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Ok, a little bit of a longer report...

COURTYARD/ENTRY

The original courtyard/entry off of Park Street is now open & is where the cab will drop you off if you take a cab either from airport or Paddington. If you're taking a tube/bus combo or a tube/tube combo, you can also enter from Park Lane & walk through to the back/front (I know that sounds weird, but entry from Park Lane isn't the main entrance). My first post talks more about the transport/directions.

LOBBY

The original large lobby is now open & lovely. Marble floors, beautiful wood, nice furnishings. Check-in to the left upon entering from the courtyard. Straight ahead a # of chairs & couches grouped around a fireplace/wall that separates the lobby from The Library. Good place to meet people when coming down from the rooms. Bellmen & concierge immediately to the right upon entering.

WOMEN'S BATHROOM

Ok I didn't know where to put this LOL, but the women's bathroom on the main floor (that you would use if you were in The Library, Park Room, Red Bar) has a sitting room before you enter the room that houses the bathroom stalls. I wouldn't necessarily hang out in a bathroom sitting room, but this one is really decorated nicely & with women in mind so you could! Mouton Brown is the cleanser/lotion in the bathroom.

THE LIBRARY

Split-level w/ bookcases (naturally). Good place to meet, read or have a drink. I like the coziness of library-type rooms. Four Seasons in Chicago has a similar one.

PARK ROOM

This is where afternoon tea is served, as well as cocktails during the day & evening. You can enter it from the hallway or through The Library. It faces Hyde Park so in the day those are the tables to get - near the windows. It's got tables, chairs as well as couches.

Tea service is from 2pm-6pm. A friend & I did the 'high-tea' on Sat. Cost: 25GBP. Because I'm allergic to seafood, they substituted the salmon tea sandwiches for another type that I like. And they really know their teas. Long discussion btwn my friend & the waitress re: particular types & when to have which. There's a pianist playing during the afternoon. You can have light meal/h'ors doeurves in the Park Room.

RED BAR

Well I think it's more an orange-red than a true red, but it's definitely Red. Entry off of the Park Room. Walls are now lacquered red, and all the seats are etc. When I was there the lighting was too bright, but they were going to have the electricians in to get the dimmers set up. I'm assuming that's done now. You can have a light meal in the RedBar.

ROOMS

The new wing is due to open Q1, so sometime in March. As mentioned it's blocked off, but I looked through the fire doors & saw the new carpeting which looked quite nice. I know there's another FTer staying at GH next month, so if they've re-opened by then perhaps he can do an update.

As mentioned by others, the suites are large. Also, if you get a Deluxe Superior Room that's quite large as well & would make most FTers happy even if they didn't get a suite.

The rooms do have mini-bars, but I didn't bother given the exchange rate. There is a BP station on the corner of Mount next to the hotel if you wanted to grab bottled water for the room.

BTW - color scheme on the remodel (short of red bar) is golds, greens, burgundies in the various rooms & furniture.

EXECUTIVE LOUNGE

Furniture has arrived for the executive lounge & they'll move from current location to the new (or original) location in a week or two. The new location is directly opposite the elevators on the 7th floor. I didn't look in the room to see the size. The current location is a series of 2-3 rooms.

They do brkfst on the hours mentioned in posts above, put out some dessert type things throughout the day, tea service (love those tea sandwiches!) in the aft, drinks/hors d'ouerves 5-8pm'ish, booze is out from 5-10pm when the lounge closes. Currently the booze is still free; I didn't want to jinx it by asking about charges in the future. Again, maybe someone can report later. They clear all the booze out at 10pm & exec lounge door gets double-locked.

NON-SMOKING

The executive lounge is going non-smoking when they move to the new room in a couple of weeks. There are 2 rooms in the current lounge, one of which is smoking. Guess they had complaints from some of the guests re: smoke from that into the non-smoking part, hence the switch.

I believe the hotel is going to follow the Marriott policy of going completely non-smoking when it's all done.

Of course part of that is being aided by the fact that London non-smoking laws take effect July 1st, ala California, NYC, Ireland. No more smoking in bars & restaurants.

FITNESS ROOM

I had the best of intentions to make it there, but it didn't happen. The health club is currently closed/undergoing renovation & won't re-open for a while. Looking out my window across the way one day I saw the current 'fitness room'. Basically they've taken some rooms in the hotel on the 2nd floor, and added treadmills, weights, weight machines. It's open 24/7, presumably by room key. If you want a pool, they've made arrangements w/ Marble Arch Marriott.

RESTAURANT

Currently closed & not due to re-open until summer (my guess is late summer). Think one of the guest services managers mentioned there will be 3 restaurants on the property when it's all done, although I could be wrong.

STAFF

What's the Mastercard ad? PRICELESS

I can't speak highly enough of the staff. They're GREAT at this hotel! Bill Marriott's getting a snail mail letter from me, as will the GM at the hotel.

LOCATION

Grosvenor House is in a somewhat quiet area of Mayfair, but is only a 10-minute walk to Oxford Street w/ lots of pubs, restaurants, shops. Also 10 minutes in the other direction (towards Hyde Park) is Shepard's Market, which also has restaurants and pubs (Ye Grapes being an FT favorite).

Ok, hope this update helps. For those staying there throughout the year, please update after your stays.

Cheers.