HotelChatter

The hotel's website is going for the mysterious approach, with its "need to know basis only" message and deliberate blocking out of text here and there. What we can tell you is that there will be Conran-designed interiors throughout and two restaurants: Angler, a British seafood, rooftop restaurant with chef Tony Fleming at the helm, and all-day dining at 3 South Place (the hotel's address) on the ground floor.

Playing around with the online reservation system, we can find four different room types: Dominion and South Place rooms (the latter with king or twin beds), studios, and top-floor Suite 610. There are Bang & Olufsen flat-screen TVs in the rooms, with Suite 610 "a showcase for the very best in sound and vision that B&O has to offer, including three Beovision screens". Importantly, WiFi is listed as free.

There will be five meeting and private dining rooms, a gym and wellness center, and no less than three bars, one with a 24-hour license and after-hour DJs. We're curious what the resident's games room will feature: pool tables? Guests getting social around a game of Twister?

An entire window (2450mm in height by 1350mm in width) on the ground floor is designated as the showcase for what will be an annual competition, the South Place Hotel Art Prize. Open to MA graduates of London art schools, a prize of £5000 ($7800) is to be had, with £1000 ($1560) towards materials and expenses. The 2012 competition closed earlier this month, so the first winner will be on display when the hotel opens.

Reservations are accepted from September 3 and we found availability for a weekend that month in an entry-level Dominion room, which has a king bed and 280 sq ft of space, for £222 ($346) on a no change, no cancellation basis.

We'll keep you posted as we get closer to opening day and have a chance to check out what's inside South Place Hotel.

[Photos: HotelChatter]