Hotel News is brought to you by Guarantee Laundries
Pan Pacific London has been awarded its first MICHELIN Key, joining the hotels recognised by the MICHELIN Guide for delivering some of the most outstanding hospitality experiences in the UK and Ireland.
The City of London hotel received One MICHELIN Key in the Guide’s 2026 selection, announced on 18 September. Pan Pacific London was among 18 new Key hotels recognised across the UK and Ireland this year and one of four new recipients in London.
Introduced as the hotel equivalent of the MICHELIN Star, the MICHELIN Key assesses the complete hotel experience. Inspectors consider five criteria: excellence in architecture and interior design, quality and consistency of service, personality and character, value in relation to the price paid, and the hotel’s contribution to its neighbourhood or setting.
One MICHELIN Key denotes what the Guide describes as “a very special stay”, recognising hotels with distinctive character and an experience that goes beyond what might normally be expected within their category.
For Pan Pacific London, that assessment encompasses a hotel that has established a distinctive identity since opening in the City in 2021.
Part of the One Bishopsgate Plaza development and designed by PLP Architecture, with hotel interiors by Yabu Pushelberg, Pan Pacific London combines contemporary architecture with interiors drawing on both its London location and the Asian heritage of the Pan Pacific brand. Its 237 rooms and suites blend English garden influences with Asian references, while the SENSORY Spa & Wellbeing floor includes an 18.5 metre infinity pool, treatment rooms, relaxation spaces, a wellbeing studio and gym.
Importantly, accessibility forms a significant part of how that hotel environment has been designed and operates.
Of its 237 bedrooms, 24 are designed to be spatially accessible to wheelchair users, including 12 fully fitted wheelchair-accessible rooms and two equipped with tracking hoists in both the bedroom and bathroom. The hotel also provides a Changing Places facility, accessible WCs across its public areas and a pool hoist within its SENSORY Spa & Wellbeing floor. The extent of that provision was previously recognised through the AA Accessible Award for 2023/24.
Pan Pacific London is also an operator member of Accessible Hospitality Alliance (aha). Earlier this year the hotel appointed Reino De Villiers, Director of Security, Safety & Sustainability, as its Access Champion, giving accessibility a senior operational remit within the business and connecting the hotel with fellow Access Champions through The Access Champions Collective.
Food and drink are equally central to the hotel’s identity. Straits Kitchen brings Southeast Asian flavours together with modern Western cooking techniques, alongside Ginger Lily Bar & Lounge and the hotel’s wider food and beverage offer.
The MICHELIN Guide itself draws attention to the relationship between Pan Pacific London’s physical surroundings and its identity, noting the hotel’s contemporary tower, interiors by Yabu Pushelberg and the way its design references both the City of London and the Far Eastern heritage of the Singapore-based Pan Pacific brand.
The latest recognition also follows Pan Pacific London being named Best Employer at the 2026 Cateys, adding another dimension to a year in which the relationship between the hotel’s people and its guest experience has been recognised.
That connection between the people working within the hotel and the experience delivered to guests was central to Pan Pacific London’s response to receiving its first MICHELIN Key.
Michelle Whittemore, Director of Marketing Communications, Pan Pacific London, said: “This recognition belongs to our team, whose warmth, care and pride in what they do make Pan Pacific London such a special place to stay. Receiving our first MICHELIN Key is a proud moment for all of us and reflects the thoughtful work that happens every day, often quietly behind the scenes.
“The Key recognises the whole experience: the character and design of a hotel, its connection to its neighbourhood, the consistency of its service and comfort, and the value it offers guests. Our team brings these qualities to life with genuine hospitality, and the senior leadership team and I are grateful to every colleague for the part they have played.”
Commercial reality exposed: accessibility is strategic investment, not just compliance
Hotel News is brought to you by Guarantee Laundries
