{"id":12337,"date":"2022-05-30T19:18:02","date_gmt":"2022-05-30T18:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/?p=12337"},"modified":"2022-05-30T19:18:04","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T18:18:04","slug":"my-review-of-cliveden-house-a-mr-mrs-smith-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/2022\/05\/30\/my-review-of-cliveden-house-a-mr-mrs-smith-hotel\/","title":{"rendered":"My review of Cliveden House, A Mr & Mrs Smith Hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Its partnership with Mr and Mrs Smith<\/a> adds a lot of excellent hotels to IHG’s portfolio. IHG members enjoy Smith Extras when staying with them, which usually means a bottle of Champagne, a box of chocolate or sometimes free breakfast. Ambassador members are also entitled to GoldSmith <\/mark><\/strong>benefits<\/a>, which includes space-available room upgrade and potentially enhanced Smith Extras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can redeem IHG points on reward stays at Mr & Mrs Smith hotels too, at a rate of $6.2 per 1K points roughly. Even better, the free night voucher issued by the UK Creation credit card is valid on them as well, although I’m not sure if it’s a bug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the best redemptions in Europe is probably The Retreat at Blue Lagoon<\/a> in Iceland.<\/p>\n\n\n

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There are many outstanding choices in the UK too, and my decision went with the Cliveden House<\/a> in the end simply because it’s closest to London. There are a few properties in the same league, such as Lucknam Park<\/a>, Chewton Glen<\/a> and Heckfield Place<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IHG paid \u00a31,200 for the night.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Cliveden House is at the centre of the Cliveden National Trust, which is about one hour’s drive from central London. Hotel guests need to pay \u00a318 per person as a result, unless you have a valid National Trust membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only other similar property that I’ve ever stayed at is the Langley<\/a>, a Luxury Collection hotel. In terms of the neighbourhood Cliveden House wins hands down. Langley is only a local park which isn’t well taken care of, whereas Cliveden is a very well maintained National Trust site and probably one of the nicest parks you can find near London.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A beautiful boulevard leads you to the house.<\/p>\n\n\n

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There are a huge lawn and mazes at the back of the house. You can follow the steps down to River Thames.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Cliveden House was built in the 17th century by Duke of Buckingham as a hunting lodge for his mistress and guests. It was bought by William Waldorf Astor in the 19th century, and you can still see the name Astor in many places.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Meghan Markle stayed here in 2018 the night before the Royal Wedding.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The house was last renovated in 2015. It doesn’t look as new as The Langley, but ages well.<\/p>\n\n\n

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IHG’s IT system is a mystery, and I don’t know how they decide what room type you can redeem vouchers for. I was able to use mine on Deluxe Room with Hot Tub, which is only one level below the suites and almost doubles the cost of a standard room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The room is located at the same wing as the spa centre.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Cliveden House has no room numbers, and instead rooms are named after titles. I’m Load Lothian obviously, which doesn’t sound bad at all \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n

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There’s a wardrobe once I enter the room, with the bathroom to the right and bedroom to the left.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The room is nothing much to write about, except for the bed which is quite comfy. There’s a nice tub in the bathroom, but trust me you won’t need it!<\/p>\n\n\n

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Best feature of this room is a small terrace:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Plus a private hot tub:<\/p>\n\n\n

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The terrace is connected right to the swimming pool. I don’t even need to check in at the spa centre!<\/p>\n\n\n

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The facilities are great. The swimming pool is quite deep though (1.83m) and too scary for an amateur like me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to my observations, there are a total of four rooms with a terrace, and mine is the only one that has direct access to the swimming pool. Privacy may be one concern though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend who visited the following week told me there’s actually an indoor swimming pool, and took a photo for me.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Smith Extras are a small bottle of Laurent Perrier and some chocolate \/ snacks. No room upgrade is offered, but to be honest I don’t really want to sacrifice my terrace for a suite \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n\n\n

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For breakfast there are two options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n