Some stories begin with months of planning. This wasn’t one of them.
We’d spent the afternoon visiting several Hilton properties as part of my ongoing hotel credit experiments when we found ourselves walking past the recently opened Hyatt Regency London Olympia. Having only opened a few weeks earlier, it was always going to earn a quick look. World of Hyatt has become an increasingly important part of my travel strategy, and I was curious to see what Hyatt had created opposite Kensington Olympia station as part of the wider Olympia redevelopment.
Hyatt Regency London Olympia opened opposite Kensington Olympia station as part of the wider Olympia redevelopment.
There was another reason I wanted to stop. A few years ago we came remarkably close to buying a Victorian townhouse a couple of streets away. Had that happened, Kensington Olympia would almost certainly have become our local station.
Kensington Olympia station sits at the heart of one of London’s largest regeneration projects.
Instead, I found myself returning as a visitor, watching one of London’s largest regeneration projects gradually come to life and wondering what this corner of West London might eventually become.
The visit almost ended before it had really begun. My wife needed to use the facilities before we’d spent a penny, and Dan, the doorman, couldn’t have been more welcoming. There was no hesitation and no suggestion that we ought to be hotel guests first. It was a small act of kindness, but one that immediately set the tone. We decided to stay for a drink in the lobby afterwards, ordering a beer and a rosé while taking in our surroundings.
Comfortable seating encourages guests to linger rather than simply pass through.
The lobby immediately exceeded my expectations.
Hyatt’s public spaces take subtle inspiration from Olympia’s Art Deco heritage.
Hyatt has taken inspiration from Joseph Emberton’s interwar modernist work at Olympia, and the influence is easy to spot. Rich timber, polished stone, brass detailing and geometric lines give the public spaces a subtle Art Deco character without feeling like a themed recreation. The effect is calm rather than flashy, and unusually confident for a hotel that’s still finding its feet.
As I came to settle the bill, I handed over my Chase World of Hyatt credit card. The bartender looked at it, smiled and said:
“Oh, you’re already one of ours?”
The lobby bar was where a simple drink became an unexpectedly memorable interaction.
She disappeared for several minutes to see whether there was any way of attaching my Hyatt membership number to the bar tab so the spending might qualify for World of Hyatt points. Eventually she returned apologetically, explaining she’d tried everything she could but the system simply wouldn’t allow it.
I hadn’t expected it to work. I certainly hadn’t expected someone to spend several minutes trying. That simple interaction reinforced the impression we’d already begun to form, of a team that was genuinely proud of what had just opened.
Before leaving the hotel, we also wandered through Hyatt’s business facilities. The meeting rooms, business centre and public workspaces are substantial, contemporary and clearly designed with Olympia’s exhibition and conference market in mind. It was another reminder that this isn’t simply a leisure hotel. Corporate travellers and event delegates are an important part of the equation, and Hyatt appears to have invested accordingly.
Hyatt has clearly been built with Olympia’s exhibition and conference visitors in mind.
As we finished our drinks, Dan spent a little longer talking with us. He explained that Olympia’s redevelopment wasn’t centred around the hotel at all. The vision was much broader than that, with restaurants, entertainment venues and public spaces forming the heart of the project. From that perspective, it made perfect sense that Hyatt hadn’t built a large signature restaurant of its own when a purpose-built dining destination was opening literally next door.
“You should really go and have a look,” he said, recommending Idalia, the restaurant inside the restored Pillar Hall. “It’s something else.”
He wasn’t exaggerating.
Next door, Pillar Hall houses Idalia, the dining destination Dan insisted we shouldn’t miss.
Pillar Hall has its own identity rather than feeling like an extension of the hotel.
Walking into Idalia, the first thing that strikes you isn’t the restaurant but the building itself.
The approach hints that something rather different lies beyond.
Pillar Hall is a remarkable space. Marble columns rise into elaborate plaster ceilings, enormous windows flood the room with natural light and a striking circular bar anchors the centre of the hall.
The first view inside Pillar Hall immediately explains the excitement surrounding the project.
Rather than trying to compete with the architecture, the designers have allowed the building to remain the focal point, using planting, furniture and artwork to create smaller spaces within an enormous room.
Despite its scale, thoughtful planting creates a series of more intimate spaces.
The more we wandered, the more there seemed to be to discover.
Every turn revealed another distinct corner of the restaurant.
There were oversized wine displays, secluded seating tucked behind greenery, artwork that rewarded a closer look, and enough variety that the vast room never felt repetitive.
Artwork and sculpture reinforce the feeling that this is more than simply a restaurant.
This isn’t just somewhere that happens to serve breakfast for hotel guests. It is clearly somewhere people would make a journey to visit regardless of whether there was a Hyatt next door.
Historic marble columns remain one of Pillar Hall’s defining features.
We eventually settled onto stools at the circular bar. I ordered a beer while my wife was immediately drawn to the frozen margarita machine sitting behind the counter.
The circular bar naturally draws visitors into the centre of the room.
The frozen margarita machine hadn’t quite caught up with the afternoon. Rather than pouring the first attempt away, the bartender handed it over with a smile and suggested she enjoy it while he made another one properly by hand. A few minutes later the finished margarita arrived, leaving us with an unexpected extra drink and another small reminder that everyone seemed genuinely invested in us having a good experience.
Design details continue long after you’ve stopped looking for them.
It was another small interaction that reinforced the impression we’d already formed at the Hyatt. Nobody seemed interested in simply processing another order. They wanted people to leave with a good impression of somewhere they’d clearly invested a great deal of themselves in creating.
The conversation continued naturally.
We asked questions about the building, the redevelopment and how everything fitted together. The more interested we became, the more generously people gave their time. At some point the bartender stepped out from behind the bar and simply asked us to come with him.
Then we were invited downstairs.
We followed him through the building, downstairs and into a space that isn’t due to open until September.
The hidden downstairs space has a completely different atmosphere from the bright dining room above.
This wasn’t somewhere you would accidentally wander into, nor somewhere I suspect many visitors have seen yet. We were shown through what will become the development’s hidden speakeasy, given time to look around, take photographs and hear about what was still to come.
Music is woven into the character of the downstairs bar.
It didn’t feel like a rehearsed sales pitch or a guided tour. It felt more like someone who was genuinely proud of the project wanting to share it with people who were equally enthusiastic about discovering it.
The downstairs bar is one of several spaces still waiting to be fully unveiled.
Afterwards we headed back upstairs, ordered another gin and tonic and simply carried on talking. We later learned the downstairs speakeasy is called Pepperbird, although during our visit everyone simply referred to it as “the speakeasy.”
By now, I realized I wasn’t really just writing about Hyatt Regency London Olympia anymore.
The afternoon had become something quite different. I arrived expecting to see a newly opened Hyatt hotel. Instead, I found the first completed pieces of what appears to be a much larger hospitality destination. Rather than creating its own flagship restaurant, Hyatt has partnered with one that already feels capable of drawing visitors in its own right. Add a hidden speakeasy preparing to open in September, another major events space still under construction upstairs and the enormous regeneration project continuing outside, and the hotel becomes just one element of a far broader vision.
Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay everyone we met is that none of it felt orchestrated. Nobody tried to upsell us another drink or persuade us to keep exploring. Our enthusiasm was simply met with enthusiasm in return. Dan’s pride in the hotel encouraged us to visit the restaurant. The team’s pride in the restaurant encouraged them to show us what lay beyond it. Each conversation led naturally to the next until what had begun as an unplanned stop for a drink had turned into one of the most enjoyable afternoons I’ve spent exploring a new London opening.
I still don’t know whether my purchases at both the Hyatt bar and Idalia will ultimately code as Hyatt spending. That answer will come soon enough when the transactions post.
Oddly, that’s no longer what I remember most. What has stayed with me is the feeling that Olympia is being assembled differently from many mixed-use developments. The hotel, the restaurants, the bars, the meeting spaces and the future entertainment venues don’t feel like separate businesses that happen to occupy neighbouring buildings. They feel as though they’ve been designed to complement one another while retaining their own identities.
It’s still early. Construction continues across much of Olympia, and several important pieces have yet to open. Even so, the afternoon had already become something quite different from the one I’d expected.
I stopped to see a newly opened Hyatt. I left looking forward to coming back to Olympia.