Towards London's new Rosewood Hotel in 2025

Michael Bonsall introduces Chancery Rosewood, scheduled to open in 2025 in the former US government building in Grosvenor Square. Embassy in London. Bonsall spent 10 years as general manager at Rosewood London, combining his career with Four Seasons and Claridge's.

Mayfair is home to some of London's most famous hotels. Do I need another one? When architect Eero Saarinen won the competition to design the hotel in 1960, it was to create the Prime Minister's Residence, an embassy for the U.S. government.

Chancery Rosewood was designed as a government building, so nothing was built close to it, so there is a real sense of space between adjacent buildings. The first floor has floor to ceiling glass overlooking the park and the light and space is just amazing. It has a 1960s Mad Men vibe. The interior is beautiful, with all the craftsmanship of the original building enhanced by the designs of David his Lord Chipperfield and Joseph Deland.

The transformation of our building is really linked to the role of Grosvenor Square in Anglo-American relations. We're looking to have some incredible British and American artists contribute their work, and we're thrilled that Theodore Roszak's 35-foot wingspan eagle is back on the roof. It's a great opportunity to create something with a completely different aesthetic than what's currently in the neighborhood.

Hotels need to build relationships with the area. How does Chancery Rosewood fit in? There's not much to do in Mayfair at night unless you're a member of a club. I think music is going to be very important, so a lot of it will be through music programming. As well as food and bars.

At Rosewood London, which includes both the Holborn Dining Room and Scarf Bar, 85-90% of customers are local and the Pie Room has been a huge success. It was very important to me that the spa be on street level, focused on diagnosis and repair, and very welcoming to locals. Hotel guests want to stay in an environment that makes locals want to come.

You are unusual in that you are a British hotelier whose parents are hoteliers.

It wasn't planned! My father was an accountant and my mother, although she had no professional training, was a very good cook. Then my parents fell in love with a rambling Georgian house near Inverness. In any case, they quickly realized that a huge amount of effort was required and opened some rooms as a hotel.

I lived in hotels from a young age, and little by little I started helping my parents, and I loved hotels. Thankfully, from an early age I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I attended his hotel school in Scotland in 2000 and then started his 10 year career at Four Seasons in the US. He then spent four years at Claridge College at Rosewood before moving to London.

Since coronavirus and Brexit, what is the current temperature in luxury hotels in London?

Consumers have definitely gotten a little younger since the pandemic. People are looking to travel better with longer stays and upgraded accommodation, but the impact of Brexit and Covid is both positive and negative. I think 500,000 people have quit the hospitality industry due to the impact of the new coronavirus infection. So there has been a real rebalancing of the industry. We pay people in the hospitality industry more, but we need to do more about marketing it as a career. When a 16-year-old child says, “I want to be a pastry chef,'' I don't think many parents would be that enthusiastic about it.

That's a shame. Because when I look back on my career, and I think about all the places I've been, all the countries I've lived in, all the people I've met, all the situations I've been in, I realize that I was able to do that. Because it was just about hospitality. . In fact, our service is incredibly good when compared to other countries and we need to brag about it more. When he goes to the bar, the bartender is a little cheeky and a little eccentric, but the relationship is very important. I think the food in this country is also great. But we don't really talk or shout about it enough.