Gardening Travelog

Jungle Hotel Suites Spring Up in London

Productivity Suite living room

If you have plans to stay in London over the next few weeks, perhaps you might want to reconnect with nature by staying in a biophilic* hotel room. 

*Biophilic? Yes, I had to look that up too. It means the urge to affiliate with other forms of life” and it’s ever so fashionable!

In the trendy Leman Locke Hotel in hip East London, three designers have each transformed a studio suite into a plant sanctuary. 

Each suite has been hung with houseplants, carefully selected to evoke the individual rooms’ themes of Productivity, Tranquil, and Romance. Together, they’re three excellent examples of how houseplants can boost well-being, intimacy and reduce stress, and the guests who stay in the suites will have the chance of experiencing all this positivity for themselves. Lucky them!

Room 1: Productivity Suite

Designed by Oliver Heath

Oliver Heath
Productivity Suite bedroom
Productivity Suite dining nook

Perfect for nomadic workers and business travelers, this suite is adorned with Boston ferns, peace lilies and snake plants, all renowned for their productivity-inducing properties. It also includes a binaural beats audio experience: it’s the latest audio-based sound wave therapy designed to sharpen focus and stimulate creativity. If you’re feeling peckish, then you only have to open the door to the minibar for even more plant wonders. They’ve transformed the standard hotel offering into a plant-based fuel station, offering power snacks and even a CBD oil shot. 

Room 2: Romance Suite

Designed by Nik Southern 

Nik Southern
Romantic Suite living room
Romantic Suite bedroom

This heady romantic respite is a shrine to sensuality. If you stay the night here in the Romance Suite, you’ll fall in love with the botanical canopy over the bed. It’s an ode to intimacy that cocoons couples in a lush green blend of cascading plants. Lying on the bed, you and your partner can enjoy the sights of the natural botanical world, relax to the sounds of the Romance playlist, sip on the suite’s exclusive aphrodisiac cocktail (designed to boost feelings of romantic passion), and let all those green plant fragrances excite the senses.   

Room 3: Tranquil Suite

Designed by Mr. Plant Geek, Michael Perry 

Mr. Plant Geek
Tranquil Suite living room
Tranquil Suite bedroom
Tranquil Suite spa room

This tranquil indoor jungle is absolutely packed with tropical plants. Mr. Plant Geek created an oasis of calm in the city that gives guests a forest-bathing experience without having to take even a step out of London. Featuring houseplants like bromeliads and monstera varieties from Monstera deliciosa to M. obliqua, this suite fully harnesses the relaxing power of plants. Guests will have the chance to experience a wonderfully immersive plant-bathing soak in the tub, relax in a dedicated plant meditation space, and appreciate the deep sleep created by the clean sleep zone, filled with the world’s most air-purifying plants.

Bookable stays

Would you like to try one of these suites for yourself? 

The three hotel suites will be open to the public to book a stay until 10 November 2019. Booking to stay can be made via email through thejoyofplants@lockeliving.com. All bookings for the three rooms made directly via the email will automatically receive a 15% discount.

How much will a stay cost? Well, it’s one of those questions where, if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it. 

OK, I am exaggerating a bit. They’re luxury suites and they’re not cheap, but there are far more expensive hotel rooms in the world. On the hotel’s web site, I saw rates of £216 per night for a regular suite. I’m sure the jungle suites are even more expensive. That’s pricey, but not unaffordable.

My Choice

Assuming the mossy carpet in the Tranquil Suite living room really is made of living moss, that’s the one I’d pick. After all, any suite designed by a plant geek is perfect for me!

But I have a question:

Are we allowed to take cuttings?

Information and photos from www.thejoyofplants.co.uk.

Garden writer and blogger, author of 65 gardening books, lecturer and communicator, the Laidback Gardener, Larry Hodgson, passed away in October 2022. Known for his great generosity, his thoroughness and his sense of humor, he reached several generations of amateur and professional gardeners over his 40-year career. Thanks to his son, Mathieu Hodgson, and a team of contributors, laidbackgardener.blog will continue its mission of demystifying gardening and making it more accessible to all.

4 comments on “Jungle Hotel Suites Spring Up in London

  1. Soon I will be in London for a few days. I want to visit all the most interesting places during these days. I have booked a car on rental24.co.uk so I will be able to get anywhere. Can you recommend anything interesting in the city or nearby?

  2. If I were to ever go to London, I would prefer to stay in a hotel that looks like ‘London’. As a horticulturist, I would find it difficult to appreciate all those exotic species in such synthetic situations anyway. I certainly enjoy houseplants, especially since I still grow a few species that I bought here from the milder climates of the Los Angeles region, but I do not try to pretend that there is anything natural about them.

  3. nancy marie allen

    Fun post – I loved that moss rug! And, I got some great ideas on how to display more plants in my own home . . . perfect timing for bringing in our outdoor plants to overwinter.

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