Page 84 - StudyTravel Magazine August 2018 Issue

every year since 1841 (apart from during ‘Grosvenor House’, which was owned by
the Boer War, World War I, World War II Alfred Octavius Edwards, Lease Owner
and after the death of Edward VII in May and Chairman of the Grosvenor House
1910). Other events include concerts by Hotel. The plane travelled between
the Beatles and boxing tournaments. RAF Mildenhall in East Anglia, UK, and
During the Second World War, the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne,
hotel was used for the UK’s war effort Australia, in two days and 23 hours – 10
– at one stage it was an annexe to the hours ahead of the second plane.
Immigration section of the US Embassy – The hotel has changed hands many
and the Great Room became the Officer’s times between 1996 and the present. The
Sunday Club where it was used for the latest acquisition was by the US-based
entertainment of 300,000 officers. In 1943 Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. in 2017 who
it became the US officer’s mess room and bought the hotel for a rumoured US$600
served 5.5 million meals over two years. million but the hotel has been managed
The hotel has many historic on a long lease by Marriott International
associations, including the Mac Robertson since 2004. The hotel was re-branded as
Air Race to Australia in 1934, part of the a JW Marriott Hotel in 2008 after a four-
Melbourne centenary celebrations. The year, multi-million pound restoration.
race was won by The most luxurious rooms in
a De Havilland Grosvenor House are the Royal
Comet named Suites, which are available for an
eye-watering UK£5,000 (US$6,578)
a night, and offer an enviable
view over Hyde Park. For those
with a smaller budget however,
afternoon tea – at UK£42.50 (US$56) per
person or UK£55 (US$72) to include a
glass of rosé champagne – might be a
more manageable option to experience
the views of Hyde Park from the newly
refurbished Park Room.

25 | ST STAR AWARDS SupplemenT | AuGuST 2018