The little-known hotel hack that gives guests free food and drinks all day from £25
PLENTY of chain hotels have executive lounges that offer free food and drink all day to guests on their member schemes.
Often on high floors with far-reaching views, travellers can help themselves to hot and cold dishes, soft drinks and alcohol in plush surroundings.
But it turns out that these lounges are often available to all hotel guests - and even non-guests - for a price.
That's according to David Haines, who is the concierge at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge.
At his hotel, adult guests pay £55 for access to the executive lounge, children aged 12-18 cost £35, and children under 12 go free.
Inside, you can enjoy a hot and cold breakfast buffet, afternoon pastries, and tea and coffee are served throughout the day.
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Visitors are also served alcoholic and soft drinks, as well as evening canapés, free Wi-Fi and city views of Big Ben.
You actually don't need to be staying at the hotel for this either, if you pay £75, you can get day access to the lounge.
The Park Plaza group offer the same perk at several of their hotels worldwide, including Park Plaza London Riverbank on Embankment, where guests can access the lounge for £25 for guests aged 12 and over; and £10 for children under 12.
Their executive lounge is on the 12th floor and offers 180-degree views from an outdoor terrace overlooking the River Thames, Battersea Power Station, and Westminster.
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They offer the same complimentary food and drinks as the Westminster Bridge location.
We have found a few other hotels that offer executive lounge access, like InterContinental London, their fee for guests is £50 per person.
For those looking to upgrade their hotel experience even further, David Haines suggested the best way is to sign up to a chain hotel's reward scheme.
For instance, Park Plaza is part of the scheme, and if you sign up, they instantly increase your chance of a room upgrade.
As part of the scheme, guests can also access discounts across the hotel chain's restaurants and bars, alongside a reduced room rate.
The reward scheme is available in all Park Plaza hotels across the UK and Europe, plus the rest of the .
Here's our review of Park Plaza Westminster Bridge when we visited two years ago.
And three ways to find hotel rooms even when they're 'sold out'.
Smart Hotel Hacks From A TV Travel Expert
Samantha Brown has visited at least 62 countries during her career as a TV presenter.
One of her favourite hacks is to use her hotel room's ironing board as a luggage rack, table and counter.
She told the : "The great thing about the ironing board is it’s four feet more counter space. I often use it as a stand-up desk as well. I’ve also used it as a TV tray for my kids when they were watching a movie."
Another of her tips is to soak a sponge in dish soap and leave it to dry out, before you head off on your trip.
Then cut the sponge up into smaller chunks which you can use for washing-up on holiday. You just need to wet the sponge to reactivate soap it has soaked up.
If you're bringing your kids along, Samantha says you can childproof your room with a roll of duct tape - or better still, gaffer tape.
She uses the tape to block out flashing lights around the hotel room before bedtime.
