mpchan

We are going on a 15 day Europe tour starting from Rome on Dec 1 and ending in London on the 14th Dec. The tour's last stop is Novotel London Hammersmith. We intend to extend our stay in London another 3 days but wonder if the Novotel is too far away from the city centre. We love the theatre and would appreciate any comments re commuting times and accessibility of tubes to the usual sights and theatres. Don't want to waste precious time commuting!
Another question(s),is it better to wait until arrival in London and then only look for a hotel nearer the centre? Perhaps Bloomsbury or Soho? Would rates be higher for walk-ins? and what's the best way to book hotels in London?
Please forgive the lengthy posting. My first time on a discussion board!

janis

Don't worry - your post was not too long at all . . .

As for the Novotel - it is not in a terrible area or really too far out. It is in zone 1 so your transport would be slightly more expensive. But it is near a couple of tube stations (Barons court and West Kensington) and not too far from Kensington Olympia.

I personally would prefer South Kens, Victoria or Russell Square because they are closer in.

You could wait until you are there and if you like the hotel just stay on. They probably have a 24 hour cancellation policy so if you don't like it you can cancel the next 3 days after you check in. Then you can go to a large tourist information center (like the one in Victoria station) and have them locate a room for you.

But if you know now you want to be in the center of things check sites like londontown.com and laterooms.com (laterooms will only let you book about 2weeks in advance but the rates are usually VERY good.

janis

Oops - I meant to say the hotel is in transport zone 2 . . . .

stevelondon88

Hi there. If you're staying in Hammersmith it will take you roughly half an hour to get into the centre of London using the tube. Hammersmith itself is not too bad. If you're prepared to walk a little, you're not far from the banks of the Thames and there are some very nice riverside pubs and a famous rstaurant, The River Cafe.

Tangata

We stayed there on three occasions in 1999 whilst touring with Globus. It is quite a nice hotel, reasonably sized rooms and air-conditioned, although you will not be concerned about that in December!

It is very close to a Tube station, although being in Zone two is a slight disadvantage.

One word of advice, we pre booked some extra nights at the special rate offered by Globus but a cancelled tour meant that we needed some additional nights. We went to the desk to see if we could get these at the same rate. The receptionist sent us off to an Agent in the City of London who offered us a rate well below that offered by Globus.

mpchan

Wow, thanks for the replies. Janis, if I were to use the websites given, do they give an email confirmation immediately or do I need to wait days? Stevelondon88, what are the prices like at the River Cafe?
Tangata, great to know the hotel is okay. My tour agent got us a rate of 129 pds per night for the extension stay at Novotel which I thought was a bit high for a Zone 2 hotel. What do you think? And what hotel did you end up with and at what price? What and where is an/the Agent?
My apologies for so many questions. This is our first trip to Europe and we're so excited, yet we want to be as prepared as possible!

jody

Just out of curiosity, I plugged Novotel into some booking service and got a 99GBP all inclusive rate per night. You might want to look at londonnights.com, londontown.com, or hotels.com..I found an 85 GBP rate at Millenium Baileys , which is in a great intown area ( south Kensington)

The River cafe will run about 60 GBP per person as I recall...but it was worth every penny!

stevelondon88

Yes River Cafe is known for being quite pricey. I think we spent about 60 pounds per person. It was good food but I felt it was just slightly overpriced. But the atmosphere and clientele are very nice, service is great. One of those 'special occasion' restaurants, I think. A cheaper option for a visitor might be a riverside pub (cant think of any names right now but there are a couple in the Hammersmith area).

PatrickLondon

The Doves is well worth a visit (turn right along the river bank when you reach Hammersmith Bridge), but I have no idea what they're like for food.

GeoffHamer

Hammersmith, Barons Court and West Kensington are on the District Line. The last train leaves central London at about 0025 (except on Sunday nights when the last trains are about half an hour earlier), so there will be no problem going to the theatre or whatever. There are also night buses at least every half hour through the night (on Friday/Saturday night and Saturday/Sunday night, the night buses are every ten minutes).

Lori

The Novatel is not that far out. I would not bother changing hotels for only 3 days, it's not worth the packing/unpacking and you will end up losing at least 1/2 day in the process. I know where the hotel is and it's not a bad area at all. Yes, it's Zone 2, but just barely! It's a large hotel and I expect they cater to a lot of tour groups, but it is decent looking from the outside and there are places to eat, etc. nearby, as well as the Tube. Some of these replies make it sound as if the hotel were out in Surrey or someplace but really, you are not that far away from things. No matter where you stay in London you are not on top of all the sights anyway. Bottom line is do you really want to lose 1/2 day or so transferring hotels ???

mpchan

Lori, you're so right about losing so much precious time transferring hotels. I was agonising over whether to change hotels or not. However, the rate quoted to me for extension of stay at 129 pounds per night is a bit too high for me especially when I would need 2 rooms for our family of four. After lurking around this forum for weeks and poring through past postings, I get the impression that I should be getting lower rates at the Novotel but the tour company I booked insisted that's the only rate they've got. So, my dilemna is whether to wait till I reach London to negotiate for a better rate with Novotel or to change hotels. Any suggestions??
To all who have responded, all my thanks for your helpful advice. This is a great forum and I find that it is getting addictive !!!!

Mee Ping

WillTravel

Priceline often offers good rates in London. It wouldn't be ideal to switch rooms, but if you plan it out efficiently, it need not take 1/2 day. It would certainly be worth saving hundreds of pounds, in my opinion.

walkabout

You can save money by booking the extra nights at the Novotel yourself instead of going through the tour company.

London-discount-hotel.com has a rate of 68 pounds per night for your hotel for December 15-17. Dilos.com has a rate of 70 pounds per night for these dates. Both rates include tax and continental breakfast. I have not personally used these sites, but perhaps other Fodorites have and can give you feedback. Also, other booking sites may offer similar deals.

London is one of my favorite cities. I hope you have a wonderful visit.