“When the City is well, all is well,” rejoice London’s up market hotel directors. There, perhaps more than anywhere else, the hotel industry is very closely related to the economic activity of the world’s finance, banking and insurance capital. “Growth is steady. Foreign investment– mostly American – has been very high,” observes Christoph Mares, general manager of Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park. Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange are making high profits and are less hesitant about spending in the British capital’s grand hotels. Business meetings follow one after the other to the same rhythm as mergers and acquisitions. “We are doing very well. In 2005, we reached an occupancy rate of 77% with an average daily rate of 400 pounds Editor’s note: 600 euros). And this year we should do even better with 82%,” confirms François Delahaye, COO of the Dorchester Group, which took the name of the eponymous luxury hotel.The effect of the Olympic Games 2012, whose plan is an integral part of this regeneration of East London, could do a great deal for the popularity of the area. So will the next decades shine for London’s up-market hotels? Jamie Tamage would like to believe it: “Even if London is already a mature market, the development of tourism and the exposure it will receive from the Olympic Games are a good omen. The population should grow by 100,000 over the next twenty years. All this will support the dynamics of the economy, which will absorb the new openings”.Even the terrorist attacks on July 7, 2005 did not manage to cast a shadow over London. And, to top it all off, London’s hotels still cannot sit down to rest over a well-earned cup of tea. “The forecast for the years to come shows that this trend will continue,” explains...