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The hotel executive lounge is an alluring siren tempting the modern frequent traveler.
I make a point to not eat at hotels be it business or pleasure trip. Yet when wife and I recently stayed at the Hilton London on Park Lane, we turned into lounge lizards. Breakfast in the lounge, afternoon tea in the lounge, happy hour in the lounge. When it is there and included in the room, it is so tempting.
The second, final night of our stay, as she was tucking into pâté, my wife’s eyes flashed, she put down her fork and proclaimed, “If we do not go out for a real meal it will be a humiliation.” As soon as she finished that pâté…and another piece (I guilty as well), we trundled out up Edgware Road for a great Iranian dinner.
Edgware Road is Middle Eastern food of numerous nationalities, a great ethnic enclave just north of Hyde Park.
The next day? Pre-flight Lebanese lunch. And, oh yeah, a couple scones back at the hotel before we hit the road.
Note: I previously complained that I could not find standard room availability for any of the more desirable Hilton London hotels to use my Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Reserve Card weekend certs. I was pleasantly surprised to see standard rooms magically appear the day before arrival and we grabbed them.
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how did you have access to the lounge ? I have silver status but plan to get the HH surpass for gold, will this give me access to it ? thanks
@Choi – I have gold status through the credit card and that was enough, I usually say “where is the lounge” rather than “do I get access?” They programmed my key and good to go.
Hotel availability tends to open up (sometimes rates go down if the hotel’s occupancy rate’s low) when the travel dates get closer (right around or after the cancellation deadlines).
Which Iranian restaurant did you hit up?
http://upgrd.com/matthew/return-to-london.html
@Matthew – we tried Saffron, in large part because it was one of the few in the area to not have a line of men out front on hookahs leering at passersby, so my wife felt more safe.