While a Michelin Star is famous around the world to show the best restaurants, there wasn’t an equivalent Michelin award for hotels – until now. Earlier this year, Michelin created a brand new hotel award, the Michelin Key, to recognise the most outstanding hotels in the world, and recently announced which UK hotels were to be awarded this brand new honour. Below is the full list of British hotels with Michelin Keys with my particular favourites (the ones reviewed by ALadyofLeisure.com) highlighted.
What is a Michelin Key?
According to Michelin, the Michelin Key denotes ‘the absolute most outstanding experiences’ in the Michelin Guide. The Michelin Guide, which has been recommending hotels since the 1920s, currently recommends over 5,000 hotels across the world, and the winners of Michelin Keys all excel in design, architecture, service and personality.
Like Michelin Stars, hotels can be awarded One, Two or Three Keys, with Three Keys being the highest accolade.
How is a Michelin Key awarded?
Over the last four years, Michelin’s team of independent experts has vetted and scrutinised hotels around the world to select the 5,000 hotels for inclusion in its collection.
Inclusion in the Michelin Guide alone is a mark of quality, with Michelin saying: ‘These are places that significantly add to your experience as a traveller, each vetted by our hotel experts and judged excellent in five categories: architecture and interior design; quality and consistency of service; overall personality and character; value for the price; and a significant contribution to the guest experience in a particular setting.”
This year, for the first time, Michelin has chosen a select group of hotels to highlight further. Those offering the most outstanding stays are awarded the special Michelin Key distinction.
Looking for hotels with Michelin star restaurants?
Relaxing in the Lake District with Gilpin Hotel and Lake House
West Sussex garden luxury at Gravetye Manor
Hambleton Hall, Rutland: Michelin star dining luxury
Top class food at Hampton Manor, West Midlands
Lucknam Park: luxury spa hotel near Bath
Cotswolds stay at Manor House, Castle Combe
The perfect gourmet break at Northcote hotel Lancashire
Pennyhill Park: spa hotel fit for England Rugby
St James’s Hotel and Club, central London
Whatley Manor, Wiltshire: a Cotswolds gem
Ynyshir restaurant and rooms, Wales
And Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Knightsbridge
What British hotels have won a Michelin Key?
The full list of British hotels awarded a Michelin Key is below and includes 14 Three Key hotels, 37 Two Key hotels and 72 One Key hotels.
UK hotels with Three Michelin Keys
Bulgari Hotel London
Claridge’s London
The Connaught, London
Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane, London
Lucknam Park near Bath
Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Oxfordshire
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London
The Newt in Somerset
The Peninsula London, London
Raffles London at The OWO, London
The Savoy, London
The Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland
ALadyofLeisure.com reviews Lucknam Park – a Three Michelin Key hotel
Lucknam Park
With a Michelin Star restaurant, large luxury spa with indoor and outdoor pools, a mile-long tree-lined avenue, 500 acres of grounds and country activities including horse riding, croquet, clay-pigeon shooting and falconry, Lucknam Park is the quintessential country house hotel – full review
UK hotels with Two Michelin Keys
Chewton Glen Hotel, New Milton, England – ALadyofLeisure.com reviews Chewton Glen
Cliveden House, Taplow, England – ALadyofLeisure.com reviews Cliveden House
Corinthia Hotel London, London, England – ALadyofLeisure.com reviews Corinthia Hotel
Gilpin Hotel & Lake House,Windermere, England – ALadyofLeisure.com reviews Gilpin hotel and Lake House
Gravetye Manor, West Sussex, England – ALadyofLeisure.com reviews Gravetye Manor
Hampton Manor near Birmingham, West Midlands – ALadyofLeisure.com reviews Hampton Manor
Hambleton Hall, Rutland, England – ALadyofLeisure.com reviews Hambleton Hall
Lime Wood Hotel, Lyndhurst, England – ALadyofLeisure.com reviews Lime Wood Spa
Whatley Manor Hotel and Spa, Malmesbury, England – ALadyofLeisure.com reviews Whatley Manor
Coworth Park, Ascot, England
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa, Bath, England
Gidleigh Park, Chagford, England
Lympstone Manor, Exmouth, England
Heckfield Place, Heckfield, England
Beaverbrook Surrey, Leatherhead, England
Thyme, Lechlade, England
45 Park Lane, Dorchester Collection, London, England
Brown’s Hotel, London, England
Covent Garden Hotel, London, England
Ham Yard Hotel, London, England
Haymarket Hotel, London, England
Hotel Café Royal, London, England
Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, London, England
Rosewood London, London, England
The Beaumont Hotel London, England
The Berkeley, London, England
The Cadogan, London, England
The Dorchester, London, England
The Langham, London, England
The Twenty Two, London, England
Grantley Hall, Ripon, England
The Samling Hotel, Windermere, England
The Fife Arms, Braemar, Scotland
The Balmoral, Edinburgh, Scotland
UK hotels with One Michelin Key
England
One Aldwych, London – ALadyofLeisure.com reviews One Aldwych
The Vineyard Hotel & Spa, Newbury – ALadyofLeisure.com reviews The Vineyard
The Swan Southwold, Suffolk – ALadyofLeisure.com reviews The Swan, Southwold
Amberley: Amberley Castle
Bath: Bath Priory
Bath: Homewood
Bath: The Gainsborough Bath Spa
Bath: The Queensberry Hotel
Bath: The Yard, Bath
Bideford: The Collective at Woolsery
Brampton: Farlam Hall Hotel & Restaurant
Brighton: Artist Residence Brighton
Bristol: Artist Residence Bristol
Bristol: Number 38 Clifton
Camber: The Gallivant
Cheltenham: Cowley Manor Experimental
Cowes (Isle of Wight): Foresters Hall
Grasmere: Forest Side Hotel
Hampshire: Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire
Hastings: The Old Rectory
Langham: The Harper Langham
London: 1 Hotel Mayfair
London: Artist Residence London
London: Baglioni Hotel London
London: Beaverbrook Town House
London: Broadwick Soho
London: Charlotte Street Hotel
London: Chiltern Firehouse
London: COMO The Halkin
London: Flemings Mayfair
London: Four Seasons Hotel London at Tower Bridge
London: Knightsbridge Hotel, Firmdale Hotels
London: L’oscar London
London: NoMad London
London: Number Sixteen, Firmdale Hotels
London: Redchurch Townhouse
London: Shangri-La The Shard London
London: Sofitel London St James
London: The Emory
London: The Soho Hotel, Firmdale Hotels
Newbury: The Vineyard Hotel & Spa
North Leigh: Estelle Manor
Oxford: Artist Residence Oxfordshire
St Mawes: The Idle Rocks
St. Mawes: Hotel Tresanton
Thornbury: Thornbury Castle
West Cornwall: Artist Residence Cornwall
Windermere: Linthwaite House Hotel
Channel Islands
Saint Helier (Jersey): Longueville Manor
Scotland
Ballantrae: Glenapp Castle
Cumnock: Dumfries House Lodge
Dornoch: Links House at Royal Dornoch
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street
Edinburgh: Gleneagles Townhouse
Edinburgh: Prestonfield Edinburgh
Foyers: Foyers Lodge Loch Ness
Grandtully: The Grandtully Hotel by Ballintaggart
Isle of Skye – Sleat: Kinloch Lodge
Kinbuck: Cromlix Hotel
Resolis: Newhall Mains Dingwall
Tain: Glenmorangie House
Wales
Bala: Palé Hall
Dolgellau: Penmaenuchaf
Narberth: Grove of Narberth
If you need a five-star holiday as well as a five-star hotel, then check out these amazing destinations:
Selling sail with Hurtigruten on ‘the world’s most beautiful sea voyage’
Pyramids, tombs, temples and traffic – my epic Egypt holiday
Trekking to Machu Picchu along the Inca Trail