The InterContinental O2 hotel was closed last year when the pandemic started, and then bid to become a quarantine hotel for LCY passengers arriving from Red-List countries. On September 18th, the hotel finally re-opened its door after more than a year’s break.
As a “new” hotel, it came with a perk – the award night pricing was relatively low at around 37,000 points compared to £200+ cash rate, at least on some dates. I happened to have an 40k Ambassador Free Night voucher from a recent promotion, and I thought it would be a perfect occasion to redeem it.
The hotel is located near the North Greenwich tube station, however directions are a bit confusing. Coming out of the station you should take the exit for the bus stop, and then you’ll see the signs leading you to the hotel. An alternative is to walk in and out of the O2 centre.
The location is not great for tourists, or anything to be honest unless you are attending an event at O2. Food and drink options are decent though in the shopping centre, and if you are a fan of Chinese hotpot Haidilao is a great venue.
Built in 2016, InterContinental O2 is possibly one of the youngest five-star hotels in London.
I saw in the app that I was pre-upgraded one level to a deluxe room, which isn’t quite generous given my recent experiences at InterContinentals and Kimptons. Upon my enquiry regarding further upgrade possibilities, they assigned me a club room on the 13th floor – with no club benefits of course.
The room is okay, nothing particular to pick on however I’d expect more from a new hotel. On the other hand it’s already showing age – many stains on the carpet, and the bath knob just dropped when I tried to turn it…
The view however, is absolutely stunning. Be sure to book or ask for a river-view room if you stay here.
Gym and spa are fully open now, and no prior reservation is needed.
Again, they are functional but I expect better facilities given it’s a new hotel (see Waldorf Astoria Berlin).
If you pre-book breakfast at check-in you can enjoy a special price of £20pp (as opposed to £25+12.5%), which should be further reduced to £5 thanks to the £15 Ambassador credit. I happily took the offer.
Unfortunately, it is the worst breakfast I’ve ever had at a hotel. There’s no cook-to-order menu and everything is self service except for a few egg-based items (they weren’t able to name them specifically). Variety and quality are appalling.
The bacon is extremely over-salted and barely eatable, which is also used as an ingredient of my omelette. There isn’t a single item in the entire breakfast spread that was acceptable to me. I’m not sure if things are ill-prepared due to the very recent reopening, or if it’s their usual standard.
Hotel staff are very friendly throughout my stay, but also unprofessional. It appears that the Ambassador credit cannot be used in conjunction with the breakfast offer but no one mentioned it to me at check-in, and they agreed to make an exception. I had to point out multiple times that I was the only guest and guess what, they still charged me for two breakfast in the end which took me an email to sort it out.
I believe the hotel has been generally receiving good reviews, but my experience this time was mostly a let-down unfortunately. If you have the 40k Ambassador as well which will expire in a couple of months, it’s not a bad idea to burn it here, but in terms of spending actual cash I’ll think twice.
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