Review: Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square
“London’s new landmark hotel with a stunning spa, amazing dining venues including an Anne-Sophie Pic outlet as well as the most wonderful hotel rooms in East London.”
Rarely do we have the chance to stay at properties like the Four Seasons Ten Trinity Square. Situated in the old Post office of London, this landmark building was wonderfully restored and for sure is one of Four Seasons flagship properties. While I am generally not the fan of big hotel chains applying their style to any city in the world (due to the loss of authenticity), this renovation really went absolutely well blending together the best of 2019 and British tradition. Honestly, after having stayed at the Gresham Palace in Budapest which is also one of the Landmarks in the Four Seasons Group, Ten Trinity has much more individuality with more exciting room layouts and even more particular interior design, such as wooden ceilings, wooden floors which you can hear once walking towards the bedroom. This does no way say that it is better than the Gresham Palace in Budapest, however, it is interesting to see the trend going towards more local touches than bringing the brand image too much in a city far away from the headquarters. Once I arrived at the Four Seasons Ten Trinity Square, I was friendly helped by what I would call the tallest bellmen I have seen. Having entered the hotel’s main gate, the Guest Relations Manager welcomed me and showed me the way to the front desk.
Kiki from the front desk friendly took over and did the check-in and informed me that my room wouldn’t be ready yet but she would go ahead and try to find an alternative for me. While the Guest Relations Manager chatted with me they found an available room which actually was an Executive Room, considered their highest room category before the Heritage Suites. Having swapped rooms, I was accompanied and shown the way to the elevators. She continued to introduce me to the hotel and once we arrived at the Executive Room I have to admit that I was blown away. Even though the views went into the courtyard, the way how they did style the hotel’s inside was just breathtaking. The white glass that goes from milky to clear and massive surfaces bring in quite a bit of daylight. Dark colors match perfectly with the beige furniture and carpet in the room. Having opened in 2017, everything was still brand new and gosh that entree with the walk-through wardrobe was gorgeous. While the Guest Relations Manager kept on explaining the panels to control light, moods, and curtains, I couldn’t concentrate more and needed to see the bathroom.
Being called the most wonderful ones in London, they actually can blow one away. Just looking from the bathtub towards the mirrored wall can let you feel like you are staying at a Presidential Suite. Golden mosaic tiles and an interesting layout make these baths so extra special. There are dedicated his and her vanity desks with the toilet being separated (where is the electronic toilet seat?) as well as the shower coming in a convenient walk-in style. All the toiletries are by either Bottega Veneta or Heeley (no clue if latter one is a down- or upgrade), while I had the first ones, they smelled amazing tough looked even better. Needless to mention that they had two bath towels per person and got replenished for turndown service of course. When staying with Four Seasons, I love to play with their app and actually use their offer almost always. This time I needed to remove fuzz from the suit and asked for a fuzz remover via chat. It worked well and they were quite fast in replying within seconds so they have sent someone to grab my stuff and do it for me express so I didn’t look too bad for the event afterward.
Talking about the main part of the Executive Room, I was impressed by the beautiful assembly of furniture and fusion of old and new. Right opposite the sofa, armchair and coffee table was the writing desk with chair and international power outlets as well as oversized en-mirror television. I totally loved the fact that you could connect your phone to the tv and therefore play music from Spotify in the bathroom while showering. This is so state-of-the-art and I love that kind of amenities. The main highlight of the room beside the view, ceiling hight and tv was the famous Four Seasons Bed that comes with three pillows per person and a comfy blanket. While I wouldn’t buy the entire bed, I am still seeking to buy one of the signature Four Seasons square pillowcases but didn’t find the time to ask for them. Although it was a short night, I good a good rest and was ready for the day. It is somehow interesting that whenever I stay at a Four Seasons it is mostly only a very short night - remembering my stay at Four Seasons Seoul where four hours of sleep need to do the rest of the night. Another one of these short stays was at Four Seasons Bogota Casa Medina where we had a lovely dinner downstairs with a few Sangrilla and needed to check out at noon to catch our flight back to Espana. I am still waiting for the day where I can fully enjoy the Four Seasons Bed with a 12 hours sleep and breakfast in bed - I guess that day will be daydreaming only.
What about the other highlights of the hotel? Well, with only 20 rooms more than the boutique hotel I stayed at before, Four Seasons Ten Trinity Square is split up into hotel part, Residences, and a Private Members Club. That’s where all the space goes to I said to myself only to find out that the entire basement is occupied by the outrageous Spa. With a huge indoor pool that was a bit chilly but perfect for doing real swimming this spa is tailored to do workouts and relax alike by enjoying the heated vitality pool with jacuzzi - actually you could also swim lengths in the warm vitality pool which was a lovely touch. Right between the pools, there was a Sauna and a steam bath - while the latter was under maintenance, the sauna did need a few sips of water to be enjoyed at fullest. With the event of Dr. Burgener taking place on that night, the spa closed earlier than normal (usually at 9 pm only) however the gym remained open (24 hours). Shortly after check-in, I was offered one of their wonderful treatments for an hour. The therapist was genuine and asked what exactly I wanted before she proceeded with the relaxing treatment. To be honest it was a perfect start into the evening and the spa was absolutely flawless with beautiful changing rooms and facilities. There is no need for as many facilities as possible as long as you have a few which are beautiful and demanded by the guests.
I was genuinely invited to attend the event of Dr. Burgener at the Spa and then headed for dinner at The Shard. Sonia from the Concierge scored a table very last minute at Oblix which had a very nice atmosphere and of course amazing views of River Thames, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. A short night after, I headed to the main restaurant under the cupola of the hotel where the buffet has been set up. Having been there at 7 am, there were just three other guests so the staff was very dedicating and the Restaurant Manager came once to ask if everything is alright. While the Eggs Benedict was totally amazing with asparagus, creamy sauce hollandaise and the tea very good, I was expecting the staff to be more proactive (like the ones from the front desk who enjoy doing Smalltalk to the guests). Since I was sitting alone, I would have loved to be offered a newspaper. However, the buffet was totally great with only high-quality products including ham, cheese, salmon, fresh fruits, bread and puff pastries. Interestingly the orange juice from the buffet was better than the one offered from the staff.
All in all, the Four Seasons Ten Trinity is an absolutely fabulous property with stunning hardware and partly great software (especially the concierges, bellmen, and spa teams do a great job). If they work on implementing the Four Seasons App better, this sure can be considered the flagship property of Four Seasons in Europe. There is some exciting stuff going on in the area after the opening of another hotel introduced by a Private Member Club based hotel group. No matter if we will see some more remarkable hotel brands to enter the market in and around the hotel, Four Seasons Ten Trinity Square will for sure be the talk of the city for the next years. Especially the architecture is so impressive that it’s worth a stay alone.
I was guest of Four Seasons Ten Trinity Square & Dr Pauline Burgener, however all above written expresses our own opinion and hasn’t been influenced.
