the 5 best IC lounges
 

I want to learn something here, there are some incredibly well-traveled folks on FT with plenty of knowledge to share

interested in hearing opinions about the entire lounge experience = food, drinks, service, view, specials, breakfast etc etc

everyone has different expectations and needs / wants

if not for the Club Lounge, the overall IC experience would hold marginal value for me personally, I like that it is self-serve (usually) and there are no bills to sign + some staff are incredibly helpful and go more than the extra mile

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

ANA IC Tokyo

IC HK

IC Park Lane

IC Rialto Melbourne

IC Grand Stanford HK

IC Paris

​​​​​​​IC Hong Kong

IC Boston

IC Ho Chi Minh (pre downgrade)

IC Berlin

IC Dubai Marina .. extremely nice lounge.

Subjective , if one wants one or more of
o lounge space
o breakfast offering (and/or option of foc restaurant b/f )
o cocktails not just help your self drinks
o evening food offering far more substantial than 3-5 tiny canapes
o If you mark lounge down if fizzy plonk not a branded Champagne
o staff (yet to encounter poor lounge staff at any IC)

1. For View/ ambience
o IC Park Lane
o IC-HK-GS
o IC-HK
o IC Budapest


2. For Food + Drinks
o IC Park Lane (Breakfast , teatime, drinks ... alas evening canapes are a let down)
o IC Paris LG
o IC Prague
o IC Budapest (even a substantial lunch)
o IC Bucharest
o IC Kiev
o IC Kuala Lumpur

Danang, Singapore, Berlin, Paris, Sydney

I thought Singapore was a little meh, on a par with PL for disappointing evening nibbles.

I did however really like the Dubai FC lounge which was better in all respects other than the nice quirky local design at SIN.

I would also add my normal shout for the IC London O2, great all round lounge offer.

At least they do good cocktails in SIN

I haven't paid for Lounge access in all of the IC's I've stayed in but I will say that the IC Paris Le Grand seems to be worth the cost. :) Heading there next month again and am looking forward to that lounge again. :)

Agree there and at the IC Dubai FC

View and drink is excellent, food choices used to be better in the past...

i was quite impressed with the quality, choice and range. Portions are small but I don't want to eat a full dinner in a lounge.

For me it is
IC Hong Kong with a wide margin. View, service and food
Sydney for the view. Food is ok
IC Wuxi
IX Seoul Coex

No longer
Saigon after my recent experience (hopefully this was an exception and not the new normal - can anybody comment based on a stay this year?)

Though it's been a while since I was at either, both the IC Warsaw and Frankfurt, specifically for the evening food offering which is a full dinner with several hot entrees and vegetables, in addition to the normal cold buffet items.

Both IC Shanghai Puxi and Expo also have a most extensive range of buffet stations morning and evening, making for a fulsome breakfast as well as dinner if so desired.

Suppose my fifth would be the classic Paris property with Berlin a close follower up.

Here are my Top-5:

1. IC Hong Kong: food and drink quality, service, ambience: all top notch
2. ANA IC Tokyo: outstanding food variety and quality, fantastic service, drinks not great
3. IC Bangkok: service typically very good, but can be hit-and-miss, good variety but not outstanding food quality for breakfast and cocktail hour
4. IC Seoul Parnas: all nice, but self service and limited choices
5. IC Singapore: can be very crowded and loud, food and drinks are good, but not great in variety or quality.

in my opinion, not worth the extra money: Dusseldorf, San Francisco, Miami, Austin, Palazzo Las Vegas