"My trips aren't about checking off the 'must dos' but rather just plain enjoying myself."

Then you will find better accommodations for the same money away from the center.

<i>Q.E.D.</i>

Nor is my trip all about saving money. You just don't give up do you Robespierre?

I personally stay in a flat in Covent Garden because I LIKE IT -- the location most, the accomodations are wonderful, and I consider it a great value. End of story. Period.

But whatever rocks your boat, I'm happy for you.

&quot;Nor is my trip all about saving money.&quot;

Re-reading what I wrote, I notice I said &quot;the same money.&quot; So we agree.

No we don't agree. I don't feel that giving up my favored location for even the &quot;same&quot; money is acceptable.

Ok, now it's your turn, since you refuse to accept how I like to spend my holiday.

To the original poster - if you can in any way manage to afford a bit more for your London hotel - please do it! I stayed at the Regent Palace two years ago and it was horrid. I too was seduced by its location right at Picadilly Circus and it's cheap (for London) price, but even those don't make it worth it. Please check out Tripadvisor for all the gory details and you will see what I am talking about. With the availability of the Tube, buses, tour coaches and hopefully your own walking ability, you don't have to be right in PC to enjoy the sites of interest in London. Plus the immediate area is crowded, noisy, and traffic-clogged.

Hi Claudia,
If you can find somewhere else for roughly the same price then please do. The Regent Palace is a shameful example of a seemingly unregulated hotel industry. Staff are uncaring and barely competent in English whilst many of the rooms are disgusting. If you do stay, book an en suite room and please check linens, towels etc before accepting the room.
A cab would cost about &pound;50.00 by the way compared to &pound;3.80 on the tube.

Claudia.
I do not know where you are from in Brasil. Temperature wise, if you can handle Rio in the summer, then July in in London even in the underground is cool. Air quality can be as bad though.

Are you locked into the Regent Palace through a package deal?

If so, then ok. If not, then I recomend another budget hotel
http://www.alhambrahotel.com/documents/welcome.html
This is also on the blue line. Not as convenient as Picadilly. Very well maintained. Close to the British Museum. Clean and well maintained. A very ethnically diverse neighbourhood South of the train station.

As and old employee of the Regent Palace Hotel I feel that I should share some information with all of you out there. Yes the Regent is centrally situated in Piccadilly Circus, close to all the tourist attractions. Remember that this will also be a pain, you see Glass House street has two late night clubs on it that close at three in the morning so you have all the punters (usually drunk) roaming the street, not quietly. Then at four in the morning you have the truck that collects all their glass, also not a quiet process. Those are things the hotel has no control over. Just some facts for you though, their security team is small for the size of the hotel and therefore unable to deal with all incidents that happen, of which their are many. The hotel is known as a hot spot for crime, there are regularly problems where they have to call the police for assistance. These include prostitutes and rent boys using the communal toilets for business, junkies usinge the toilets to shoot up and also just about anyone who has sex in full view of whom ever might walk in. Then the rooms, well they are infested with bed bugs, mice and other insects. Of about the 920 odd rooms there will be about 70 or so off for this problem. Then things never seem to work, there are constant maintenance problems which can never be solved.
To be totally honest with you if you have not already commited yourself to staying at the Regent Palace I would implore you to stay in another hotel. I would not even want my worst enemy staying there.