Hotels
London
Inside Raffles London
at the OWO,
London's Grandest New Address.
The former Old War Office has been transformed into a hotel with enough history, restaurants, hidden corners and one spectacular subterranean spa to make leaving surprisingly difficult.
BY ALLIE WALDIE
MAY 2025
Checking into OWO Raffles London isn’t just checking into a hotel. It’s willingly entering a five-star maze—one so glamorous you’ll wonder if you should just forward your mail there permanently. Housed inside the former Old War Office (yes, Churchill’s old stomping grounds), the OWO is what happens when history, elegance, and "I’m sorry, is this another chandelier?" energy collide. There are miles of hallways, which means by Day 2 you’re either blissfully lost or training for the London Marathon without realizing it.
So with that, let’s take a (leisurely, heavily carpeted) stroll through everything you need to know.
For all that grandeur, though, the hotel doesn’t feel nearly as intimidating as it looks. The restoration is extraordinary, but it hasn’t turned the building into a museum. The service is polished without hovering, the public spaces are grand but comfortable, and there’s a warmth to the hotel that surprised me. Within an hour of arriving, I found myself thinking that perhaps London could wait. There was plenty to explore right where I was.
Food is a very good reason to stay put. The OWO has become a dining destination in its own right, with restaurants and bars tucked throughout the building, from Mauro Colagreco’s fine dining to Paper Moon and the very British Drawing Room (this is before the new Langosteria opened). The latter is exactly where I’d want to spend the first afternoon of a London trip. After an overnight flight from the U.S., I’d much rather have a client check in, unpack, settle in for afternoon tea or a drink and explore the hotel than immediately send them back out with a packed sightseeing schedule. London will still be there the next morning, and one of the mistakes people make at hotels like this is that you are paying to stay somewhere extraordinary and then never actually spend any time there.
Exploring The OWO takes longer than you might think. The corridors seem endless, and each part of the building feels slightly different from the last. One hallway is ornate and historic, another more contemporary, and then you round a corner and find another staircase, piece of art or architectural detail that makes you stop. I got lost more than once, and I suspect most guests do. My original advice to bring sensible shoes still stands; you may hit your step goal simply trying to find the spa.
And the spa is absolutely worth finding. Hidden beneath Whitehall, the Guerlain Spa feels completely removed from the city above it. The pool is surrounded by stone columns and soft lighting, with loungers arranged around the water in a way that makes a quick visit seem fairly unrealistic. London could be cold and drizzling outside and you would have absolutely no idea. There are plenty of beautiful city hotels where I consider the spa a nice extra, if there happens to be time. Here, I would actually build time around it, particularly after an overnight flight or a full day walking around London. It is one of the things that makes The OWO feel less like a place to sleep and more like part of the trip itself.
By evening, the hotel shifts again. The restaurants fill, the bars come alive and the building’s long association with spies and espionage begins to show up in slightly more playful ways. The Spy Bar leans into the history rather enthusiastically, but the cocktails are excellent and the setting makes it fun rather than gimmicky. This is the kind of hotel where I’d happily have dinner, wander downstairs for a cocktail and realize several hours later that we never actually left the building. In most cities that might feel like a missed opportunity; at The OWO, it feels like the point.
What I kept thinking about during my visit was how much the hotel itself would change the way I planned London for a client. London has no shortage of exceptional hotels, and I don’t think choosing between them should ever come down to which one has the longest amenity list or the newest rooms. The more interesting question is how you want to experience the city. If I’m putting someone in a smaller hotel in Chelsea or Mayfair, I might expect them to leave in the morning and return at the end of the day, using the hotel as a beautiful home base. At The OWO, I would deliberately leave more space in the itinerary. I’d come back in the afternoon, use the spa, have tea, linger over a drink and allow the hotel to become one of the experiences rather than simply the place we return to after them.
Its location also makes that approach particularly appealing for someone visiting London for the first time. Westminster, St. James’s and many of the landmarks people have crossed the Atlantic to see are right outside the door, which means you can spend part of the day exploring without feeling as though you need to disappear into the city from breakfast until dinner. For couples who love grand hotels, families who appreciate having a great deal available under one roof, or anyone doing a shorter London stay, that combination of location and experience is difficult to beat.
There are travelers for whom I would choose something entirely different, but that’s true of almost every hotel I love. Someone who dreams of a small, discreet London hideaway tucked into a residential neighborhood, where part of the pleasure is stepping outside each morning and discovering the cafés and shops around the corner, may be happier elsewhere. That isn’t a criticism of The OWO; it’s simply why I find the conversation about hotels much more interesting than declaring one property “the best.” London has too many wonderful hotels for that, and the right answer depends as much on the person traveling as it does on the hotel.
I left The OWO thinking that its greatest luxury may actually be that it gives you permission to do a little less. You don’t need to schedule every hour because there is so much worth enjoying right where you are. Have afternoon tea. Get a little lost in the hallways. Spend longer than planned at the pool. Stay for another drink. London isn’t going anywhere. And if you find yourself looking out at Big Ben and briefly wondering whether it has heated bathroom floors, you may have stayed at The OWO a little too long.