[3] The hotel gained widespread publicity in 1934 when Edwards named his de Havilland DH.88 Comet racer after it and won the MacRobertson England-Australia Air Race.

Ten thousand sandbags and five miles of blackout material protected the building, and its entertaining space was used in the war effort.

[5] The original scheme for the hotel was not finally realised until the 1950s because Bruno, Baron Schröder, who had acquired the lease of 35, Park Street in about 1910, had refused to give it up to Edwards.

The hotel drew protests in 2017 when it hosted the annual gathering of the Aerospace Defence Security group (ADS), a trade association which represents arms companies.

Campaigners stood outside the hotel and held banners protesting the role of some ADS member companies in the arming of Saudi Arabia during its attack on Yemen.

[11] In November 2018, it was announced that Katara Hospitality (owned by the Qatar Investment Authority) was buying the hotel for an undisclosed sum.

[citation needed] Dance music was first relayed from the hotel for BBC national broadcasts in 1929, conducted by American bandleader Jack Harris, sometimes deputised by Joseph Meeus.

[14] Sydney Lipton took over as resident bandleader in 1933 and conducted at the hotel most nights, with the regular radio broadcasts continuing.

[15] Among Lipton's musicians were the instrumentalists Ted Heath, George Evans, Billy Munn, Harry Hayes, Bill McGuffie, Freddy Gardner, Max Goldberg and Max Abrams, and the singers Anona Wynn, Primrose Hayes, Les Allen, and Chips Chippindall, as well as Lipton's daughter Celia.