Review: Club Lounge At InterContinental New York Barclay

Published Mar 24 2025, 9:38 AM, Updated Mar 24 2025, 1:34 PMBook a room at the InterContinental New York Barclay hotel via our luxury travel concierge, and you will get free club lounge access as well as your usual IHG points. We’ve previously reviewed the best executive club lounges in New York, and now we detail the advantages of booking a stay at the Barclay to enjoy their club lounge.

If you don’t book via our concierge, access costs around $150 USD for double occupancy on top of the room rate. If you are traveling with children, club lounge access is free of charge between 0 and 6 years old and then costs $35 USD for a child 7 – 13 years old. Any extra guest using this club lounge over the age of 13 will have to pay the full $75 USD per night which will be added to your room rate and is usually paid for on checkout.

Location

This InterContinental New York Barclay is located behind Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue store on East 48th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues. The hotel rooms here are large by NYC standards, but the bathrooms are quite cozy. There are 702 rooms, including 33 suites, at this hotel, and the interior look is elegant and classy.

The InterContinental New York Barclay underwent a major renovation around 2016. The renovation renewed all the soft furnishings, but the $180 million spent also tore down walls and refreshed the entire hotel. This transformation is still impressive today and is a reason to choose this hotel over tired alternatives.

A Club InterContinental lounge was also added during this renovation, offering a more exclusive space in the hotel for private meetings and quieter meals away from the energy of the main lobby. This club lounge is one of the highlights of this luxury hotel.

Best Hotel Executive Club Lounges In New York

Tips

The hotels with the best executive club lounges in New York are outlined below. These include the two Ritz-Carlton hotels in New York both of which have amazing views. The Ritz-Carlton Nomad, in particular, offers a club lounge set high in the building with a bird's eye view of New York. The Ritz-Carlton Central Park club lounge has wonderful park and treetop views, which contrast with the urban views from the Nomad club lounge. The club lounge at the InterContinental New York Barclay, an IHG Hotel, also has an amazing club lounge which is pictured above.

The lounge here is called Club InterContinental and is excellent. This “hotel within a hotel” can be found to the left of the lobby and is open 6:30 am – 8:00 pm. It serves a delicious buffet breakfast, including gluten-free options, snacks, afternoon tea, cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres. Club guests can check in here and use its business center and meeting room.

Style & Character

This lounge is big and provides luxurious seating to enjoy your meals and conduct business with a self-service buffet that is refreshed regularly. The decor has a color palette that reminds guests of the fall, with pretty flower arrangements adding color to the room. Lighting in the lounge is moody and muted, and there are plenty of magazines are available to flick through.

Service & Facilities

You can use the high-speed internet within the lounge, complimentary upgraded Wi-Fi. There’s a business center with computers and printer services available. There’s also a private meeting room for six by appointment.

Food & Drink

The Club InterContinental® hours include breakfast from 7:00 – 11:00 am which is served in the club lounge. Soft beverages from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm. Afternoon Treats from 2:00 – 5:00 pm. Pre theater canapés and beverages from 5:00 – 8:00 pm, which includes beer and wine. These alcoholic drinks are is very unusual for a club lounge on American soil. Usually, the Ritz-Carlton hotel club lounges are the only club lounges that serve alcoholic beverages in America.

The breakfast here is great. Just give your room number to the front desk person then dig in. The breakfast is a buffet with hot and cold items and it includes whole fruit; apples oranges and bananas, a fridge containing cold meat cuts, cut tomatoes, cheese and grapes, olives and smoked salmon and another fridge with freshly made muesli, Bircher muesli, cut fruit including melon and blueberries, raspberries, yoghurts and some salad items.

Fresh bread includes bagels, sliced bread to toast, muffins and pastries as well as cakes and donuts.The cakes have chocolate dribbled over the top and the donuts have all sorts of chocolatey and icing sugar toppings making them far too tempting.

Hot metal bowls offer scrambled eggs and egg white scrambled eggs as well as hash browns, cooked tomatoes and delicious icing sugar dusted waffles. For meat lovers there are hot sausages (two varieties) and bacon as well as oatmeal if you’re looking for something warm and healthy.

There is a counter of extras with nuts, honey, chocolate spread, mini pots of Bonne Mama jam, raisins, peanut butter, sliced almonds which you can sprinkle on your oatmeal or spread on your toast.

For drinks, iced water, orange juice and black coffee are your main picks and these drinks are delivered to your table. There is also takeaway coffee but this is charged at $4.50 USD.

The great thing about the food in this lounge is that it rotates, so one day will be scrambled eggs, the next will be fried eggs with green beans and the next will be eggs done another way with asparagus so you are unlikely to get bored of the food.

Throughout the day is a coffee and tea making machine, there are fridges full of snacks, peanuts, cookies and fruit.

The afternoon snacks and evening drinks are phenomenal. In the afternoon there are mini sandwiches like cucumber, salmon and egg, mini eclaires, cream puffs, sconnes and jam and cream.

The evening alcoholic drinks on offer include Prosecco, white and red wines, and a selection of beer which is served with hors d’oeuvres-style bites. There is a rotating menu of items, which includes short rib arancini, stuffed mushrooms, Nashville chicken skewers, crab cakes, pigs in blankets, stuffed potato skins and more. These are accompanied by cheeses, strawberries, veggie bowls, cut fruit and blackberries, raspberries and blueberries and chocolate mouse. This club lounge is a great venue to enjoy a few drinks and snacks after work and before dinner.

You can see what we have experienced in terms of food and drink at the club lounge at InterContinental O2 in London and the club lounge at InterContinental Park Lane. These reviews will give you an idea of what to expect.

Conclusion

The club lounge At InterContinental New York Barclay is seriously good with a filling and excellent hot and cold breakfast buffet (which includes berries which I love to indulge in). One of the best in New York.

The breakfast in this club lounge is peaceful during breakfast compared to the hectic madness of the main restaurant at breakfast. The calmness is a treat and is unusual for a club lounge in New York. By comparison, the club lounges at the Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott brands are frantic mass of chaos with pushing and shoving at the food counters.

Afternoon and evening food is great and alcoholic drinks are included in the evening. The art deco decor in the lounge is super stylish. The only thing this lounge lacks is natural light, but its stylish interiors almost stop you noticing the lack of a view, and it’s peaceful ambience makes if one of the best club lounges in New York.

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