Crowne Plaza London-St James

INTRODUCTION I booked dinner and theatre for my wife's thirtieth birthday, and needed a relatively up-market hotel in London - with a bit of "wow" factor - to overnight in. I am a frequent visitor to IC Hotel Group properties on business (these include the five star Intercontinental Hotels, the four to five star Crowne Plaza, and the three to four star Holiday Inn) and am a member of their award-winning "Priority Club" loyalty scheme, so I decided to use my accumulated points to redeem a "Reward Night" and stay for free. The hotel is on Buckingham Gate, with extensive frontage and an attractive red and white brick façade with ...  Read the complete review

We stayed here last month as part of an ebay package - 2 tickets to see The Lion King at the West End, and a hotel for the night. As we walked up to the hotel, we were faced with a beautiful, grand looking hotel on the right and a grotty building on the left - we joked that it was going to be that one, but we were shocked when we found out it actually was the other - after all, we'd paid £189 for the entire package and weren't expecting such a fancy looking hotel! The main foyer was pretty grand and spectacular - in fact we both felt incredibly out of place, being about 20 years younger than the average guest and we weren't wearing particularly ...  Read the complete review

A couple of years ago I spent two nights at the Crowne Plaza London St James. My husband was there on business and not being one to pass up on a freebie; I took a couple of days leave and tagged along. Because my husband had such a heavy schedule, he didn't appreciate just how good the hotel was overall but he did comment on the well appointed board rooms, the very good corporate lunch and the excellent staff service. I on the other hand was able to digest the lot. I was so impressed that I made a mental note to return on our next leisure trip to the city. Last month, I checked out the hotel's website with a view to booking a room for a couple of nights. I was ...  Read the complete review

This month saw a rather special landmark for me - the 10th anniversary of being together with my partner. We normally choose to mark our anniversary with a meal out or a day trip, but thought that something a little more special was in order to mark our "decade day". With this is mind (and the fact that we hadn't had a holiday in three years), we thought it would be a good idea to have a weekend away in London to visit the Tutankhamen exhibition at the O2. On the odd occasions that either of us have stayed in hotels over recent years, it has been something along the lines of a Travelodge; perfectly serviceable and well within our budget, but hardly special. We ...  Read the complete review