Mystery-Check: InterContinental 02 London
London has always been one of most competitive and also most expensive hotel markets out there. While I usually prefer staying in the city, we needed a hotel close to the O2 arena as we had tickets for a show there. As luck would have it, the new InterContinental London O2 recently opened and it seemed like the best option, being only a couple minutes away from the arena.
Coming from the city, the tube appeared to be the best option. Only 20 minutes from Green Park, we arrived at North Greenwich - which is the nearest tube station to the O2 arena- and upon exiting we already saw sings leading towards the InterContinental Hotel.
Check-In was efficient and we were escorted to our Twin Deluxe Riverview Room on the 15th floor. The floor to ceiling windows enabled a great view of Canary Wharf and brought a lot of daylight into the room. The room itself featured two super comfortable European twin beds, as well as a lounge chair and a desk. While I absolutely loved the picture behind the bed, I thought that the room somehow felt aged. That may be due to the carpet, which I did not like at all. However, the bathroom was great. It was extremely well designed and I loved the rainforest shower. Our bathroom came with Anne Semonin amenities, which I haven't had before, though I absolutely loved them! Seems like I will need them at home ;-). As a welcome amenity, we were treated with some “Pascal Caffet“ pralines as well as a selection of fruits.
Due to the fact that the InterContinental Club Lounge just opened that afternoon and I had the honour to be their first guest, the hotel provided complimentary access to their Club Floor (I can check that off my bucket list now ;-) ). The Club Lounge is located on the second floor and is huge. Unfortunately I did not have the chance to check out the evening spread, but the afternoon-tea looked more than promising. Breakfast was excellent again, even though the spread was on the smaller side. (However the quality is top notch)
While the food was great, I thought it’s puzzling that they don’t have a fridge where you can help yourself with soft drinks and water. But I am sure they will have a proper solution for that issue soon.
Due to our tight schedule I only snapped a few pictures of the pool and could not use it. However it looked very nice and I can imagine that it is a great place to relax. Unfortunately the steam room and sauna were still under construction. This is also a very sensitive point, which I do not understand: The hotel and IHG are advertising a great SPA area but there is not even a note on the website that the SPA is actually not fully operating. From my point of view, the hotel should double-check their website. Also I was not amused when I saw a Bosch Tassimo machine, although they are advertising a room with a Nespresso machine. In this case I simply expect it to be an Nespresso machine. Furthermore I wasn’t able to find the Bose sound dock, which is one of essential extra features of a Deluxe room. (according to the IHG website)
Check-Out was a bit of a hassle, since they wanted to charge me for the Club Lounge access. (75GBP per night) After almost 15 minutes the situation was solved (“Club Lounge access was indeed complimentary for you!“) and even though there are better ways to end a hotel stay like this, I still enjoyed it. You should also keep in mind that hotel started operating 6 weeks ago - I am sure many procedures need some time and they will improve for sure.
The final and most important question: Would I return?
This hotel is all about the location. It is unbeatable when you are attending an event at the O2. According to Guest Relation Department there will be a direct access to the arena soon, which makes the InterContinental even more attractive. For sightseeing trips though, the hotel is a little bit off the beaten path and the competitors in the city centre are simply too good.
This review is based on a stay paid with IHG Award Points as we did not inform the hotel about our presence. It represents the opinion of our blogger Niklas Ziegler who was staying at the hotel personally.
