London has a new hotel brand. Axiom Hospitality has relaunched three central London properties — previously trading as Radisson Blu in Fitzrovia, Bloomsbury and Marble Arch — under the name Guild Hotels, with a full rebrand and a guest experience built around the idea of craft.
The name nods to London's historic guilds and the makers and tradespeople who shaped the city. It shows up in the details: a maker's-stamp-style hallmark embossed on guest directories and coasters, a signature scent blending amber, cedar, citrus and clove, bone china mugs printed with London skylines by East London Prints, and staff uniforms inspired by classic British tailoring — wool-mix waistcoats, leather-trimmed aprons and brown brogues. Illustrator Sarah Kirby has even produced a commissioned linocut celebrating everyone from bartenders to housekeeping, which appears on key cards and in-room materials.
There's real money behind the facelift. More than £20 million has gone into the Fitzrovia and Bloomsbury properties alone. Guild Hotel Bloomsbury has had all 186 bedrooms refurbished, while Guild Hotel Fitzrovia has seen all 330 rooms and suites redone with new Italian joinery and updated interiors. A second wave of work runs through 2026/27, covering Bloomsbury's public areas and the conference facilities at Fitzrovia.
One practical point for loyalty programme members: although the Radisson Blu name is gone, the hotels will still be distributed through Radisson's network and guests can still earn and burn Radisson Rewards points. Axiom describes the service ethos as 'Crafted Hospitality' — the reliability of a group hotel but without a rigid corporate playbook, with staff encouraged to bring their own London knowledge into the stay. In practice that aims for something closer to an independent hotel's character, with the backing of a bigger operation.
Why should travellers care? The three addresses sit in genuinely useful central locations — Bloomsbury for the British Museum and Russell Square, Fitzrovia for Oxford Street and the Wallace Collection, Marble Arch for Hyde Park and the West End — and rooms at this scale and standard in zone 1 rarely come cheap. If the refurbishments are as thorough as billed, they could be a smart mid-range pick for a city break, particularly if you're already sitting on Radisson Rewards points. It's worth checking which of the three has been fully refreshed if you're booking before the 2026/27 works wrap up, as Bloomsbury's public spaces and Fitzrovia's conference areas are still in the pipeline.
