petlover

We can redeem points to stay for 3 nights in London at a Holiday Inn property (includes Intercontinental Properties as well).

We generally prefer the Holiday Inn Express properties and find them clean and always include coffee pot in room and complimentary breakfast. Given that this is our first choice, I'm trying to chose the best location to be near the metro tube and restaurants. The H.I.Express choices are:
LONDON CITY
275 Old Street
LONDON, EC1V 9LN

LONDON-SOUTHWARK
103-109 Southwark Street
LONDON, SE1 OJQ

LONDON-VICTORIA (EXHI)
106-110 Belgrave Road
LONDON, SW1V 2BJ

LONDON-GREENWICH-A102(M)
Bugsbys Way
GREENWICH, SE10 0GD

Has anyone stayed at these? Being accessible to restaurants and the tube is important. Thank you very much.

John

Recently stayed atthe Holiday Inn Victoria station.(First week of October) Location is great with tube just a few steps and of course the train station itself. Also within walking distance to Harrahs,Buckingham Palace,Big Ben, Parliament,WW2 war rooms etc. Also a couple of good pubs in the neighborhood are Shakespeares across from Victoria station and St. Georges in back of Victoria station.
Having said that , the hotel itself is just your basic Holiday Inn. Clean but basic. Restaurant for breakfast is mediocore. Staff is very helpful save for the concierge. (sp) He actually lied to me(another story)

OOOps---Just reread your post. The Holiday Inn I speak of is on Buckingham Palace Road (or close to it) and is NOT a Holiday Inn express but a regular Inn

run by Intercontinental Properties.

Have a good trip.

Flyboy

The Express London - Victoria is a few blocks down from Victoria Station and you can also use the Pimlico tube station easily enough. While we didn't stay there, I stuck my head in to visit with the staff and check the place out for future reference.

The hotels on Belgrave Road are remarkably uniform in appearance from the outside and what they all do is to take one or more white, residential buildings and then refurbish them into these small hotels. The difference is in the quality of finish inside and the Express has done a nice job. (There are some hotels along Belgrave that can be rather Spartan, including narrow, twisting stairways that are a real pain to haul a heavy suitcase up and no elevator, etc.)

Frankly, I think the Express - Victoria is a place I would gladly trade 20K PC points/night for when you consider the kind of money you're saving, since rates never seem to go much below 90 GBP/night and it can often be a bit higher. If you like to walk (and we certainly do) then the Westminster neighborhood is as good a place as any. You have proximity to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the Thames, Westminster Abbey, etc. There are restaurants in the vicinity and a few pubs, but it is not an action-packed area as far as night-life (a mixed blessing, I suppose.)

One place we enjoyed was Ristorante le Palme. You can stop by early to make your reservation (because I don't have the phone number.) This is an excellent, white-linen dining experience where they really know how to prepare and serve a meal. It is within easy walking distance of your hotel (walking toward Victoria Station, you would take a right on the 'most obvious' street and you will pass a number of restarants in this area). Along with the dinner, there was a harp player featured with absolute daggers for thumbnails that performed the evening we were there and was excellent. The owner is a little quirky, but very classy and he knows how to create a dining experience. There is a good wine selection and this place flies in the face of the idea that 'you can't get good food in London.' You can, right here (and I'm assuming that it is still around -- it's been a couple of years and I plan to check it out again in February or so.)

Lori

Assuming you want to be more in the center of tourist activities go for the on near Victoria Station. You will regret it if you stay in one of the others mentioned as they are really not central. The London City one is not in a particularly appealing area at all and I'd avoid it if possible - certainly not a place I'd want to walk around at night even tho the area is going through a urban renewal thing. Greenwich is too far out (unless you have a reason to be in Greenwich). Not sure of the location of the Southwark one, but I'd pick Victoria over all these as it is by far the most convenient to everything.

janis

Of the three - Victoria hands down. Southwark is not bad but Victoria is in the very middle of things. Great transport connections and walking distance to Chelsea, Tate Britain, B'ham Palace, etc.

London City is just too far from too many things. The only things even remotely nearby are the Geffrye (a great little museum) and Jamie Oliver's new restaurant.

Take Victoria . . . . . .

mclaurie

As everyone says, the Victoria location is most central. Greenwich is not actually IN London. The city is the financial area &amp; will not be very lively at night (and dead on weekends). I don't know the Southwark area well. But the reviews of the HIE Victoria are <b>not great</b> here

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...n_England.html

and most people choose it as an inexpensive option. Why would you stay there??? You will see on the link above, travelocity offers it starting at 69GBP/night. So if I were using points, I'd pick a better place, especially if it's no more points.

The HI Kensington at the Gloucester Rd tube station gets excellent reviews here

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...n_England.html

The Intercontinental London gets even better reviews

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...n_England.html

All things being equal, I'd stay at the Intercontinental.

KidsToLondon

What about the Holiday Inn Mayfair? It is only 1/2 block from the Ritz, in one of the most upscale areas of London. Walking distance to Green Park and Buckingham Palace.