Virgin Hotels London Shoreditch is officially launched – and I’m impressed so far
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Virgin Hotels came to London last year with the opening of Virgin Hotels London Shoreditch on 1st August.
This is not a new hotel. It is a rebrand of Mondrian Shoreditch London, which was part of Accor Live Limitless.
Of course, the Mondrian Shoreditch London hotel was itself a rebrand!
The site opened as private members club The Curtain, which slipped into receivership in September 2020. It survived less than three years, proving that an expensive PR campaign counts for nothing if your underlying product is wrong.
Whilst Virgin Hotels took over nine months ago, it was relatively low key because the hotel was still, effectively, Mondrian inside.
After a lot of work – although there is more to do – we were invited down on Tuesday to chat to Sir Richard Branson and see what has been done to date.
I have a confession to make ….
I’d been to this property a couple of times in the past, before Virgin Hotels took over, and for some reason it hadn’t gelled with me.
I’ve changed my mind. Sitting outside at their rooftop bar and restaurant, with its rooftop pool, in the glorious sunshine on Tuesday morning can do that to you.
I didn’t think Virgin Hotels would change as much as they have, given that Mondrian only operated the site for a couple of years. It has been busy though.
All of the furniture in the rooms has been replaced. The red SMEG fridges and the Virgin Hotels beds have appeared. Rooms doors have turned red and, importantly, the noisy wooden floors in the corridors have been carpeted.
Here’s a standard room (or ‘chamber’ as Virgin Hotels calls them). It’s not huge at 22 sq m, especially with the large bed, but it looks good:
All of the 6th floor rooms come with balconies. Room 601, which we saw, is a stunner. The room itself (a Grand Chamber Junior Suite Terrace) isn’t much larger than a standard one but has a h-u-g-e wrap-around terrace:
What really impressed me was ’Hidden Grooves’ – a 38-seat hi-fi bar inspired by Japanese listening lounges. The walls are stacked with rare records in a retro 70s-style setting, filled with vintage furniture and music memorabilia. A PR picture is below.
There is more work to be done:
- the wallpaper in the rooms will be changed over time – the existing grey is still in good condition but the hotel feels it doesn’t fit the vibe, and it has already gone from the suites
- a new restaurant will appear on the mezzanine floor later in the year – the space is now empty
- changes will be made to the basement and rooftop restaurant, although these are externally operated under a contract which the hotel cannot break. Even the rooftop pool is not under the direct control of the hotel.
Don’t let any of this put you off though. The hotel looks fantastic – it’s about as near as you get in London to a New York Meatpacking District-style property, even if the pool is only 10% of the size of the one at Soho House New York!
A full review will follow soon. What I wrote above is based on a guided tour so we need to see how the hotel performs in practice.
How do you redeem Virgin Points for Virgin Hotels?
You can spend Virgin Points here, but it is generally poor value. A special 45,000 Virgin Points deal for weekend stays in May is potentially an exception.
It’s initially a bit fiddly, but when you’ve set it up once it will work automatically in the future.
You need to register for ‘The Know’ (click here), the Virgin Hotels membership programme. Once registered, you can link your Virgin Red account to your ‘The Know’ account.
(If you only have a Virgin Flying Club account, not a Virgin Red account, you will have to download the Virgin Red app and register there first. Link your Virgin Flying Club account so your points balance is shared. You can then register with ‘The Know’.)
Once your Virgin Red account is linked, you get a simple button on the Virgin Hotels booking page allowing you to toggle between cash and points.
As far as I could tell, if a Chambers Room (entry level) is bookable for cash, it is bookable for points.
No other room categories are bookable. Upgrades are not available.
The bad news is that you will generally get under 0.5p per Virgin Point compared to paying cash, which I can’t recommend. Oddly, other Virgin Hotels properties are far better value on a ‘pence per point’ basis as I wrote here.
You can find out more, and book for cash, on the Virgin Hotels website here.
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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (June 2025)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.
You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):
Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review
Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard
3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review
You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.
The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.
The Platinum Card from American Express
50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.
The American Express Business Platinum Card
50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
The American Express Business Gold Card
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points.
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