A deluxe room for two in Baglioni Hotel London costs about £425 per night. The three-bedroom Royal suite — with a bijou balcony looking over to Hyde Park — costs a little under £6,000 per night.

The starting gun is fired on Tuesday when the £1.1 billion Peninsula London near Hyde Park Corner is officially launched at precisely 8.08am — a time chosen as auspicious by a feng shui master ...