Hotwire zones in Barcelona & London

Old Mar 6th, 2014, 09:08 AM
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Hotwire zones in Barcelona & London

I'm looking at using Hotwire for a possible upcoming trip which will include both London and Barcelona.

I've been to London several times and spent a semester there in 1999, but have never used Hotwire or Priceline there. I lived in Bloomsbury during my semester abroad and tend to gravitate there. I haven't been back since 2009, though, so while my general geography knowledge is good, it's not terribly recent. The Bloomsbury zone goes a bit north of Kings Cross/St Pancras/Euston Road. I know this area is safe, and obviously it's good from a transport perspective, but is there much around the Euston Road area in terms of restaurants, etc? I'm thinking more for breakfast than anything else. The Westminster zone includes a bit of Lambeth across the river - on the off chance we'd end up with a hotel there, would that be a decent area to stay in?

Neither of us have ever been to Barcelona, so I'm flying a bit blind there. The Old Town/El Born/Gotic area is bordered by La Rambla, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, Carrer de Sardenya, and Carrer de la Merce, roughly, with Placa de Catalunya roughly in the upper left corner. I'm assuming this would be a good one to stay in? Would others be just as good?

If it works, here's a link to a search for Barcelona, just for the zone map:
http://www.hotwire.com/hotel/results...nId=1&sn=sn3_2

Lastly - "we" are two women in our 30s and would much prefer a twin room to a double bed. Have any of you had success/lack of success emailing a hotel after winning a bid to request a twin room (or anything similar)? I've done this with no problem in the States, but since rooms with two double beds are so common here I have a feeling it's easier than in Europe.

Thanks in advance for the assistance!
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Old Mar 6th, 2014, 02:01 PM
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Topping just in case!
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Old Mar 7th, 2014, 09:36 AM
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Bumping one last time just in case anyone has input. The link doesn't work, sorry - I wish there were an obvious zone map without searching for a hotel.
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Old Mar 7th, 2014, 09:48 AM
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I have no idea about the Barcelona zones . . . but re London:

The problem w/ both Hotwire and Priceline is that most London zones are drawn to include less convenient or sketchier areas.

Westminster for instant used to be a terrific 'go-to' zone, but now includes Vauxhall. Same w/ Bloomsbury which includes Kings Cross. Chelsea/Knightsbridge used to be a problem because most wins were in the inconvenient Chelsea Harbor area. But now that is moved into the Fulham zone.

The only really 'fail safe' zones are really Knightsbridge/Chelsea, Mayfair/Soho, and (surprisingly) City/St Paul's/Tower.
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Old Mar 7th, 2014, 09:49 AM
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Meant to add - things are better w/ Hotwire than PL because sometimes w/ the hotel description it is fairly easy to suss out which property it is.
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Old Mar 7th, 2014, 10:22 AM
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Thanks so much, janis! Yes, with Hotwire in other cities I've been pretty well able to figure out what hotel I'm getting, using TripAdvisor and betterbidding.com. I've never successfully used Priceline, but have had good luck with Hotwire. The "sketchy (or deserted) neighborhood" concern is my biggest - I'll likely be in London by myself a couple of days before my friend gets there.

I've never stayed in the City/St Paul's area (always either Belgravia or Bloomsbury) - would you recommend it for general tourist visits? I didn't want to end up in a City business area that shuts down at night. Maybe my impression is wrong, though. I'd happily stay in Mayfair/Soho, but it and Chelsea are quite a bit more expensive even on Hotwire (no surprise there, really), so the other zones are pretty tempting.
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Old Mar 7th, 2014, 11:32 AM
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As usual with Hotwire you get very fashionable areas in Barcelona together with some that are not so. Or not as much. While you can find many "everybody's darling" hotels in the Barri Gotic zone, it can also include hotels right on the Rambles. Some hate the latter, some say the Rambles are no big deal as long as you aware that this main pedestrian zone attracts also some pickpockets.
From my very subjective point of view, no parts of Hotwire's Barri Gotic zone would be considered unsafe. And I walked any parts of those at any time from 9am till 4am several times.
The neighboring Eixample district is usually universally loved, but Hotwire's zoning goes that far SW towards Pl. Espanya that your hotel could be either is the very fashionable parts from Pl. Catalunya towards Diagonal or somewhere less central.
The only real and objective difference is that the Barri Gotic zone is truly the Old Town with narrow streets and a medieval flair - while Eixample is the more spacious checkboard-pattern "new town".
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Old Mar 7th, 2014, 12:36 PM
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Thanks so much, Cowboy! I'd probably be in the "no big deal" camp on La Ramblas, but at the same time it would be nice to stay somewhere that sounds a bit more like your Old Town description.

If you had your choice of areas, where would you stay for a typical tourist visit? I'm finding prices on hotels.com that are pretty comparable to Hotwire, and you can pick your hotel there, so that's looking like a good potential option! We'll be flying out from BCN, so I'm kind of focusing on the Pl Catalunya area, but I'm not set on it.
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Old Mar 7th, 2014, 12:50 PM
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The city in London does shut fairly early although restaurants and pubs are open till late (11). Except on weekends when a lot of pubs, restaurants and pubs are closed. Cheapside near St. Paul's is open, but in general it's a quiet area on the weekends. Evenings during the week will have city workers out and about. The area around St. Paul's is lively later, but around Bank is pretty dead even though it is just a few blocks to the east.

I like the area because it's easy to get to west end, soho on the central line and it mostly has locals during the day going about their work day compared to very touristy west end, soho...
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Old Mar 7th, 2014, 01:40 PM
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Thanks, jamikins! That helps a lot. I don't mind quiet, but I just don't love the idea of walking back to my hotel alone in the dark in a deserted area. (Though we'll be there in May, so it'll be light out pretty late!)

The hotel in Bloomsbury where I stayed on my last trip has a single room for £115/night - I have that tentatively reserved for the two nights I'll be solo, just in case. We'll see what happens!
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Old Mar 7th, 2014, 02:06 PM
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No problem! I would have no problem walking around the city by myself at night, in fact I frequently do! I am mid-30s and female and have never had an issue. But I can see how it may make people nervous if they aren't familiar!
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Old Mar 7th, 2014, 02:48 PM
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For a typical tourist visit (and I think few of us are anything but a typical tourist) I would stay in somewhat of a proximity to Pl. Catalunya. While tastes differ, you can at least not go awfully wrong.
But ease of going back to the airport should not be that much of a determining factor. From anywhere in central Barcelona, even a texi ride to the airport should not break the bank (around 25 euros plus the fee for luggage).
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Old Mar 7th, 2014, 03:04 PM
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Oh, that's great info, Cowboy. Thank you! I'm so used to public transport to airports in Europe that getting a taxi honestly hadn't occurred to me, but you're right - 25E or so for the two of us is no big deal.

jamikins, I've never had any sort of issue in London that should make me nervous - just a type A personality + cultural expectations, I guess! If anything I feel safer walking around at night in London than in big cities in the States.
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