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Hilton fans have a lot of choice when it comes to booking properties in London and one of the relatively newer properties that Hilton offers is the Lincoln Plaza hotel in the Canary Wharf/Isle of Dogs district of London.
This property sits as part of Hilton’s Curio Collection and it first opened back in 2018. The pandemic of 2020/21 saw the hotel close its doors and, surprisingly, it wasn’t until the middle of last year (2024) that the property finally reopened.
Having already reviewed the nearby Hilton Canary Wharf, a good rate that I spotted being offered by a 3rd party site tempted me to book the Lincoln Plaza to see what it has to offer and to see how it compares to its sister property just a short walk away. What follows is a review of my stay.
The admin
- Length of stay: 1 night
- Actual cost of stay: £163/~$220 (bed and breakfast rate)
- Elite status at time of stay: Hilton Gold elite
- Points earned from the booking: 0 (zero – this was a 3rd party booking)
- Room booked: 1 Queen Bed
- Room received: 1 Queen Bed
- Upgraded: No
Location & getting there
The Lincoln Plaza London is located on the Isle of Dogs in London’s Canary Wharf district and this places it London’s “East End”.
The property is conveniently located for the financial institutions Canary Wharf is known for (they’re approximately a 13-minute walk away) and with Canary Wharf Underground station a 10-minute walk away, guests can get from the Lincoln Plaza hotel to the center of London (Westminster/Green Park/Bond Street) in just 25-30 minutes (including walking time).
Even though Canary Wharf is, traditionally, linked to the financial institutions that call its skyscrapers home, the last 20 years have seen a lot of residential development in the area (Lincoln Plaza is a residential and commercial development) and the Wharf is busy 7-days a week thanks to two indoor shopping malls and an ever-increasing number of restaurants, cafes, and bars.
Also, with the O2 arena just one stop away on the Jubilee Line in North Greenwich, the area and the local hotels get even busier when there’s a big event on.
If you’re arriving from Heathrow and using public transport, the one of the cheapest ways to get to the hotel would be to take the Underground (subway) Piccadilly Line to Green Park, change there to the Jubilee Line, go 7 stops to Canary Wharf, and then walk to the property (~10 minutes).
The quickest way to the property from Heathrow (using public transport) is to take the Elizabeth Line to Paddington, change there to a second Elizabeth Line service to Canary Wharf and to then walk to the property (~15 minutes).
If you’re arriving from Gatwick and using public transport, one of the easier ways to get to the hotel would be to take the Thameslink service to London Bridge station, change there to the Jubilee Line and travel 3 stops to Canary Wharf station from where you’ll have a ~10-minute walk to the hotel.
If you have heavy luggage (or a lot of luggage), taking a taxi to the hotel may be a better option.
*At the time of writing, there are no direct Elizabeth Line services between Heathrow and Canary Wharf.
Pre-arrival/arrival/check-in
About a week before check-in, I called the property and asked to have my Hilton Honors number added to the reservation (even though 3rd party bookings such as this one aren’t eligible to earn Hilton Honors points and don’t qualify guests for Hilton Honors status benefits, it never hurts to have your membership number associated with your reservation) and that meant that the reservation appeared in my online Hilton account which, in turn, meant that I could see the standby upgrade options Hilton was offering.
I decided not to purchase an upgrade as I wanted to see what an entry-level room was like and, besides, on a 1-night stay, I didn’t think there was much value to be had from paying for a slightly larger bed or a slightly better view.
This is what the property looks like when you approach it from Canary Wharf:
The hotel occupies the 11 floors (+ ground floor) framed by the brown cladding that you can see in the image above. The rest of the building and the other buildings that make up the Lincoln Plaza development contain privately owned apartments.
Inside the front doors, the hotel opens up into a spacious lobby area complete with sofas, armchairs and tables.
There’s also a lobby bar …
… and the check-in desks sit to the left of the bar area and next to the property’s elevators.
There was no one waiting to check-in when I arrived, so the formalities were quickly dealt with and I was soon on the way up to my Queen Guest Room on the 9th floor.
Queen Guest Room
The standard Queen bed rooms at the Lincoln Plaza hotel are the property’s entry-level rooms and cover ~258 sqft. (~24 sqm.), so they’re not particularly big.
The standard King rooms are only marginally bigger at ~269 sqft. so you have to book up to the Queen Superior rooms before you get above 300 sqft.
This is the view that greeted me when I opened the door to the room.
Just through the door and immediately on the left are the room’s washbasin and closet.
Next to the closet is the door to the small bathroom (more on that in a moment), and directly ahead of the main door to the room is the sleeping area.
Dominating the sleeping area is a Queen-size bed (as you’d expect), with a table & chair on one side of the bed and a wall unit with flat screen TV facing the bed.
The cabinet dividing the sleeping area from the washbasin houses the closet, and on the sleeping area side is where you’ll find the tea/coffee making facilities and an empty minibar.
Above the kettle and the coffee maker is a storage cubicle …
… and adjacent to this is another cubicle in which you’ll find the in-room safe.
Guests looking to charge their devices will find that the sleeping area is exceptionally well served by power outlets. Both sides of the bed give guests access to AC power (UK-style 3-pin outlets):
The wall unit with the TV offers UK-style and European-style power outlets as well as a USB-A port.
An there’s more access to AC power closer to floor level.
As I mentioned a little earlier, the room’s washbasin is to be found next to the main door to the room …
… and behind it is the room’s closet.
The bathroom (accessed through a door between the washbasin and the closet) is small. Very small. On one side is the toilet …
… and on the other side (facing the toilet) is a shower cubicle complete with a standard shower and a rain shower. That’s it.
The toiletries offered are full-size and by a brand called Urban Apothecary.
Overall, it’s hard to escape from the fact that the Lincoln Plaza’s Queen Guest Room has a compact feel to it – even the view from the window doesn’t give out a feeling of space – but I should caveat that by saying that the sleeping area doesn’t feel particularly dark, cramped or claustrophobic, so the designers seem to have done quite well with the limited amount of space given to them to work with.
For a one or two people on a short stay (two or three days) this room should be fine. The bed is comfortable, there’s just about enough storage space for two people to put away two to three days of clothes, and the shower is nice and powerful.
If you plan on staying for longer, have a considerable amount of luggage, and/or plan on spending quite a bit of time in the room, the compact nature of things may be an issue – you’ll probably struggle to put away all of your clothes, there’s nowhere to put large suitcases out of the way, and you’ll notice how small the room is if you’re in there for hour after hour and are not asleep (although who’s spending multiple waking hours in a hotel room when there’s a fantastic city waiting to be explored?)
Dining/breakfast
The hotel’s bar (Food Store Bar) is open daily between 10:00 and 0:00 and doubles as the hotel’s coffee shop for most of the day.
The Food Store restaurant sits adjacent to the bar and although it claims to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, its hours of operation would suggest that breakfast and dinner are all you’re really going to get.
Monday to Friday, the restaurant is open between 06:30 and 10:30 and between 18:00 and 22:00.
Saturday & Sunday, the restaurant is open between 07:00 and 11:00 and between 17:00 and 21:00.
The hotel’s website describes the restaurant as …
“A social space for casual drinking and dining, our restaurant menu features seasonal, and ingredient-driven classics created by Executive Chef Paul Danabie. Start the day with a buffet breakfast, savour a sharing platter or a wood-fired pizza over lunch and pick from hearty, considerate dishes using local suppliers at sundown.”
I’m not sure who’s having lunch before 10:30/11:00 or after 17:00/18:00 so make of that what you will 🙂
I believe that, at one time (pre pandemic), there was a cocktail bar on the level above the restaurant (accessed via staircase leading up from the restaurant), but that no longer appears to be open.
Breakfast at the Lincoln Plaza is a buffet affair and it looks pretty much like most of the buffet breakfasts you’ll find at mid-tier hotels in London.
As buffet breakfast go, this one was fine. There was nothing in it to get excited about or that stood out, but there was also nothing in it that was notably disappointing or bad (it’s still, however, markedly better than what the so-called 5-star Marriott London Grosvenor Square serves up in its Executive Lounge).
If you’re planning a stay and are hoping to be offered a high-end selection of breakfast items, you’re going to be disappointed. If you’re expecting something like you’ll find at a lot of mid-tier Hiltons in the US, you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised.
The health club/gym
The hotel’s fitness center (which it is shares with the apartments in the neighboring buildings) is on the lower ground floor and you can give yourself a mini workout just getting to it (it’s quite a walk from the hotel’s elevators to the fitness center).
The gym is large, well, equipped, and well lit (which is useful considering there’s no natural light).
The staff who look after the gym are exceptionally friendly and helpful and, as an added bonus, hotel guests get access to the complex’s steam room, sauna, and indoor pool (you’ll find a couple of images of the pool on this page).
For a London hotel gym, this one is very good (the facilities are a lot better than the ones you’ll find at a lot of the other London properties reviewed by TFM) and that’s probably because it’s a fitness center for all the surrounding apartments as well as the hotel with the owners of the apartments almost certainly playing high service charges (UK equivalent of HOA payments) to keep the facility maintained.
This is definitely one of the Lincoln Plaza’s strong points (assuming that you’re interested in working out when you visit).
Final thoughts
On the positive side, the staff here are very friendly, the property has a nice vibe, the rooms seem to be well maintained, the fitness facilities are excellent, the local area is quiet and the beds are comfortable, so there’s quite a bit to like here.
It’s hard, however, to get away from the fact that the entry-level rooms at the Lincoln Plaza are quite small, that the nearby Hilton London Canary Wharf is better located (for access to Canary Wharf and the local trains), that the Hilton’s rooms are bigger, and that the Hilton is often priced around the same level as the Lincoln Plaza.
Aesthetically, the Lincoln Plaza is a nicer looking property and it’s the better maintained of the two properties, but I’m not sure that’s enough to tempt me to choose it over the Hilton if there isn’t a price differential.
In fact, the Lincoln Plaza would probably be my third-choice property in this area if I wanted to stay at a hotel at which I could earn/redeem points and use my elite status.
Assuming that the room rates were broadly similar, I’d choose the Marriott London Canary Wharf first, the Hilton London Canary Wharf second, and then the Lincoln Plaza.
That’s may seem a little harsh considering I don’t really have anything that I particularly dislike about the Lincoln Plaza hotel, but the Marriott and the Hilton are better located, they both offer an executive lounge, and both offer entry-level rooms which are larger than the equivalent level rooms at the Lincoln Plaza.
Would I return to the Lincoln Plaza? Sure, as long as I couldn’t book the Marriott or the Hilton for around the same price or less.
Related (other London reviews):
- The Park Hyatt London River Thames review
- Great Scotland Yard Hotel London review (Hyatt Unbound Collection)
- Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars review
- Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill review (Regency Suite)
- Hyatt Regency London Albert Embankment review
- Hyatt Place London Heathrow Airport review
- London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square review
- Hilton London Canary Wharf review
