Concierge.com's insider take:

A London classic—it was theater impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte's second hotel, after the Savoy—the Victorian-Art Deco property entered its current gossip-item-generating era after a 1999 overhaul that's kept on renewing itself. Gordon Ramsay's restaurant—plus the Chef Himself—moved in in 2001; Kate Moss had her 30th-birthday bash here in 2005; NYC über-decorator Thierry Despont did the Deco foyer with its giant Murano glass Medusa-head chandelier; London über-decorator David Collins did the rock-and-fashion-hangout cocktail bar with its adjunct Macanudo Fumoir. Rooms are Mae West-meets-Louis XV with Hollywood brocades and straight-up English country chintz, or wood-paneled and tartan Scottish castle—their formality softened by a faint but distinct aura of decadence. Bathrooms have natural light and dinner-plate-size showerheads. Two new suites—one Art Deco, the other traditional late 19th-century—were unveiled in 2006, designed by the queen's nephew David Linley. There's also a La Prairie spa-ette and a ton of extra services on request—because hip as it may be, Claridge's remains one of this city's exemplary grand hotels.