Savoy Hotel

Savoy Hotel, famous hotel in London, situated between the Strand and the River Thames. Some of its more than 260 rooms and suites have views of the Houses of Parliament and of the Tower of London.

The Savoy Hotel was founded in 1884 by the British theatrical impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte, whose Savoy Theatre stands nearby. Patrons of the theatre were encouraged to dine and stay at the hotel. Soon after its opening, D’Oyly Carte enticed the high-society hotelier César Ritz and his famous chef, Auguste Escoffier, to manage the Savoy, and the world’s social elite rapidly became the Savoy’s clientele. Guests included particularly actors, actresses, and opera singers, testament to the Savoy’s convenience for the West End and D’Oyly Carte’s own social world. Ritz lobbied successfully for changes in the law to allow food to be served until after midnight and on Sundays. The Savoy became the centre of a new social trend, that of dining out on Sunday instead of staying at home.

After Ritz and Escoffier left in 1896, the Savoy Company bought Joseph’s Restaurant in Paris, in order to acquire its chef. Later it bought the Berkeley Hotel in London on account of its manager. In the middle of the 20th century, golfers, such as Bobby Jones, started a tradition of driving golf balls off the Savoy roof to land in a barge on the Thames.

A restoration of the Savoy’s bathrooms, banqueting facilities, and public areas was completed in 1997; guestrooms were provided with the latest in communications technology. The restaurant currently serves English and French cuisine. In the 1980s the Trust House Forte hotel chain sought to take control of the ownership of the hotel. In 1995 the Granada leisure and hotels company bought out the Forte share and in April 1998 the Savoy Group was acquired in a friendly takeover by a consortium led by the American Blackstone Group. In May 2004, the Savoy Group was acquired by Irish investment company Quinlan Private. Then, in January 2005, the Savoy Hotel was acquired by Kingdom Hotels International, chaired by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, and Bank of Scotland Corporate. Following this acquisition, the hotel and Simpson’s-in-the-Strand are managed by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.