’s handed its lobby over to a different fashion designer. The likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Christian Louboutin have been brought in to reimagine Claridge’s famous Christmas tree, a tradition that last year earned it Time Out’s title of Europe’s most Christmassy hotel.

Further down at number 28 was Raffles London at The OWO. Inside Whitehall’s monumental former Old War Office, the building looks like it comes straight from a James Bond film – which makes sense given its past life as the nerve centre of British military intelligence. Opened in 2023, the hotel balances history with luxury, packing in nine restaurants, a subterranean pool and three bars. It might be the newest of the London hotels that feature in World’s 50 Best Hotels’ 2026 list, but it’s already hoarding global awards from the likes of Time magazine and National Geographic.

Rounding out London’s winners at number 49 is The Connaught. This discreet Mayfair institution packs a punch with Hélène Darroze’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant and also has corridors lined with museum-grade art by Damien Hirst. If you’re feeling the need for a deep steam, or just need to sweat out the anxiety of looking at your impending room bill, there is also a hidden underground Aman Spa to escape into.

But the real crowd-pleaser remains the Connaught Bar, which was crowned the best bar in the UK on Europe's 50 Best Bars 2026 list. It’s most famous for its tableside martini trolley, a ritual where white-jacketed mixologists wheel a sleek black cart straight to your table. They guide you through a selection of house-made aromatic bitters before dramatically pouring the cocktail from a towering height into a frosted crystal glass. 

It’s far from the first time London’s hospitality scene has been recognised by World’s 50 Best Hotels. In 2025 Claridge’s, The Connaught, Raffles London at The OWO and The Emory all made the cut. In 2026’s longlist, Rosewood London placed 56th.

You can read 50 Best’s full 2026 list of the top hotels in the world here.

Fancy treating yourself? Here are the best five-star hotels in London.

Plus: one of London’s best French restaurants is taking over a Shoreditch gastropub.