London Marriott Hotel Park Lane – London 5-Star Hotel Staycation, Part 4: Breakfast Favorite, Executive Lounge and Swimming Pool, Penhaligon’s Amenities—An Honest, Self-Paid Review

Hello.

I’m Dr. Baek, a dentist who dreams of becoming an implant expert and a food connoisseur.

My series of staycation posts about London’s 5-star Marriott hotels has already reached its final, fourth installment.

These were four Marriott 5-star hotels that I carefully selected, and I’ve already posted about my personal rankings from fourth to second place.

Of course, there are many much better hotels, but since the concept of this trip was to explore Marriott properties, I feel like I experienced almost everything except The Bulgari Hotel London.

• JW Marriott Grosvenor House London

• The London EDITION

• The Westin London City

• London Marriott Hotel Park Lane

Today is the final, fourth post.

The hotel I’m introducing today is also a place where Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite members can benefit greatly. It allows you to make the most of the Executive Lounge. Highly recommended, in its own way~!

London Marriott Hotel Park Lane

(London Marriott Hotel Park Lane)

This hotel is right next to Hyde Park, almost directly beside Marble Arch Station on the Central line.

Because it is adjacent to Oxford Street, one advantage is that you can walk to many of London’s major attractions in the western part of the city.

Also, if you take the Elizabeth line, you can get off at Bond Street and walk here, making it convenient to reach from the airport.

(It still takes about 10 minutes.)

The hotel entrance is not on the Oxford Street side. You need to turn around the corner and go inside before you can see it.

You can immediately tell that it is a fairly old building.

The doorman welcomed us and opened the door.

This was actually the hotel we stayed at for three days from the first day of our London trip. With British flags flying everywhere, impressive buildings all around, and a setting that really gives you the London atmosphere we imagine, it was a great location.

Of course, being close to the Underground is a huge advantage when traveling.

Because it is an old building, the ceilings seem somewhat low, but the lobby has a distinctly elegant British atmosphere.

The lobby is not particularly large, and the concierge desk is right up the stairs as soon as you enter.

You could call it a somewhat modest 5-star hotel. Haha.

For a fair comparison, I checked the price for a Friday stay about one month ahead, and it was a whopping 930,000 won?

It is not usually quite that expensive… In any case, on most other days, the room costs around 700,000 won.

Deluxe Room, Guest Room, 1 King Bed

The room I booked was the most basic room, but perhaps the hotel was not fully booked when I stayed there, because they upgraded me to a room overlooking Hyde Park. (A view upgrade effectively means a room upgrade.)

When I checked after returning home, I found that it was a room costing about 200,000 won more. Haha. My thanks to the hotel…

Also, guests like me who have Marriott Bonvoy Platinum or higher elite status can use the Executive Lounge. This is one of the hotel’s biggest attractions.

The hallways in old London hotels all seem to have a similar feel.

The room I stayed in was 346. Interestingly, the rooms at the corners of the hallways have “corner suite” written on the doors. It gives them a somewhat stylish feel…

The room is not large, although it also seems that most of the rooms are the same type.

From the hallway, they look quite tightly packed together. Haha.

This is what the room looks like when viewed from a wider angle.

There is a king bed, as well as a simple desk, table, and TV. It has everything you need.

When I looked out the window after waking up, I could see many of London’s iconic red double-decker buses.

Even though it was raining, there were many people lightly jogging in Hyde Park.

It made me feel that I had finally returned to Europe after a long time. ^^

The view from the bed was also nice, and the staff provided good service. They carried our luggage directly to the place we wanted. Since it was a winter trip to London, our bags were quite heavy, but they handled everything without showing any discomfort. They even explained how to use the room, which was very helpful.

There is a minibar in the cabinet beneath the TV, but I forgot to take a picture of it. We did not use it.

One drawback is that the refrigerator is not very powerful, so it does not get particularly cold.

Still, it was nice that they provided plenty of complimentary water. Haha.

Perhaps because it is at Marble Arch Station, the bathroom here, like the one at JW Marriott Grosvenor House London, is decorated with a marble pattern.

It is not spacious, but the shower was separated into its own enclosure.

I liked how clean the sink area was. The soap, lotion, and body wash were all Penhaligon’s products.

In that respect, I think it was even better than JW Marriott.

It is not large, but I suppose that gives it a certain sense of luxury.

By the way, although it is difficult to see clearly in the pictures, this was the only hotel among all the hotels I mentioned earlier that had a bidet. Even if you do not use the bidet, there is probably no one who dislikes having a heated toilet seat.

Executive Lounge

(Executive Lounge)

One of the reasons I consider this hotel the best is its Executive Lounge.

Of course, as I will explain shortly, the excellent swimming pool is another reason.

Looking at the lounge schedule, you can see that the hotel is strongly committed to providing three meals a day.

The quality was so good that the food was genuinely better than what we had at many restaurants.

It was great for saving on travel expenses, but more than that, this was a place that made me realize how enjoyable it is to spend as much time as you want eating as much as you like from a buffet without feeling self-conscious.

During our stay at London Marriott Hotel Park Lane, I even started wanting to enjoy this kind of staycation in Seoul as well. (So I’m planning to do that soon…)

After getting off the elevator, follow the hallway to the left and you will find the Executive Lounge.

There was surprisingly little information about London Marriott Hotel Park Lane online, so let me make this clear: Marriott Bonvoy Platinum members and above can use the lounge!

There is a card reader next to the door. Touch your room key to it and the door will open.

I was surprised that fewer people used it than I expected for such a large hotel.

Because honestly, whether we came for breakfast or dinner, everything was so delicious. My wife and I came here every day—like going to our favorite neighborhood shop. Haha.

Executive Lounge Breakfast

(Executive Lounge - Continental Breakfast)

Of course, we should start with the bakery items, right?

Until then, I thought bread was only delicious in Paris, but obviously that was not the case.

The little croissants had such a strong buttery aroma and were so delicious. The small pastries were also good.

You can lightly toast as much sliced bread or baguette as you like. There was plenty of jam and butter as well.

Fresh fruit juices were also displayed in high quality.

There were both packaged yogurts and yogurt made in-house. You could choose according to your preference, and there was plenty of cereal as well. One unusual feature was a whole tray of honey like that. It was genuinely delicious! The honey they put on honey ice cream in Korea did not seem to be the same kind…

One thing I particularly appreciated was that the fruit was delicious and generously prepared.

Even though there did not appear to be a huge variety, the selection was compact and focused on tasty, well-prepared items.

The area I showed you earlier had the first row of tables, while the second row was set up like this.

Fresh-looking young vegetables were lined up, and there was also salmon and ham.

The salads tossed with various dressings were genuinely delicious.

The waffles were perhaps not especially memorable, but the smoked salmon was almost the best I have ever had.

And this is the highlight of the London Marriott Hotel Park Lane Executive Lounge.

In the corner, there were about seven or eight Staub pots, each filled with simple but truly delicious dishes.

After visiting over several days, it seemed that about five dishes were served every day, while the rest rotated.

You can check the available dishes on the Breakfast menu.

The simpler options included scrambled eggs and hash browns~

The stir-fried sausage was really delicious, but I was disappointed that I only got to eat it once.

There were roasted mushrooms and large homemade sausages as well.

On the right is shakshuka. The white part is a soft-boiled egg, and the surrounding sauce is made with tomatoes and cheese.

The cooking was genuinely excellent. As I mentioned earlier, it was almost pointless to go out to eat elsewhere…

So the two of us brought back generous portions like this.

I think we usually ate two full plates each. Haha. The dishes were all well-prepared, substantial, and delicious.

Since it was a buffet, we could even make iced lattes ourselves and have one every day.

(London Starbucks iced lattes cost more than 8,000 won… T_T)

It is no secret that taking pictures in the Executive Lounge’s warm yellow lighting makes everything look incredibly appetizing.

To be honest, we had no idea that the first hotel of our trip would give us such a satisfying experience. ^^;;

This was the breakfast we had on the second day.

After learning from the first day, we brought back a lot more food. Haha.

I can confidently say that the food was good enough to compare favorably with a 100,000-won meal for two at a decent restaurant outside.

Executive Lounge Dinner

(Executive Canapes)

Although I called it dinner, the official term is “Canapes.”

You can think of it as something like small dishes. These items are served only until 7:30 p.m.

However, drinks are available in the same space until 9:30 p.m., so you can stay longer if you wish.

The ingredients were so fresh that it was impossible not to be impressed. I understand that Korean hotels are known for substantial breakfasts, but this place offered a level of quality that truly stayed in my memory.

There was a variety of salad on the left, right?

You should eat plenty while you can. Anything left over is thrown away anyway…

On the right, there were several other things to eat. They were provided as snacks to go with drinks, but they were also good enough to eat as a meal. We could only be grateful and impressed. Haha.

The chef here cooks very well.

There was simple pasta and stir-fried broccoli. At the far right, there were also rice crackers, allowing us to enjoy a taste just like the ones we eat in Korea.

Another surprising thing was that, in addition to pudding, they provided a very generous amount of fresh fruit.

My memory is that London hotels let you eat as much fruit as you want.

The Westin London City served a great deal of mango, but London Marriott Hotel Park Lane offered even more. In addition, although it is not shown in the pictures, they kept providing strawberries as well.

The bakery selection was not as elaborate as at breakfast, but there were some simple bread items too~!! If you look closely, there are also small cakes on the right.

South African wine was being served. Personally, it was the first time I had seen wine from that country. Haha.

There was also a wide variety of beer. You could really enjoy as many different kinds as you wanted!!!!

Although it is not shown in the pictures, you could also have as many basic drinks as you liked, including cola, soft drinks, and water. All kinds of coffee were available as well…

In the end, we enjoyed another feast like this in the evening.

Even if we had been asked to pay 50,000 won per person, it would still have been worth it, especially considering London prices.

Indoor Swimming Pool and Fitness Center

I do not remember exactly, but if you go to the Ground floor, there is a spa, fitness center, and swimming pool.

There are not many Marriott hotels with swimming pools in central London. That was a little disappointing.

I had expected The Westin London City to have a pool because it is relatively modern, but I had not expected much from this hotel’s pool. It turned out to be a wonderfully pleasant surprise.

All of London’s 5-star hotels seemed to use Technogym fitness equipment.

As far as I know, it is Italy’s leading luxury exercise-equipment brand. (I am certainly no expert on exercise equipment.) I remembered seeing the store while passing through Lotte Department Store’s Avenuel, so it was nice to see it here.

The facility seemed to have everything, and I believe it is open 24 hours.

Before heading to the much-anticipated swimming pool, it is worth taking a look at the sauna first, right? Haha.

What was really interesting was that Korean hotel pools can often be quite crowded, whereas pools abroad tend to have very few people.

During our stay, I saw only one male guest at the pool.

This was the men’s sauna, which was being kept clean.

As expected, the amenities here were also Penhaligon’s!!!

I had never visited Penhaligon’s in Korea, but when I looked it up, a 100 ml bottle of perfume costs around 300,000 won.

I used plenty of it here before leaving. The only thing is that the scent felt a little old-fashioned to me.

Here is the swimming pool that I could not capture fully in a single glance.

We went in the morning and there was not a single other guest, so the two of us enjoyed the pool as if we had rented it privately!

Unlike hotel pools in Korea and Japan, it has no lanes, so you can swim freely.

The blue object in the distance is a screen, and it seemed to keep changing colors.

Isn’t it truly surprising that such a clean and impressive swimming pool is located beneath a hotel whose exterior looked so old?

The loungers were free to use, of course, and you could enjoy the 1.2-meter-deep pool as much as you wanted.

It is not as glamorous as the pool at Josun Palace or the Conrad in Japan, but it was a sufficiently modern, high-quality-looking indoor pool.

Even after spending a couple of hours there, we were not uncomfortable.

There may not be much to review about a swimming pool, but I thought it was one of the major advantages of London Marriott Hotel Park Lane.

And with that, I will conclude this series of posts about London’s 5-star Marriott hotels. :) Haha.

It was a very enjoyable London staycation trip!

• JW Marriott Grosvenor House London

• The London EDITION

• The Westin London City

• London Marriott Hotel Park Lane

I have finally finished reviewing all the hotels we visited.

Personally, I would not recommend JW Marriott Grosvenor House London, but I think the other three hotels were worth recommending.

However, since all of them are fairly expensive, I ranked them based on how impressive their facilities and benefits seemed, assuming that the guest had Marriott Bonvoy Platinum or higher elite status.

As expected, this hotel has a Google rating of 4.5, and I thought it had a good location for visiting major attractions in western or central London. I also think that using the Elizabeth line makes it easier to travel to and from the airport.

The advantages are:

It is funny that I consider this the biggest advantage, but the Executive Lounge is truly so impressive.

Of course, when traveling, you should visit and enjoy the restaurants in the city. However, this lounge serves food that is better than what you would find at many restaurants, freshly prepared and kept warm.

What made the hotel particularly memorable was being able to sit in the evening, enjoy excellent fruit and bread along with the beer and snacks provided, and have a relaxed conversation.

The swimming pool is good. In fact, I wonder whether there is another hotel at this price point with a pool this good.

The Penhaligon’s amenities felt luxurious and were very nice. I even brought home one bar of soap as a souvenir—just between us…

It is a small detail, but this was the only hotel with a bidet. Haha.

The disadvantages are:

The hotel has low ceilings and a somewhat small lobby. However, this does not affect the experience of sightseeing.

I enjoyed writing this London staycation review, and I hope you enjoyed reading it!

For the final staycation post related to this trip, I will be writing about The Reykjavik EDITION, one of the best hotels in Reykjavík, Iceland!!! Thank you for reading. :)

That was another glimpse into the daily life of Dr. Baek, the dentist!!