Hi, everyone. After doing a lot of reading up on the many insightful threads here, my wife and I have arrived at a list of a few hotels for a week's stay in London at the end of this month. Would love to get your help with the final decision, specially because the tripadvisor type reviews can sometimes be quite ambiguous. Here goes:

The Cumberland, Marble Arch

Abbey Court Hotel

Thistle, Marble Arch -- have got some mixed feedback from this forum.

Kingsway Hall Hotel -- a bit more expensive than the rest. Is it worth it?

Eton Colonnade -- really like the look of this one, but it seems quite removed from the center of things.

Millennium Bailey

All of these are pretty much around our budget (about 150 pounds a night; the Kingsway is a bit more expensive), but the other criteria we have -- the usual ones really -- are:

a. proximity to a tube station.
b. bigger rooms than normal in London (this is a really important one for us because we both need our space! You long-time married folks know what I'm talking about. We're getting deluxe doubles at the Kingsway and the Cumberland, and a Club Queen (slightly bigger than a double) at the Millennium Bailey.
c. Walking distance to some good restaurants/cafes.
d. Ideally (but not necessarily), walking distance to theaters etc.

Given these (and if you've read till here!) which would you pick?

Many, many thanks!
R

Are you planning to book any of these through a discounter such as Londontown.com (although I realize they might not all appear there).

Have you considered the Thistle Charing Cross in terms of location?

Hi Intrepid -- thanks for your response. Yes, have already booked all of these (and will cancel all but one!) with discount operators like Londontown.

Thistle Charing Cross sounds good too, thanks -- but at this stage, I'm more keen to subtract, not add

Also, have booked one I forgot to mention in my initial post: Country Inn&Suites.

And a criteria for narrowing that I also forgot to list earlier: a bit of old world charm would definitely help! Which is why am rather excited about the Colonnade, despite its location.
R

I can very much appreciate your desire to be near a tube station (whihc is always one of my biggest priorities)and as I recall the Eton is only a block or two (perhaps more?) from the Warwick Avenue Tube stop.

Even my favorite hotel in London, the Covent Garden, is a few minutes' walk to the Tube so I think you are on the right track.

Now, what you might hear is a lot of buzz about the immediate neighborhood and its convenience to other areas but sometimes I think that you actually have to go with your gut and stay in a place and see for yourself. For example, a lot of people here absolutely adore staying in "South Ken" which for my own needs/interests has absolutely no appeal whatsoever.

Good luck and hopefully you'll get some useful information from others.

Millenium Bailey is much nicer than the Thistle.The Thistle Hotel breakfasts are not great nowadays.
Last time we were in London we stayed atthe 4*Harrington Hall-near to Gloucester Road underground station.On a quiet street so we got a great nights sleep. Lots of restaurants at the end of the street -1 minute walk away. The breakfast was good, the hotel spotlessly clean,the service was that of a 5*. Price good too. Look up allhotels.com and type in Harrington Hall.I really recommend it.

If you should decide to stay at the Thistle Marble Arch, I think you can be pretty sure of getting it through Priceline 'name your own price', if you use a certain bidding strategy. (www.biddingfortravel.com would give you information on the bidding strategy). I stayed in Feb for very little $. Now, we are going in June for $107 (dollars, not pounds) per night, including taxes and fees. My winning bid was $88.

It would not be my choice for a romantic getaway, since it is a big busines style hotel. But, it was clean, the room was fine, it was centrally located, etc. For the price, it was a great deal. My room was small, although I think probably average for a London hotel room, but I was travelling as a single, so it was fine. It is a block and a half from the Marble Arch tube.

We stayed at Thistle Charing Cross and really loved the location. We were able to walk to everything we wanted to see. We had breakfast there every morning - they had the usual buffet with eggs, meat, hash brown type things, etc. along with fruit, cereal, toast, coffee, tea, etc. It was nothing fabulous, but it was fine to get the day started.

It's not accurate to say you can be assured of getting the Thistle Marble Arch with Priceline. There are several other known 4* hotels that can come up in the Bloomsbury-Marble Arch zone, and some at low price points. Also, new hotels can appear on Priceline at any time. That said, I'd be happy with any of the known 4* hotels, but some people, for some reason, don't like the location of hotels like the Novotel Euston and Hilton Euston too well.

I just returned from Easter at the Thistle Marble Arch--$53 plus tax/night on priceline (Dollars&gt
We got a king bed, fridge, 3 phones, large desk, huge bath with tile floor. We were there 8 nights and the conveniece to the tube was great.

My 2 cents worth: Kingsway Hall is very close to Holborn tube station and Covent Garden. I'd choose it.

How far is it from the Cumberland Hotel in W1 to Waterloo station. With five pieces of luggage between the two of us, would we have to take a taxi to get to Waterloo station or can we walk or is it just a tube stop or so away.
Thanks

few would walk even with no luggage. you really need to take a taxi or the tube. once you are on the tube, it hardly matters how many stops (within central london), however, you will have to change lines in order to get from marble arch to waterloo. i would probably take a taxi if it is 5 real pieces of luggage that you are carrying...and if it is rush hour, the task of moving 5 pieces of luggage through the tube with a transfer involved can be next to impossible...not to say that nobody does this but it is a battle.

I'd pick The Cumberland. The hotel has had a full refurbishment, and has a contemporary look, and feel - it is far cleaner, and fresher than the alternatives you've found. It's by lots of buses and tube stations at Marble Arch, and you can walk to lots of places from that location too - however, I wouldn't recommend trying Waterloo!