Plaza on the River London

10 Days – England, Scotland, and Iceland – Introduction

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For the first two nights in London, I redeemed 70k Club Carlson points total for the Plaza on the River hotel. The hotel is supposed to be more ‘fancy’ since it cost 70k points instead of 50k (which is what most of the other hotels cost). Since I hold the Club Carlson VISA Credit Card, I received the second night for free (though this has been eliminated as of 1 June).

The Plaza on the River is located inside of the same building as the Riverbank Park Plaza, so it was a bit confusing since we arrived and there were signs everywhere for the Riverbank Park Plaza and not the Plaza on the River. We even went to the wrong reception desk as we turned left when entering the hotel and not right. Turns out the ‘left’ side is the Riverbank Park Plaza and the ‘right’ side is the Plaza on the River, when entering the lobby of the hotel building.

The Plaza on the River is more exclusive since the reception desk consisted of a lady and a normal desk instead of a regular hotel reception desk. The lady was super friendly and welcomed us with champagne and informed us that our room had been upgraded to a one-bedroom suite with a view of the River Thames (though sadly not in the direction of the Parliament).

As I mentioned, we turned ‘left’ here instead of ‘right’ which is why we got so confused, thankfully someone pointed us the right direction. The lobby consists of the two separate areas for each hotel as well as a restaurant and bar.

We were assigned a gorgeous suite on the seventh floor overlooking the River Thames. The suite was super spacious and consisted of a bathroom, large bedroom, and a full-sized kitchen combined with a large TV room. Both rooms were large, however the bathroom was a bit small and I think it would’ve been better had they made the bathroom bigger and the bedroom smaller.

The kitchen basically had everything ranging from pots and pans to all sorts of kitchen gadgets that we wouldn’t use. The only thing that was missing was a coffee machine and tea, though that was quickly resolved with just one phone call.

The minibar was fully stocked with all sorts of drinks and snacks, however since we had a grocery store right next to the hotel, we didn’t consume anything from the hotel at all since it just wasn’t worth it.

The bed was huge and super comfortable and we were able to get a good sleep after spending the whole day exploring London.

Just like the ‘main’ room, the bedroom had a similar view of the river, although my only complaint is that the windows were super dirty – which made the picture below show the whole scene much uglier than it was in reality.

The bathroom was clean and stocked with Elemis amenities as well as a ton of other items such as a sewing kit and shoe bags.

I was glad to see that we had a separate shower and separate bathtub, since I absolutely hate it when the two are combined (I just find it awkward to stand in a bathtub and shower in it).

Only on the second night did they provide a turndown service which included chocolate, I don’t know why they didn’t do it on the first night of our stay as well.

We decided to see what the restaurant had to offer, but… it wasn’t the best food and we decided to eat elsewhere.

Overall, we had a nice two-night stay at the Plaza on the River in London. I specifically picked this hotel since it was the most exclusive that I could redeem points for which was by the river. Since we were in London for four nights, I decided it was best to spend two nights by the river and two nights elsewhere. I’m glad that I booked the Plaza on the River since the staff was super nice, the service was excellent, the upgrade was awesome, and all of our needs were met quickly.