TPG exclusive: Your first look inside the new Park Hyatt London River Thames

27.09.2024 - 19:31 / thepointsguy.com

London has no shortage of luxury hotels, from the Savoy to the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park to Raffles London at The OWO.

Until now, one of TPG's favorite upscale hotel brands, which you can book with points, has been strangely absent from one of the world's premier hotel markets.

The highly anticipated Park Hyatt London River Thames, originally slated to open in 2022, will finally open Oct. 8. TPG was invited inside for an exclusive preopening tour.

So, was it worth the wait, and will this now be the best hotel in London for redeeming points?

Related: Best Hyatt hotels in the world

The Hyatt property is in an unusual location for a new luxury hotel. Though still in Zone 1, the Nine Elms neighborhood is south of the Thames River and a fair distance from buzzy areas favored by tourists like the West End, Chelsea and Hyde Park.

The nearby Vauxhall tube station is on the convenient Victoria line, which can whisk you to Oxford Circus in minutes (and also a few minutes walk away is Nine Elms tube station on the Northern line), though Vauxhall is an area more associated with late-night dance clubs than sophisticated living.

The surrounding area is being rapidly developed following the opening of the nearby new U.S. Embassy and the Battersea Power Station, in which no expense has been spared.

The hotel occupies one of two towers constructed on-site, both with floor-to-ceiling windows; the other is a residential tower where permanent residents can purchase ultraluxury apartments and access some of the hotel's social spaces. Guest rooms are on floors 3-16, and the ambassador suites and presidential suites are on floors 17 and 18.

World of Hyatt members looking to redeem points at the hotel should know the new Park Hyatt is a Category 7 property, meaning award rates range from 25,000 points to 35,000 points per night.

The hotel's general manager, Rike Erdbrink, who commenced her career as an apprentice at Park Hyatt Hamburg in 2001 and comes from the Park Hyatt Chicago where she was also general manager, told TPG that Category 7 was a "starting point" as a new property and that a potential move to a Category 8 listing would be both a blessing and a curse.

"We don't determine our category within the World of Hyatt program, and while being moved up to the program's highest category in the future would no doubt be a prestigious acknowledgment of the high standard of luxury the Park Hyatt London will deliver, we also want to ensure our loyal members can redeem their Hyatt points at reasonable rates time and time again," Erdrink told TPG.

The lobby, with its three check-in desks and single concierge station, was still under construction during TPG's site tour, with workers furiously polishing the new flooring, and