London hotel - Blackfriars - location help
 

Looking at the possibility of tacking on a quick couple days in London on the return portion of a trip. Can use points to get hotel rooms in the area of Blackfriars tube station but know zilch about area. This will be just a two day stay and we will not have time to do a whole lot more than see the "high spots". Two adults, 18 year old niece. Anyone familiar with the area that can offer advice re: suitability of neighborhood, ease of getting around? We would arrive from Paris via Eurostar, depart from Heathrow or Gatwick (not sure yet which). Thanks!

It is a central-ish location near the river and St Paul's Cathedral- but very VERY quiet at night. I don't mean quiet-lack of traffic. But quiet-not many people around.

Which hotel is it? Can you use your points at any other properties in London or is this the only one?

One small proviso about this.

Blackfriars tube station is practically on the river, on the north bank: in fact the platforms of the railway station above actually extend out onto the river.

There are practically no tube lines south of the river, so Blackfriars could be described as the local station for a very bleak area (go to google maps and look for Stamford Street) southeast of the station on the river's south bank. There are a number of Holiday Inn Express-type places in the area. By "bleak" I don't mean unsafe or sleazy: just VERY dismal and empty at night. I'd feel safe staying there, but really not very happy.

North of the river, it's true that the area empties at night. But it's got great buildings and having them to yourself adds to its charm in my view.

There's an villagey feel to the little streets running up from Blackfriars towards St Pauls, which I quite like. There is, I think, a Crowne Plaza hotel just over the road from Blackfriars station on the north bank. But it isn't very lively at night, since it's surrounded by what is essentially the business district.

And as flanner says, when people in property start using district names and terms like "in the vicinity of" it pays to check exact addresses, on something like www.streetmap.co.uk.

Thanks, folks. It is indeed the Crowne Plaza. The hotel itself gets quite good reviews and would be free by burning some points. Since it is on the district and circle lines it should be easy to get about. We probably won't be doing a whole lot of late night carousing so the relative calm of the neighborhood is not a deal breaker.
What about departing - looks like either Gatwick or Heathrow are options. Which would be easier to reach from there via public transport for a party of three?

As far as Gatwick vs Heathrow, both are easily reachable by public transportation.

Heathrow can be reached by tube on the Piccadilly line. From Blackfriars station you'll need to make one change.

Gatwick can be reached by Southern train which depart from Victoria train station (a few depart from Charing Cross as well but may require a change). So you'll still need to take the tube to Victoria and then change for the train.

The Heathrow tube option is cheaper.

It'll take at least 1 hour to 1.5 hours to go to either airport using public transportation.