London Hotel for 1 Friday Night (Worth Trying Priceline)?
 

Hi, I'll be in London again next Friday night. Is it worth trying Priceline? Did I remember reading something about difficulties with Friday night checkin (or was it Saturday checkin)?

I already have a backup lined up for about 80 pounds, and I'm willing to pay this if it cuts down on time.

I'm not interested in areas like Kensington.

What kinds of prices are people paying these days? I know I need to do some research but there's a lot I need to get done before I leave on Friday.

Thanks!

Someone has mentioned some choices to me on Hotwire. I'll check them. But if there are other suggestions let me know. Thanks!

Have a look at www.londontown.com

We have used them a few times in the past and thought they were good - professional, never any problems and reasonable prices. You pay direct to the hotel.

What areas are you interested in? We got a good room at the Premier Inn at Kings Cross, about 5-10 min walk from KC station. We paid 84 pounds including tax, breakfast extra if you wanted it.

Kay

Just found this out from janis:
http://www.lsevacations.co.uk/Topfloor.htm

Available all year long. £55 for next Friday night at Northumberland House. Can't beat the location.

I'd probably choose this over the South Bank Hotwire option.

Saturday night check-in can be a problem.

If you go for the City zone, you may have an easy time, considering it's a weekend and recent market events.

But I'd probably just take yk's suggestion.

What have you got to lose? I have gotten Friday night check-ins many times in the $100 range for a 4-star. South Kensington is actually the easiest area to get something in.

Beats the heck out of anything else you will get for that price.

Have you looked at Biddingfortravel.com Don't sign up just scroll down till you get to England then London to see what hotels prices and areas people are winning.

I got a room at the Park Plaza Victoria for 1 night (a Saturday) on Hotwire this past October. It cost about $140 CND all in (= 70 GBP) It's located just down the road from Victoria Station. The room and bathroom were both North American-sized with a true king sized bed.

I got two other Hotwire deals for this December- first one is the Holiday Inn Camden Lock for approx. $80 CND all in/night (= 40 GBP) for 3 nights (Sat, Sun, Mon)

The second hotel I got is the Park Plaza-The City, located across from Blackfriars station. I'm staying there for 1 night (Sat), cost is about $120 CND all in (= 60 GBP). This is convenient for me because I'll be taking the train into the city from Gatwick, and then taking the tube to Heathrow the next morning.

I did do some research on betterbidding so I was able to figure out what hotels I was buying. It wasn't difficult, and I guessed correctly every time.

I turned to Hotwire after many unsucessful bids on Priceline. As far as I could tell, the prices I got on Hotwire matched or beat what people were getting on Priceline for the same or similar hotels.

I don't think I'm cut out for all the waiting and angst involved with bidding on Priceline. For what it's worth, I don't much like South Kensington, either. I think South Ken may be the easiest place to get good deals quickly on Priceline.

Well when I am in London I tend to go out late at night, and places I know are in the South Bank or in the East End. So Kensington is not an area I'm excited about.

Haven't read the thread carefully, but I agree that the LSE sounds like the best option (will just have to remember to bring soap this time).

Of course the cheapest option is to check with my friend whether I can stay with him, but I think that I've imposed enough that it's probably not a good idea. Maybe he will suggest without my asking. :-)

But that makes the cancellation policy important. The 80 pound backup I lined up is cancellable up until day or arrival.

You might be able to book the LSE practically (or literally) as a walk-in, so keep that in mind with the liberal cancellation policy for the 80-pound booking.

A lot of people must read Fodor's. Northumberland is gone. It was available when I checked last night. This morning only doubles are available, then when I called, there were no rooms available, and nothing on the web either. I can still try to book it via a stale webpage I had open, but I'm not sure if it will work after I try to confirm.

I'm not sure if I can do the walkin. I have to check the cancellation policy. It will depend on when I arrive from Paris on Friday. I still haven't bought the train ticket yet.

Probably I should investigate Hotwire as a backup. I'm checking the ID of the hotel now. It's fine for one night if I'm planning to go to Tate Modern anyway.

Or I can check with my friend. I'm sure he will say yes if he's in town, but I'm bothering him a lot lately and I think I've probably asked for too many favors. :-)

Yes according to BetterBidding the 2.5* on Hotwire is the Holiday Inn in Southwark. This is acceptable to me. Obviously the location is not as wonderful as Northumberland but it's fine. I am pretty familiar with that area.

Hope it will still be available when I'm ready to book it.

There's also a 4* City option on Hotwire for a few dollars more. BB gives two possible hotels -- one is Hilton Islington. This option is probably not acceptable to me.

If I'm determined to save money there's the hostel near St. Paul's where I've not yet stayed.

I'll take a look at the Paris hotels now. Thanks again!

It is the Holiday Inn EXPRESS, not Holiday Inn. A plus is that a complimentary breakfast is included.

If you do choose it, make note of the RV1 bus. I like taking it as it goes to Covent Garden. It runs along Southwark Street.

Thanks. I need to get used to taking the bus. It always frightens me, but at least I figured out last time how I can buy a ticket from the machines near the bus stops. :-)

I just checked LSE again, the double is available for £79.

I find it hard to believe so many people who read Fodors would book the LSE accomodation. ASAIK, you, me, WillTravel, are the only ones who have stayed at the LSE dorms. Unless there are lots of "lurkers" on Fodors who never post trip reports. Also, Fodorites strike me as people who plan their trip way in advance. Very rarely we get requests for assistance for hotels for the coming week.

You should look into getting an Oyster PAYG for your short time in London. It's much more economical and much less painful than buying individual tickets via machines.

Well I think there are more lurkers than you think. And the reason I say that is because I was curious about the traffic to Ya & Shi, so I put a StatCounter on the webpage. There were a number of hits when I posted a thread about a restaurant review here, but people rarely replied to the threads.

So I could see that there were people following the links, but they didn't bother to respond. I'm sure that this is the case for this thread.

I'm not sure how many rooms LSE actually has available. Of course there would need to be Fodor's lurkers who also need a single on Friday. But if there aren't that many singles in the first place, then it's possible that the thread has some impact.

I normally get the 1-day Travelcard. I think that I need to figure out the Oyster card, but somehow I just get my head around it. :-) I'm sure it's very easy once I actually use it, but I haven't invested the 5 minutes I need to figure out how it works. Because I'm normally in London for so little time, sometimes for just 1 day, I usually buy 1-day zones 1-6 Travelcard, which I use for my transportation to and from Heathrow also.

You'll just buy one when you arrive (at St Pancras I assume). There is a £3 deposit for the Oyster card, and then you just "load" whatever amount you want on it. Very similar to the Octopus card they use in Hong Kong.

If you want to get your deposit back, just return the card at LHR and you'll get your £3 back plus whatever is still unused on the Oyster. But since you go relatively often, it's probably better to keep it and have at least £4 worth of money left on the Oyster. That way, next time when you arrive at LHR, you can just use the Oyster at the LHR tube station without having to queue for a ticket.

AT least that's why I've done on my last few trips.

The Oyster PAYG caps after a daily limit is reached. If your travel is solely within zones 1-2, it will be capped at 50 cents lower than the cost of the paper day travelcard.

Since you'll be there for over 24 hours, the Oyster card will benefit you. Were you planning to buy a travelcard for Friday, your arrival day too?

Yes, I'd have bought Zones 1-2 TC for Friday and then Zones 1-6 TC for Saturday.

I guess I can buy the OC from a ticket window? Maybe I'll give it a try this time.

I know about the cap rule, and I figured that I was always maximizing tube use, so the difference to me was 50 p each day. But maybe that's a wrong assumption.

The off-peak zone 1-2 day travelcard is £5.30. You'll have to take the tube at least 4 times that day (more if you take the bus) to make it worthwhile.

Why is that? How much is a single tube ride these days? Isn't it something like 4 pounds, or am I completely off?