From feeling like a Princess for the night by staying in Leeds Castle for our March FAM to being in the Royal Suite at the Savoy – our group gets to experience so many amazing things!
The Savoy is one of those iconic hotels in London but surprisingly many of our guests had not been before which gave our hosts, Julia and Alex, the perfect opportunity to showcase the beautiful event spaces.
We started off the evening our favourite way – with a glass of bubbles in the Knight’s Bar at Simpson’s in the Strand which is one of the oldest restaurants in London and is very much part of the Savoy family. The restaurant opened in 1828 originally as a chess club for men only – much to our surprise (and shock) women were only allowed in the restaurant in the 1950s! As well as being a restaurant, Simpson’s has two event spaces on the first floor, capacities can be found here.
It was then off to the Savoy….after walking up the glamourous driveway we were whisked into the stunning lobby and introduced to the most famous cat in London – Kaspar! Kaspar is sadly not a real cat but a sculpture who, for the past 90 years, has joined dining parties to make up groups of thirteen to avoid the unlucky number of 13 – he joins with a napkin round his neck and a full place setting ready to enjoy dinner! The hotel has lots of great stories to tell, if you have delegates who love history you can actually arrange for a tour of the hotel with an historian who will tell all the wonderful stories of the hotel.
We didn’t let Kaspar steal the show though – talking of shows did you know the Savoy has its own theatre??! There are 11 event spaces at the hotel with capacities ranging from 10 – 800 delegates, each room is beautifully decorated and has a unique feel, our favourite rooms are the Lancaster Ballroom and the River Rooms. Full information on each meeting/private dining space can be found here. A great feature is that there is a private entrance on the river side of the hotel which is ideal when you are holding a large event at the hotel. For those looking for unique experiences for your delegates, the hotel has an in-house florist who is able to offer flower arrangement classes, the pastry chefs are able to offer chocolate making classes and the mixologists from the world’s best bar – the American bar – can also offer cocktail making classes! The hotel is super flexible with respect to whether you would prefer a room hire rate, a day delegate rate etc.
After exploring the hotel, we had worked up quite an appetite so off we went to eat, drink and chat – before doing so we checked out the first electric lift to have been placed in a British hotel (which has a seat in for ladies in case they found the experience scary – we, of course, had to take a picture of us all in the lift!). We were all laughing from the photo that we did not quite realise where Julia and Alex were taking us until we stepped into the grand double doors and realised we were in the ROYAL SUITE!!! After exploring the suite (i.e. running around with lots “wow, have you seen this!?” comments – the Instagram stories were on fire!), we all enjoyed a private cocktail masterclass from one of the lovely mixologists from the American Bar and tucked into some delicious canapes – the tuna tartare was amazing!!! We finished off the evening with our very own Eventprofslive cake – we were in heaven in the Royal Suite and certainly didn’t want to leave, we were made to feel so welcome by our hosts and all the staff members who looked after us.
Our group had a fabulous evening at the Savoy, we can’t wait to return! Any events related queries reach out to Julia Mastrogiannaki who will look after you wonderfully – let her know we sent you