Why it’s good for business

If ever there was a time not to re-open a five-star hotel, it was last year, just as the economy went sour. But Luton Hoo – the latest addition to the Elite Hotels portfolio alongside Tylney Hall in Hampshire, Ashdown Park in East Sussex and the Grand in Eastbourne – is looking at the long term to recoup the £60 million it has invested in renovating the house and gardens over a period of nine years.

Arriving up the driveway, there is a real wow moment on seeing the mansion house. There is no surprise why - the more than 1,000 acres of gardens were landscaped by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, who specialises in this idea of occasional glimpses of the house from the approach. His work on Luton Hoo was his second most expensive scheme to transform the grounds of any building in the UK after Blenheim Palace. The grounds now include an 18-hole golf course, although it has no bunkers because of their listed nature.

If the mansion house that eventually appears reminds you of the British Museum that’s because its architect Sir Robert Smirke designed its pillared west front.

If the grounds are stunning, the interior matches them. If you like grand staircases, Luton Hoo has a humdinger of one. The oval staircase was designed by Mewes and Davis – who were the architects of the Ritz in London – and curls up the side of a vast hall around a statue by Bergonzoli of an angel and a woman. It’s the sort of staircase that you would imagine some foreign president walking down flanked by bodyguards to give a press conference.

The grade 1 listed mansion has some spectacular, chandelier-lit rooms. The Pillared Hall, with a rich red, gold and faun colour scheme, is dotted with high-backed armchairs.

The house and grounds have been used extensively in films – parts of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Eyes Wide Shut and The World Is Not Enough were shot here.

Ranked up outside are a series of Hackney cabs with registration plates LHOO1 to 4. The cabs, which run on farmer’s diesel, are former London cabs that have been refurbished and are now used to ferry guests around the estate.

In the grounds of the estate, the hotel has just opened a new purpose built meeting venue called Warren Weir, including five function rooms, 84 bedrooms and dedicated leisure facilities, including a snooker room, fitness studio and a pool. The venue has been designed in the Arts and Crafts style – wooden furniture and simplistic floral designs

Luton Hoo has excellent transport connections. Luton Airport is very close by – although this means you do get planes flying overhead nearby – and the hotel is a few minutes off junction 10 of the M1. Luton Airport Parkway train station has connections to London and the south coast via Gatwick Airport on Frist Capital Connect as well as trains to the north including Sheffield.

The room

There are 35 rooms in the main house and another 38 in the recently built but sympathetic Parkland Wing. The mansion house rooms are all different and have original features such as marble fireplaces, ornate ceilings and panelled walls. Parkland rooms are more modern in their design.