ChevyChasen

hello.i am choosing a hotel for our first trip to london.we usually travel on a budget.
i have used tripadvisor.com in the past to get hotel reviews.what i noticed however is that London hotels get *much* much harsher reviews than similarly priced ones on the continent. 85€ hotels were decribed as dumps having staff from hell. is it a case of higher expectations for those who visit london or do you need to spend twice the amountto get the same standard of hotel?thanks

Patrick

Yes! That's why London is the first place I started seeking out apartments and have never looked back.
You can find a REALLY nice hotel in Paris in a great location for $200 US. In London, that's a real stretch. I'm not saying that you can't find one for that, but it won't be spacious, it won't have much charm, and it probably won't be in a great location (to me!).

ira

Hi CC,

London is known for its high hotel prices.

flygirl

you need a lot of dosh to get a decent place. figure the pound is worth at least 1.8 times the dollar, and around 35% or so more than the Euro. an 85E hotel translates to about 60 pounds for a hotel, and yes, that's a dive.

a 100-120 pound hotel is maybe about where the decent stuff starts (not posh, just decent) and that translates to about 150-170E. (this is leaving priceline out of the equation).

flygirl

right - like Patrick said - 170E or so will be a bit more than 200 bucks - and you will have a very nice place in Paris.

120 pounds on the other hand, will find you something small, clean, and only maybe a good location if you use londontown.com like I did for this upcoming trip.

m_kingdom2

London (according to a recent survey) is the second most expensive city in the world, expect hotel prices to be scaled up accordingly.

flygirl

for restos, you used to be able to say that you could just swap the dollar sign for the pound and the price-numbers would be about the same for the same type of restos/food. (i.e. you are spending 1.8 times on the food, entertainment, etc.) I don't think this follows for hotels however!

cigalechanta

A definate YES!

Margie

I don't know what plans you have already made, but sometimes the packages on sites like go-today.com, gate1travel, or the virgin-atlantic vacations are of value. You can often find air and hotel for 6 or so nights at prices you might expect to pay for the hotel alone. Read the fine print so you understand any restrictions, and be sure to check the hotel location on a London street map.

MFNYC

London is quite pricey as compared to other Europe cities and even NYC. The only bargain I could find was the family day tube pass.

Weadles

I found an incredible bargain this summer with of all places, Claridges! The Savoy Hotel group was running a special of 299 pounds a night for two enormous bedrooms, two baths at either Claridges or The Berkeley. Sometimes you can get lucky even in London!

jlm_mi

If you usually travel on a budget, I'd guess you're not accustomed to spending $200 US on a REALLY nice hotel in Paris.

We've traveled twice to London on a budget. The first time, we ended up in a bit dumpy, but not horrible, little hotel with a separate bathroom down the hall (the shower/toilet were separate from one another, and both were shared with the entire floor). I wouldn't do that again, though we did survive! This was in 1996 and we spent ~50GBP for the room.

In 2003 we pricelined a room (got the Thistle Kensington Palace) for $60 US/night, taxes included. It was a great place. I would use priceline again in a heartbeat! I'll gladly sacrifice knowing up front where I'll be staying for that kind of savings, as long as I stick with high end hotels.

Kayb95

Another thing to consider when booking a hotel in London is that the hotel ratings are far more liberal. A 3* hotel in London is more like what you'd get in a 2* hotel in the US.

TrendGirl

London is a fantastic city to visit, but is notorious for expensive hotel options, and not getting large rooms for the money.
But.......worth the visit.

Tallulah

You want to try LIVING here...!

Cole

Try a search on The Morgan Hotel. It is in Bloomsbury and there have been many good reviews on it here and on Trip Advisor. I had a room booked for 68GBP for a single including breakfast. I did not stay there because my plans changed, but I did go by there and it looks nice.

mgmargate

You can sometimes get lucky but most 3 star hotels in Europe are dumps by U.S. standards.

Patrick

I'd take that last statement from mgmargate with a giant grain of salt.
You could have the most exquisitely decorated and furnished hotel you ever saw in France. It could have huge, spacious rooms and be fine in every detail. Yet if they do not happen to have a full scale restaurant, they can not get a rating higher than 3 stars. The star system ONLY has to do with the amenities offered by a hotel. The stars reflect everything from whether of not all rooms have private baths, to what meals are served, to whether there is an elevator, to if the hotel offers room service. There are many, many truly magnificent 3 star hotels in Europe. The star rating (particularly in France) has NOTHING to do with the quality or even the cleanliness of the hotel, only the amenties they offer.

mgmargate

Where I come from a room that doesn't have it's own bath is a DUMP.

Kayb95

<i>&quot;The star rating (particularly in France) has NOTHING to do with the quality or even the cleanliness of the hotel, only the amenties they offer.&quot;</i>

That's why Americans need to be aware of the differences in the star-ratings. In the US, stars represent quality. Most 3-star hotels in the US are decent places to stay. The same cannot always be said of 3-star hotels in Europe. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the rating system in Europe - but people just need to be aware of the differences.

I am normally perfectly content staying in a 3-star room in the US. But in London, we look in the 4-star range to get comparable quality.