InterContinental Jakarta

There are hotels you simply sleep in, and there are hotels that fold you into a rhythm all their own from the moment you step through the door. The InterContinental Jakarta Pondok Indah, I am happy to report, belongs firmly to the latter camp. I came to write an honest InterContinental Jakarta review and stayed long enough to be thoroughly, contentedly spoiled, checking in through the Club InterContinental service, unwinding in an 89-square-metre suite high above the city, and grazing my way from an afternoon tea trolley to a Sunday brunch that quite undid my resolve.

Overview

The InterContinental brand has spent decades in the business of turning travel into something closer to theatre, and here in the heart of South Jakarta that legacy feels wholly at home. This is one of the newest luxury addresses in the city, a five-star hotel of 311 elegantly appointed guest rooms and suites, set in Pondok Indah where the business, shopping and entertainment districts fold neatly into one another. It is, to my mind, a hotel of two happy natures: composed and discreet enough for the visiting executive, indulgent enough for a weekend that has nothing to do with work at all. That duality is the thread running through everything that follows in this review.

Location & Getting There

The hotel sits in Pondok Indah, the polished residential and commercial pocket of South Jakarta that has quietly become one of the city’s most desirable corners. Shopping, dining and the business district are all within easy reach, which makes the address as practical for meetings as it is for a leisurely escape. The map below marks the spot precisely, should you wish to plot your route in from the airport.

The Club InterContinental Room

My home for the stay was a Club InterContinental Room, and at 89 square metres it offers the kind of space one rarely takes for granted in a city hotel. Floor-to-ceiling windows draw the Jakarta skyline right into the room, and a generous seating area of soft sofa and armchairs, arranged before the television, gives the whole suite a settled, lived-in warmth. There is an espresso machine for a quiet morning coffee, and afternoon tea, I discovered, can be brought up and enjoyed here just as happily as in the lounge.

The bedroom is a study in easy comfort. The king bed struck me as pitched at just the right firmness for a proper night’s sleep, and with the bedside lamp low and the city glittering beyond the glass, the mood turns quietly romantic. It is the sort of room you are in no hurry to leave in the morning.

The bathroom is every bit as considered as the rest, with a separate bath and toilet and a lovely architectural flourish: a glass panel that opens the room onto the bedroom beyond. It is a small piece of theatre that lends the whole suite a distinctly luxurious air.

Club InterContinental Lounge

The great privilege of a Club room is the lounge that comes with it, reserved for Club InterContinental guests alone. It is the loveliest sort of hideaway, arranged into discreet corners for resting, for a light bite and a drink, and for the quieter business conversation. The experience begins before you have even reached your room: I was welcomed with a private check-in, a personalised touch that set the tone for everything that came after and, more than anything, made the stay feel genuinely looked after.

Across the day the lounge keeps a generous table, from breakfast through afternoon tea to evening cocktails, all of it served against unobstructed views of South Jakarta. A dedicated mixologist tends the bar in the evenings, with a considered selection of wines, spirits and beers alongside. My afternoons here quickly became a favourite ritual.

Breakfast in the lounge is served à la carte, and it is a quietly indulgent affair: cold cuts and cheeses, fresh salads, warm pastries and good coffee, more than enough to see off any appetite. I lingered over mine longer than I care to admit.

The spread rewards a slow, curious morning. A salmon bagel and a well-kept cheese board sit alongside a basket of pastries, while a yoghurt station offers blueberry, apricot and strawberry pots with bircher muesli to spoon over the top.

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As the light softens, the lounge shifts gear for evening cocktails, and the terrace comes into its own. A drink in hand and the whole of South Jakarta laid out in panorama below is, I think, the most romantic seat in the hotel.

Dining

Sugar & Spice is the hotel’s main restaurant, and it approaches its menu as a sort of grand tour, gathering dishes from around the world onto a single, generous table. The Sunday brunch, in particular, was sensational, the kind of long, unhurried afternoon that undoes any good intentions you arrived with.

The gallery below gives a fuller sense of just how much the Sunday brunch has to offer.

For a gentler moment, the lobby is a lovely place to settle with an afternoon coffee, and this is where you will find one of the hotel’s small pleasures: locally roasted Javanese coffee, ground and brewed to order at the bar. Watching my cup poured by hand, unhurried and precise, was the quiet highlight of an afternoon.

The Pool

The pool area, looking out over Pondok Indah, is the hotel’s place to slow right down. The outdoor pool is wrapped in a beautifully landscaped garden with plenty of shade for brighter days, and the Aqua Lounge keeps a steady supply of cocktails, mocktails and cooling refreshments close at hand. A separate event space means the setting turns just as easily to an evening gathering under the stars.

The Verdict

If this InterContinental Jakarta review has a single conclusion, it is that the Club InterContinental experience is what elevates a very good hotel into a memorable one. Between the private check-in, the 89-square-metre suite, the lounge that carried me effortlessly from breakfast to evening cocktails, and a Sunday brunch I am still thinking about, the InterContinental Jakarta Pondok Indah delivers exactly the blend of business polish and unhurried pleasure it promises. I loved my stay here, and I suspect you would too.

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