The Principal London: a hotel for the new Bloomsbury Set

Starwood Capital Group will launch its flagship Principal hotel in Russell Square next week, after an £85m refurbishment. Rosalind Mullen finds out what London's latest luxury hotel is bringing to the market

Well, that's all changed. More than two years of building works and an £85m facelift later, the newly christened Principal London has emerged looking more like its beautiful, original self.

Principal's owner, US private investment company Starwood Capital Group, has painstakingly restored the Grade II-listed hotel, with a generous layering of 21st-century facilities and contemporary luxury on top.