Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London

The building at 66 Knightsbridge opened in 1889 as a gentlemen's club and became a hotel in 1902, its Victorian facade looking straight out across Hyde Park. A list of guests that runs from George VI and Winston Churchill to Elizabeth II passed through the Royal Entrance, the discreet park-side door that still gives the event floors their direct access to the garden. Joyce Wang led the most recent restoration, taking her cue from the park setting, the hotel's royal heritage, and the glamour of early 20th-century travel.

The Ballroom is the set piece: 243 square metres of 24-carat gilding, crystal chandeliers, and floor-to-ceiling windows facing the park, with its own private garden and terrace. Below and around it sit a sequence of lighter, more intimate rooms. The Loggia, panelled in white and sage with a single gold chandelier and a wall of arched windows, opens onto the garden through the Royal Entrance. The Carlyle Suite carries bas-relief panels and a deep blue carpet across a space that divides into east and west halves. On the lower ground floor, the contemporary Asquith and Balfour rooms handle smaller gatherings.

For a private DJ event the appeal is range and address. The Ballroom holds a serious dance floor and reception in one of the most photographed rooms on the park; the Loggia and Carlyle Suite work for a more contained evening with the same gilded interiors. An events team runs the floor with in-house catering drawn from the hotel kitchens. The one we keep coming back to is the Loggia, where the garden doors and the light make a small party feel like a much grander one.