The Dorchester — London, United Kingdom
About The Dorchester
During the blitz, the Dorchester's reinforced concrete and fairly new construction (the building dates from 1931), helped Londoners believe that the Dorchester might be a half-pleasant hideout in the midst of Axis bombings. Some war operations were actually run from the hotel, and hotel, while there's no suite for famous writers who have stayed here, there is an Eisenhower Suite, recollecting the hotel's importance as a station for war operations. There's some overlap at what fans call "the Dorch" between war and writing: in 1944, Ernest Hemingway commanded a large suite of correstpondants and soldiers from the 7th floor, and when his future wife, Martha, arrived, she saw the place strewn with whisky bottles and smoke, turned on her heel and marched to the front desk to reserve a different room for herself. The offending room number has been lost to renovations. Since Hemingway had liai…
Literary significance
Eisenhower's wartime planning suite comes with some nods to the time period that might interest literary visitors with other foci. For the most part, literary guests are better served by the hotel's public spaces, which lean heavily into bar theming, cocktails, etc. Bond fans will get the most out of the public display of literary lore. The bar is explicitly Bond‑inspired; Fleming is noted as a regular and the hotel is name‑checked in Bond books. Cocktails include the Vesper (from Casino Royale ) and other Bond‑era drinks; the menu and design lean into 007 history.
Authors
Location
53 Park Lane, Mayfair, London W1K 1QA, United Kingdom