We stayed at The Beaumont this weekend in a Mayfair Suite with balcony, whilst my girlfriends brother stayed just next door in a Classic Suite. The Mayfair Suite has a private balcony that in warmer months would be fantastic for an evening meal/drinks. Each room has its own separate living room, but the Mayfair Suite is substantially bigger. I forgot to take my camera, as I rarely expect to take photos of anything whilst in London anymore, so these were all taken on my phone of the Mayfair Suite and are not great:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132880...57661814294784
We only stayed pre-opening previously, at the invite of the Front Office Manager (ex Connaught), whereas now the new GM (ex Connaught...a theme is taking place and also ex Le Bristol) has taken over, we decided to give it another go. I had lunch with the GM last week and whilst I didn't like the food the first time we visited, I've completely changed my mind on it now and think it's fantastic. I would go out of my way to eat here and will now consider it a regular, even if we're not staying. Breakfast is unbelievably good too and incredible value for money. For 3 of us it cost £41, whereas 5 minutes walk away in The Connaught you would be lucky to escape less with a charge of less than £40 per person. Tell me where you can get a sausage sandwich in Mayfair for £5.50? Not only that, but it's portion size is enough to actually be considered an entire breakfast, rather than needing to order 3 other dishes.
The main thing that stands out is excellent service and the generosity of the place. Above, Buster mentioned about being greeted by name, and in our case every single staff knew our names too (although I will accept in this rare case it is because of who I am). Free mini-bar, free movies, free Internet, free snacks, free games in your room that you can even take home with you.
My main view is that The Connaught is still a much better hotel with better service and amenities. It only costs about £50/n more for a basic room at certain times of the year, but if you start to add up the additional costs of room service, mini bar, food, spa treatments etc, it would in fact end up at hundreds a night more. For a 3 night stay in The Connaught, I believe you could spend 4 nights at The Beaumont for significantly cheaper. Alas, I will still be returning to The Connaught, but will return in a few months time once the GM has put his stamp on it and see if some of the suggestions I've put forward can be implemented.