If you are looking for a luxury hotel near the O2 venue near Greenwich in East London, Intercontinental London, The O2 is your best luxury choice. It is, in fact, directly connected to the O2 by a corridor.
If you decide to book, speak to our experts at our luxury travel concierge. We offer free breakfast, upgrades, and other complimentary VIP benefits at luxury hotels like Four Seasons, Belmond, Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt, Aman, InterContinental, and more at no extra cost. Plus, you still get your loyalty points, just give our agent your IHG® Rewards Club number when you book.
Location
The hotel is located a few steps from the O2 Arena and around a 5-minute walk from North Greenwich Tube station, which is around 30 minutes to a 1-hour ride from central London, depending on where you are heading.
I stayed here for the World Travel Market 2017, which is held at the Excel Exhibition Centre, and the journey was superbly convenient. The Emirates Air Line cable car is a 5-minute walk from the hotel. Hop on this cable car, which takes you above and over the River Thames with spectacular views of the Thames Barrage and London Airport before you “land” on the other side of the river just along from Excel. It is a brilliant way to travel, as long as you don’t mind heights! The Excel exhibition center is just 5 minutes walk from the cable car station.
The hotel is also convenient for flights out of London City Airport. The airport is just three stops away via the DLR, which is east London’s Docklands Light Railway. I love the DLR. These driverless trains travel on rails, which are mainly around 10m in the sky, making it a picturesque way to travel around this side of the city.
Beyond the O2 and stations, there is no high street to explore in the hotel’s vicinity, but you can easily connect to charming Greenwich by riverboat. It is well worth spending an afternoon in Greenwich; it’s packed full of history with the Royal Observatory, the historic ship the Cutty Sark, and a green park which extends up a hill, offering excellent views of London.
Style & Character
Swathes of marble, glass, and steel make the communal areas, like the foyer, feel modern but very grand. The hotel itself looks over the river and out to the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf, and all the main bars and restaurants embrace this fantastic view, so this really is a spectacular place to stay.
Service & Facilities
There is a 24-hour gym and a large pool as well as a spa at the Intercontinental London The O2. We used the pool and loved it. It is 1.2m depth throughout with a Jacuzzi area at one end. The pool is surrounded by luxury loungers with plenty of natural light and is absolutely immaculate.
It really is a joy and is connected to the ESPA spa area, so it smells nice too! It is worth noting that kids can only use the pool at certain times of the day, which has advantages and disadvantages depending on whether you stay at the hotel with kids or not. When we swam, the pool was very quiet and a lovely place to spend an hour or two.
Rooms
A huge 453 rooms (yes, this is a big luxury hotel) start with Superior rooms at 29-32 m². We recommend Club Intercontinental rooms, which start at 42 m², which come with Club Lounge access. We have reviewed the Club lounge at the Intercontinental London The O2 separately.
Rooms have 42-inch flat-screen TVs and bathrooms with black marble everywhere. They are really smart and modern, and if you get one with a river view, the views are stunning.
We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a 2-bed suite for our last night, and WOW, this was very special. It had the same black marble bathrooms (but 3 of them), oodles of space, appealing modern furnishings, and spectacular views.
Food & Drink
There are plenty of choices here with two bars and three restaurants. If you get Club Lounge access, then you hardly need to use them!
Breakfast is served at the Market Brasserie, and you could not wish for more choice. Cereals, bread, muffins, hams, smoked fish, eggs any way you like them, meats (sausages, bacon), salads. I could go on, but suffice to say that you will find something lovely to munch on. The staff here cannot do enough for you and made a great fuss of my son, which is also appreciated, as well as spotting when my teapot needed a refill. The views here are also brilliant, right across the Thames and over to Canary Wharf.
The Eighteen Sky Bar is worth mentioning as the views are some of the best I have seen across London as it is right at the top of the building.
We tried the exceptional Peninsula Restaurant with 3 Rosettes and absolutely delicious food. We had the taster menu, and we felt that the food was even better than its rating. We also found the staff here to be caring and interested. They genuinely wanted us to have a great experience, which we did.
Club Lounge Review At The InterContinental London The O2
I have reviewed the best club lounges in London. I am a big fan of the club lounge at the Langham London with excellent food and staff. But in my humble opinion, the Club InterContinental which includes the lounge at the InterContinental Park Lane and the lounge at the InterContinental London The O2, have by far the best views, if you like to relax looking out upon the world. Why do I rank the Club InterContinental The O2 lounge so highly?
Conclusion
This Club Lounge at the Intercontinental London, The O2 is one of my favorites in London and will encourage me to return to this hotel. In fact, I am already booked in for my next conference at the Excel center, and I am looking out for a bargain rate for a leisure trip here over the summer.
It is worth noting that the rates here vary hugely at this hotel. If you can select a night when there is no conference at Excel and no event at the O2 you can pick up a stay at this luxury hotel for an absolute bargain. It is also worth considering using your IHG® Rewards Club points here as the rate is 45,000 points (we stayed on points) Vs. 60,000 points for the central Intercontinental in Park Lane, London. If you stay at both hotels, you will see two completely different sides of London.
For extra benefits for your next hotel booking, it is worth requesting a quote from our concierge to get special rates and benefits such as upgrades, free breakfast, hotel credit, and late check-out.
Copyright Luxury Travel Diary 2014 - 2024. Duplication outside of luxurytraveldiary.com is forbidden.
Note: Benefits & upgrades subject to availability. Benefits offered correct at the time of writing. Terms & conditions apply. Enquire for more information. Benefits offered correct at the time of writing but may be amended at discretion of the vendor. Posts may be sponsored by the proprietor or brand being appraised. All opinions remain our own & are in no way influenced.
