For my recent trip, London was my first stop and what better way for me to use the Intercontinental Ambassador Weekend Night certificate than to use it on this top end Intercontinental property. One of the perks of the Ambassador program is the Weekend Night where you get a free night stay when you make a booking of 2 nights over the weekend period (Friday to Sunday Night for most regions). Depending on the property, this constitutes a big saving (in my case, 630 GBP). Besides the free stay, you will get a guaranteed upgrade to the next level room. I had to book the Studio Suite room as that is the lowest level room that comes with complimentary club lounge access. For all other rooms, lounge access will cost you 96 pound per night per 2 persons (which is fairly exorbitant!). With this benefit, we were upgraded to the 1 bedroom suite.
The hotel is certainly well located in the up market Park Lane/Mayfair area (the most expensive plot on the Monopoly J ). It is within walking distance to many spots such as Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park and Kensington Park, Piccadilly, Knightsbridge etc. It can also connect to other parts of London easily as the Hyde Park Underground station is just at the doorstep.
We checked in at the common area as there was no crowd and things moved pretty fast. The one bedroom suite is certainly spacious at 46 sq meters (especially for central London). Being a suite, there is a separate bedroom from the living room. Being an old hotel, the room does look a little dated but it’s not any less cozy. There is a work desk in the living room, a sofa with a glass table and a TV console. Fridge and Nespresso machine is available. A large sliding door separates the living from the bedroom. There is a king bed provided, but on closer inspection it is actually made up of 2 single (or super single) bed joined together. This is certainly less comfortable than having a true King bed. There is a spacious walk in wardrobe with a large safe box, giving you ample space to store your luggage. The bathroom is certainly spacious and comes with a bath tub and a passive heater to warm up your towel. The drawback however is that the room is quite dimly lit and the bathroom floor lacks heating. This makes it very uncomfortable for one to walk in the bathroom without slippers as the marble flooring makes it very cold to touch during winter.
The executive rooms in Parklane Intercontinental no longer come with complimentary lounge entry. Entry into lounge for lower rooms cost 96 pound per night (for 2 persons). Entry is complimentary however, for suites. The lounge serves a very good breakfast selection, an excellent afternoon tea with good alcoholic selections for evening cocktail (including champagne!).
The lounge is big and the double height ceiling certainly helps to make it feel larger. The double height windows give one a good view of the city area (overlooking the Wellington Arch and Buckingham Palace).
The lounge staffs were very pleasant and friendly and will be more than happy to introduce the canapés to you and to offer you recommendations for drinks.
Club Intercontinental Lounge
Evening Cocktail
Breakfast selections
Overall, Intercontinental Park Lane is certainly a luxurious hotel situated in a very strategic spot in Central London. The rooms are huge (especially the suite) and the club lounge is certainly excellent. However, the rooms are in need of some refurbishing (and hopefully with better and brighter lightings). Hopefully they can provide a real king bed too. However, the price is certainly steep (a common problem for London hotels) and without the weekend night certificate, I would certainly think twice before staying here.
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