The Intercontinental London Park Lane is conveniently located across the road from Hyde Park Corner Underground Station on the Piccadilly line.

The entrance foyer is rather cramped and the two door men were too busy talking to each other than helping us with our luggage or opening the door.

As you enter the main lobby you have to immediately go down a small number of steps to reach the main reception.

The main lobby is pleasant enough but not particularly grand like a number of other five star hotels. Although it has only just been refurbished, the design gives the impression of a luxury hotel from the late 70’s, very nice quality but rather dark and small. Please don’t let this initial part of the hotel put you off, after all it is only an entrance and without knocking half of the building down and starting again it would be very hard to make any major change here. The Priority Club check-in desk is to the left of the reception desks.

The reception is immediately in front of you as you enter, to your right is the Theo Randlle Italian Restaurant which has received excellent reviews but we didn’t use on this occasion. To your left is the concierge and guest relations desks and in the far left is the main bar and another brassiere style restaurant.

We approached reception and were immediately welcomed by a member of staff.

Prior to our arrival at the hotel we were emailed a questionnaire asking all about our trip, any extras that we may require, magazines, butler, flowers, restaurant reservations etc. This I thought was very good.

The member of staff informed us that we had been upgraded from the 1 Bedroom Suite that we had booked to a 1 Bedroom Luxury Suite. We were given our key cards, a quick explanation that we could use the Club Intercontinental Lounge on the 7th floor and shown to the lifts. We weren’t accompanied to our suite and no assistance was given with luggage however we did only have two small overnight bags so it wasn’t really needed.

We arrived at our suite (room 410) on the 4th floor, the electronic key card to open the door worked first time (quite a challenge for some hotels I assure you!).

On entering the suite there is a small hallway with a guest bathroom (toilet and vanity washbasin together with a large bottle of Elemis Hand wash and Elemis Moisturiser), small round table with a box of tissues.

Opposite the guest bathroom is a full length mirror and an area for baggage, etc.

Further into the suite is a dining table for four persons, on the table was a welcome card from the hotel manager, a box of Duchy of Cornwall biscuits, a small bowl of fruit and a 750ml bottle of English still water.

Next to the dining table was a desk with the normal internet connections, multi line phone etc; in the drawer was a WIFI repeater to ensure a good internet connection.

The dining area leads onto the main part of the living room consisting of a nice comfy sofa, two arm chairs and a floor lamp together with a coffee table and two side tables. These are positioned around a very nice wood panelled wall unit with a built in 32” Bang & Olufsen LCD TV, a separate Bose Wave Sound System and Bang & Olufsen DVD Player.

The TV has various languages; English, Czech, Danish, German, Russian, Estonian, Spanish, French, Greek, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Finish, Swedish and Turkish.

The TV has the following channels: BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky News, CNN, BBC News Channel, BBC World, Bloomberg, CNBC, Al Jazeera International (English language), Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 3, Sky Sports News, Eurosport, Al Jazeera Sports 1 (Arabic), Al Jazeera Sports 2 (Arabic), Dubai Sports (Arabic), Quatar TV (Arabic), Saudi 1 (Arabic), Saudi 2 (Arabic), Dubai TV (Arabic), Abu Dhabi TV (Arabic), Al Arabiya (Arabic), Al Jazeera (Arabic), MBC, MBC 2, TV 5 (French), Das Erste, ARD (German), LBC (Arabic), Rotana Musica (Arabic), CBBC, C Beebies, Rai Uno (Italian), TVE International (Spanish), RTP International (Portuguese), ERT Sat (Greek), RTR Planeta (Russian), TRT International (Turkish), JSTV (Japanese), CCTV 9 (Chinese), PCNE (Japanese).

Internet can also be accessed through the TV using the wireless keyboard at a charge of £27 for a 24 period for unlimited use of Movies on demand, Music on demand (separate to the Bose Wave sound system which is free) and internet through the TV.

The coffee table in front of the sofa had the selection of magazines we had requested on the pre stay questionnaire plus a couple of extra ones, all current issues.

The view from the living room window was amazing; we looked directly down onto Wellington Arch, The New Zealand War Memorial and Hyde Park Corner.

The living room has a nice thick double door (walnut wood) leading through to the bedroom.

The bedroom has a large King Sized bed, attractively decorated with many large pillows. The sheets were of excellent quality, the bed had down comforters and were very comfortable.

The bedroom also had its own Bang & Olufsen LCD TV again built into a wooded wall unit.
There was a large mirror hidden behind a little door in the wall unit and this could also be utilised as a dressing table.

Next to the bed was a second Bose Wave Sound System which also acted as the bedside alarm clock and radio.

The bedroom lighting was very good, two bedside lamps, over head reading lights and even a little night light next to the bathroom door built into the floor (can be turned off). The bedroom had the same view as the living room.

There was also a good sized wardrobe, build in drawers, ironing board, a proper hairdryer, laptop safe, valet box with shoe shine bag (leave outside for complimentary shoe shine), laundry bag and shoe horn.

There was another small area for luggage to be left.

The bedroom leads onto the bathroom area.

The bathroom had a large bath with a good ergonomic design which supported you whilst bathing, the bath had a build in handheld shower head should you wish to wash your hair whilst in the bath. There was a double vanity unit, a separate shower cubicle with rain head shower, a toilet and bidet.

There were copious amounts of Elemis Toiletries, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion and soap. These were all in 100ml bottles and we had 3 of each type.

There was a good amount of towels, large bath sheets, floor mats and two large robes.

Once we had unpacked we headed up to the Club Lounge on the 7th Floor.

Club Lounge access is free for all guests residing in a suite. For non suite guests there is an additional charge which is listed on their website.

The lounge has its own reception desk leading into a hallway with male and female toilets (again Elemis Toiletries) and a separate shower room for those arriving early when the room isn’t ready.

As you turn left you enter the main part of the Club Lounge, the ceiling rises and you are greeted with an excellent view of Wellington Arch and Hyde Park Corner from the large floor to ceiling windows that run the entire length of the room.

There are different seating areas including sofas, more formal dining tables and individual stools against a runner like in a coffee shop.

The Lounge has three computers (two windows laptops and one apple notebook) with complimentary internet access.

There are two large plasma screen TV’s with sofas facing them at opposite ends of the lounge, these were showing Sky News on our arrival but they could be changed if you ask the staff.

At the far end of the lounge is a library area with a good selection of magazines and travel books together with national and international newspapers.

In the centre of the lounge is a raised area with the complimentary buffet.

Coffee and Tea (loose leaf and many varieties) are available all day either by self service or by asking a member of staff. There are also fridges with very nice fresh fruit juice, water and other soft drinks. You could ask for other drinks from the staff.

A selection of nibbles, crisps, nuts and rice crackers were always available.

There was also a selection of small cakes and biscuits available next to the coffee.

A lunch a selection of sandwiches with various different fillings are put out and regularly replenished together with a good selection of cakes.

At 1500hrs afternoon tea is served with a help yourself selection of sandwiches, cakes, tea cakes, scones, James and cream. Tea and coffee can be made by a member of staff if asked. All were very nice and you could help yourself to Complimentary champagne.

At 1800hrs an evening selection of nibbles, olives, crisps together with a full bar (help yourself again!) and hot canapés such as tempura prawns, chicken satay and even club sandwiches were served, together with a selection of cheeses with biscuits and cakes. There was enough to fill you up if you weren’t particularly hungry.

After afternoon tea we went back to our suite to find a member of staff had delivered two glasses of ice cold champagne, a bowel of fresh strawberries and a lovely chocolate birthday cake for my partner. There was another bowel of fruit and more water together with a small birthday card from the hotel staff.

We only had one very small problem with the room and that was the overnight pack supplied in the bathroom with razor and toothbrush inside had been opened by the previous guest and then placed back on the shelf. Personally I blame the previous occupant for putting it back on the shelf and not disposing of it. We mentioned it to the Club Lounge host and asked dif we could have a new one. When we returned that evening not only was the overnight kit replaced but there was a written apology from the Housekeeping Manager and a box and very nice chocolate truffles. We didn’t expect this at all and it was a very nice gesture. I just hope the member of staff didn’t get into trouble.

We had an excellent night’s sleep, no noise at all despite being at Hyde Park Corner.

Breakfast the next morning was served in the Club Lounge. A nice selection of fresh fruit and fresh pastries was served together with the normal continental selection of meats and a good cheese selection.

You could also order hot food with the lounge host, my partner tells me the poached eggs were the best he has ever had served with bacon and tomatoes and a round of toast.

There are no breakfast menus around, so ask for any cooked selection.

The lounge staff were very friendly and helpful, we were allowed a late checkout at 4pm and we were then offered the use of the Club Lounge for as long as we needed as our train was departing late.

Overall an excellent hotel, good position, good service and good value for money compared to other London hotels. It is a big improvement of the Intercontinental hotels that London used to have.