One of the most valuable benefits of being an Intercontinental Ambassador member is the free night certificate – and boy did we get value out of this one!

I’d booked the hotel as I’d managed to get VIP tickets to see Peter Kay at the O2 arena for my birthday, and there isn’t a hotel closer to the arena, plus, I had an Ambassador free night certificate to use and saw an opportunity to get outsized value from it!

Check in was a little bit painful as reception couldn’t quite understand that we were having club lounge access on the first night only and breakfast on the second night (well, the second morning…you know what I mean!), it took almost 20 minutes to sort out and after dropping bags in the room, we finally headed to the club lounge for some lunch.

Afternoon tea is served in the lounge between 1400 and 1600. There was a decent choice of finger sandwiches with egg and cress, cheese and pickle and salmon with cream cheese. All very good, although the bread was a touch dry. 

The coffee from the machine was fine, and there was a selection of fruit juices as well as soft drinks. Alcohol was available to order at a charge. The little cakes were all delicious with the pistachio and raspberry my favourite. 

The evening buffet, served from 1700 until 1900, had a great little selection of antipasti with olives, pickles and ricotta stuffed peppers with some nice cheeses. There was also some hot h’or deves including asparagus and pea quiche, fish and chips and the most amazing little shepherds pie. 

In terms of drinks, there was free pour wines of all colours as well as Prosecco and spirits. 

Breakfast had a selection of whole and cut fruits with different types of melon, pineapple, apple and berries as well as the usual cold cuts of meat, smoked salmon and various cheeses. As well as breakfast cereals with full fat and semi skimmed milk, there’s a hot buffet with streaky bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs. You can also order from a menu for eggs royale, eggs Benedict, avocado toast or pancakes. 

The coffee, while from a machine, was still very good and I quickly figured that 2 servings perfectly filled one of the bigger cups (just one little cup of coffee just isn’t enough)!

The room itself was lovely and bright with awesome views across the river to Canary Wharf. Big, wingback armchairs were very comfortable and gave a sense of privacy. 

Our bedroom, a King Junior Suite, had a stunning double aspect with views over the river and directly to The O2. The sofa was very comfy and it was nice to have another chair as well as a desk. The picture makes it look dark, but it wasn’t. There’s a walkthrough video of the suite on my Facebook page, so make sure to check it out (and click follow whilst you’re there for more reviews)!

The bathroom had a bath and separate shower as well as a large sink area for all of his toiletries! 

Service at the hotel wasn’t the best and even after the check-in experience, things got worse. 

Whilst we were in the lounge having drinks and canapés, the guest relations manager called me on my mobile to apologise for the requested amenities not being in our room on arrival. I had no idea what he was talking about but seemingly, the other half had emailed the hotel several times before our arrival to arrange for champagne and balloons in the room to celebrate my birthday, but never had a reply. I, obviously, didnt know and guest relations gave away the surprise that they had failed to organise! To be fair, they had the champagne and balloons in the room after we got back from dinner and provided them without charge as a token of their apologies for messing up the surprise. 

On our second morning, we had breakfast in the Market Brasserie, and it really did live up to its Market name! 

The hotel was very busy and even at 0845, there was a queue out for the door for a table, although we were seated quickly. 

There’s 4 main buffet stations with a range of fruit juices, cold cuts and cheeses with Asian congee to one side. Following to the left is the hot buffet and I liked that there was two types of bacon, although it was incredibly salty, two types of eggs as well as sausage, black pudding and sautéed vegetables. In the middle was all of the cut and whole fruits as well as pastries with pancakes and other sweet treats set off to the left. 

The selection was great as was the quality, but a relaxed, refined experience it was not. Definitely missed the quiet ambiance of the club lounge! 

If you’re not familiar with Ambassador, the paid-for membership program for Intercontinental hotels, you can learn about its benefits in this article. What the free night certificate gives you is the second night free on a paid stay. It can only be used on weekends, so pay for Friday night and get Saturday night free, or pay for Saturday night and get Sunday night free. The definition of “weekend” varies around the world but in Europe and the USA, it’s as described. 

Saturday nights are usually more expensive than Friday or Sunday, so to get maximum value from the certificate, you’ll usually want to pay for Friday and get Saturday night free. The Ambassador rate is slightly more expensive than the lowest rate the hotel will have on sale, but as you’re only paying for 1 night anyway, it’s a moot point. 

We originally booked a King Classic which was £279 for the first night and £429 for the second (free) night. I’d been keeping an eye on rates since booking and noticed that a King Classic Higher Floor was now around the same price as what we were paying for the King Classic. A quick email to hotel, and they upgraded the booking to the Higher Floor type (it wouldn’t go through online, for some reason).

Another great benefit of Ambassador is the “guaranteed” upgrade to the next category of room. The last time we used a free night certificate, we got a double upgrade to a junior suite at the magnificent Intercontinental Le Grand in Paris. I say “guaranteed” because the upgrade is subject to availability and the hotel can choose not to give you an upgrade and supplement with extra reward points. For this booking, I could see the one category upgrade to a King Junior Suite in my booking a few days before check-in. 

By the time of the upgrade, the rate for the King Junior Suite was £369 for the first night and £654 for the second (free) night. The rate didn’t include breakfast so we had to add that at an extra cost of £22 per person per night, but considering Club Lounge access was only £85 per night for 2 people, it made sense to add Lounge access for the first night and breakfast for the second. 

All in, we paid £408 for 2 nights including lounge access and breakfast, saving £744! Better still, we had a £75 cash back offer on our Amex card so the actual total was £333, a saving of £819! Even if I’d paid for Ambassador membership with cash (I didn’t, I paid with points) at £170, I’d still say we got decent value out of the program – and this is on top of the double upgrade we got at the Intercontinental Hua Hin!

Date of trip: August 2024

Price paid: £333 for 2 nights including lounge access and breakfast, booked directly with IHG.

Points earned: 499 Amex Reward Points for paying for the stay with our Amex platinum card. I also earned 12, 430 IHG Reward Points which included 2000 bonus points for staying 2 nights before the end of August and 3000 bonus points for booking a weekend stay.