{"id":24659,"date":"2025-08-09T22:33:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T21:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/?p=24659"},"modified":"2025-08-09T22:33:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T21:33:19","slug":"my-review-of-park-plaza-riverbank-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/2025\/08\/09\/my-review-of-park-plaza-riverbank-london\/","title":{"rendered":"My review of Park Plaza Riverbank, London"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Radisson Blu Riverside promotion was coming to an end, and I still had just over 20,000 points sitting in my account – far too many to let go to waste. I asked a friend back in China to help me snag the last available night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No need to make a special trip somewhere far away; I decided to simply enjoy a little staycation in London. Last time I stayed at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge<\/a>, so this time I went for the Riverbank hotel<\/a> \u2014 also part of the Park Plaza brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compared with the other three Park Plaza properties along the South Bank, the Riverside isn\u2019t as well located. The nearest Tube station is a ten-minute walk away. That said, it\u2019s quiet, still right by the Thames, and just a short distance from the U.S. Embassy. Unsurprisingly, it attracts many American guests, much like the Hyatt next door (formerly a Crowne Plaza).<\/p>\n\n\n

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At check-in, I was greeted by a new front desk agent, clearly still learning the ropes but very friendly. At first, she thought I had to pay; the system showed a nightly rate of over \u00a3130, while my cost for buying the points was less than \u00a360.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The night before, the app had already shown an upgrade to an Executive River View room. I wasn\u2019t entirely satisfied, so I asked if anything better was available. After checking with the manager, the agent offered to upgrade me to a one-bedroom suite (but without a view). Of course, I had to give it a try!<\/p>\n\n\n

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Interestingly, the pre-arrival email had also listed paid upgrade options: \u00a340 for a one-bedroom suite, \u00a350 for a river-view suite, both reasonable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My suite was on the 4th floor. Stepping inside, there was a living room first:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Then the bedroom:<\/p>\n\n\n

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And the bathroom:<\/p>\n\n\n

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The decor clearly showed the hotel\u2019s age – simple and understated – but everything was in working order. Robes, slippers, and a capsule coffee machine were all provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew it didn\u2019t have a view, but I wasn\u2019t expecting the window to open directly onto railway tracks. Even worse, the soundproofing was poor. I hurried back to the front desk and asked to switch back to the Executive River View room. In fact, this room turned out to be more appealing overall. Despite the official listing of 26 sqm, it felt larger in person.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The river view is clearly one of the hotel\u2019s main selling points, and it would be even prettier on a sunny day.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The welcome gift included two bottles of mineral water, two bottles of coke, and two drink vouchers. Not particularly valuable, but a nice touch nonetheless.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The hotel does have an executive lounge, but unfortunately access is no longer complimentary. Radisson\u2019s so-called \u201cVIP Access\u201d benefit is vaguely defined at best. The view from the 12th floor must be quite good, so I took a sneaky photo through the door crack:<\/p>\n\n\n

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The gym is on the first floor:<\/p>\n\n\n

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The pool requires advance booking via QR code.<\/p>\n\n\n

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It\u2019s small, hence the need for capacity limits, but it gets natural light, which is nice. There\u2019s also a sauna and steam room:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Breakfast is also served on the first floor.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The spread seemed more generous than at Westminster Bridge, with the interesting addition of some Middle Eastern dishes, not something you often see in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Compared with the excellent Westminster Bridge property, the Riverside Park Plaza is really only average in most respects apart from its view. For its location, the rates aren\u2019t especially competitive either. I originally booked here mainly for the executive lounge, but since access isn\u2019t included anymore, it loses much of its appeal. If you\u2019re visiting London, I\u2019d still recommend heading straight for the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Radisson Blu Riverside promotion was coming to an end, and I still had just over 20,000 points sitting in my account – far too many...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,39],"tags":[128],"class_list":["post-24659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-radisson-rewards","category-uk","tag-hotel-review"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24659"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24661,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24659\/revisions\/24661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}