From basement builds to rooftops, revamped Whitehall ministries and once-were embassies, the capital’s hotels are in an opulence arms race to lure exacting guests

Jay Gatsby would have simply adored post-pandemic London. High-end hotels are springing up around the capital at Monopoly-board rates, filled with such an embarrassment of extravagances that even F Scott Fitzgerald might have struggled to parody.

But there are signs that the luxury boom is reaching its limit. Room rates at new places such as the Peninsula and Raffles at the OWO have dipped from a coronary-inducing £1,300-a-night to merely eye-watering levels of just under £900, travel agents say.