London hotel - help please!
 

I'm looking for a hotel in london for 7 nights in december. reasonably priced, clean, and a good area to get around and explore and start seeing the sights. Below is my rough itinerary of the trip. This will be my second time visiting. Thanks for any help!

Day 1
Boroughs market

Shakespeare's globe theatre

Tate modern

St. Paul's cathedral

Day 2

Westminster abbey

Big Ben / Houses of Parliament

London eye at night

Day 3

Walking around Hyde park

Victoria and Albert museum

Day 4

British museum

Sir John Soanes museum

Day 5

Trafalgar Square

The national gallery

China town

Day 6

Wallace collection

Day 7

Highgate cemetery ?

7 nights? Have you considered an apartment rental?

Do you think an apartment would be cheaper? I usually prefer hotels.

Well, if you PREFER hotels, that pretty well answers that. Depends on what you want. I find that I'm pretty picky about decor, location, and "niceties", and YES I find that I do much better renting an apartment than a hotel. Not to mention I have a lot more space, the convenience of a kitchen (even if I don't cook, it's nice to be able to make tea and have a refrigerator).

I agree with Patrick but if a hotel is your preference, what is your budget?

Budget is the MAIN thing. Here is the last flat I rented for a week. It's a little over $200 a night in December. That's US dollars, not pounds. And I can't find a hotel I like for that. But again, you have to like the independence of an apartment as opposed to the "comforts" of a hotel.
http://www.vrbo.com/189287

180 usd max 200 is my idea of reasonable. Is this just nonexistent to find a good hotel room?

Last time I was in london I stayed in December at the hart house hotel and prices are just outrageous since the last visit, especially given the quality.

Have a look at Premier Inns, a lot of good central locations such as County Hall, Euston, King's Cross and many others.

$180 = approx £120 or a little less w/ exchange% etc. So you are looking for fairly inexpensive properties. Is that for a single or a double?

I'd start w/ londontown.com and look what is offered for your dates.

Premier Inns are also good - won't show up on londontown - you'd need to plug your dates in on the Premier Inn website.

Re your plan: Day 1 is quite full - is that your arrival day? If so it will be very difficult to manage all that. Whereas days 2, 5 and 6 especially are VERY light.

Hi, mkat25.

Jamikins, a poster who works in London, posted a great list of hotels in this post. On June 6...
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ndon-hotel.cfm

If those aren't available at the price you want to pay, I am returning to London in Sept. and am staying again at the Nadler, which used to be called base2stay. I booked a single room (with a small kitchenette) for 525 GBP for 5 nights (which still makes me happy!). On my previous stays, the hotel was quiet, staff excellent, free wifi, very clean, bed & shower great & kitchenette very nice for b'fast/late night snacks. This is right next to the Earls Court tube -- a hike to a few of your places, but easy enough for the V&A, Hyde Park, Chelsea, and an easy tube to/from Heathrow.

But then, I'm a traveller that gets up early and spends the whole day out of the hotel, so if you need a place more "central" to shopping (to drop off bags or something), this is not the hotel for you. Also, I am quite comfortable popping on buses, trains and don't mind walking several miles a day.

Listen to the natives first, of course. Hopefully you can get one of the Premier Inns that Jamikins recommends (sadly, I couldn't at a price that appealed for my fall dates).

Good luck!

Hi, janisj: Do you recall the solo traveler who posted about an apartment above a pub... in the City? The rates and location were fantastic... I believe you mentioned looking into it once... This wasn't available for my trip this fall, but am hoping to perhaps book in the future.

I remember posts about the Fleet River Rooms (a bakery w/ studio apts above which I've tried to book unsuccessfully in the past). I have a vague recollection about a recent post re a pub/rooms but Having brain fade at the moment . . .

NeoPatrick -

The location of the apt looks great. Can you provide a little more info about the apt? (I trust info from a fodorite who has been there.) DH is thinking he wants to try an apt vs a hotel - I'm not so sure.

It says 2nd floor - I assume they mean US 3rd?

Also It doesn't seem to have a tub - is that correct?

It says bed is a king - but do they mean Brit king - our queen? DH is tall and anything but a real king is too small.

Thanks for any help.

Your itinerary certainly isn't overcrowded! :-)

Day 2 - have you been to the Churchill Museum/Cabinet War Rooms? It's very close to Westminster Abbey and is really interesting.

Day 4 - have you been to the British Library? The "treasures room" is fascinating, and they often have special exhibits which I hear are very good.

Lee Ann

No, it does not have a tub, just a wonderful walk in shower.

It is US 3rd floor. Nice wide steps up to it. The first and second floor are offices -- but I never saw anyone coming and going from them.

The bed is actually two twins which are normally fastened together. I was there with a friend and they undid the beds and we moved them apart as two twins.

Free wifi which worked great.

The location is really busy -- but facing a small one block long street. It is literally right across a side street to the Leicester Square tube station.

The only negative I can think of is that there is a restaurant rear entrance near the front door downstairs, and the restaurant workers tend to hang around the door and smoke. Not really a problem, just kind of a negative thing.

@janisj: Yes! That's it! Thank you! You're such a treasure on this board.

ChgoGal: Aw shucks :"> thanks.

You are pretty helpful yourself.

Hopefully you can get in there - I've tried twice a couple of years apart but just bad timing I guess.

Ok. Any recommendations for a room in the 200-250 usd per night areas?

NP: Do you know if the flat you and Lee used to rent is still available? (I <i>think</i> it was in Floral St but I may have it confused w/ a different place)

It looked very interesting and I wanted to check it out for a trip next spring.

Mkat25, I don’t know when in December you are going, but I just plugged in the first week of December into Hotels.com and the Rembrandt is $255 per night ($265 on the hotel website).

We stayed there in January 2012 and enjoyed it very much. It was clean, the staff was great and there is a full breakfast and bar. It is in a very nice neighborhood, directly across the street from the Victoria and Albert Museum. There are several restaurants close by. It is about a 3/10 mile walk to the South Kensington underground station and we felt very safe walking around at night.

Thanks lovs I'll check it out

NP

Thanks. Live in the city so noise not an issue - but don't think want to be above/next to a rest.

Thanks anyway

mkat25 -

Have you looked at Priceline? Supposed to be excellent for London as long as you're no more than 2 people who can share one bed.

Janis, yes I'm pretty sure the Floral Street flat is still available. Look at Farnum&christ.com.

Patrick that is a very nice looking apartment!
We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Kensington. The rooms are small and the bathrooms must be what you would get on a cruise ship, but it is clean and breakfast was good. We commuted all over the city by subway which is located nearby. I doubt it was high priced as we were traveling with a soccer team of teenage girls and this was a tour hotel. But like I said it was fine, nice area, clean and safe.

I just returned home after spending 5 nights in London. I stayed at the Grange Strathmore in South Kensington. It's a great location. It is barelya 5 minute walk to e Gloucester tube station. It is also near the South Kensington tube station. The hotel is located right off Cromwell Road so you don't have street noise as you might at hotels on main roads. The hotel is very clean. The staff was very helpful. The rooms are small which is normal for London. The bathroom was very small but I just adjusted. I had requested a room with 2 twins and was fortunate enough to get a triple room (2 twins and a double). Therefore, we were afforded a little larger room. There was 2 of us traveling together. I paid about £$160 per night which I thought was very reasonable given it was late June when we traveled to London. I
A friend of mine had stayed at this hotel and I went on her recommendation to stay here. I am glad I did and would stay at Grange Strathmore again when traveling to London. P.S. I had continental breakfast included in 2 of my days there.

Grant
GE Strathmore is within walking distance to V&A Museum. We were all over central London and found having the tube station very close to the hotel very convenient.

I put in December 1-8 to check rates, and a twin room at the Park International on Cromwell Road just up from the Gloucester Road tube stop is $201 a night. The Millennium Baileys just across the road from the GR tube; it is $254. I have stayed at both these hotels. The Millennium is my favorite, but the Park was cozy and included breakfast.

I hope mkat is still checking this thread and the other one, but she appears to have left, at least for now.

"I hope mkat is still checking this thread and the other one, but she appears to have left, at least for now."

Left? Wow. Mkat started this thread at 11 AM on Saturday and posted back four more times, as late as 4 PM that same afternoon, but since he/she wasn't sitting next to the computer 24/7 it is determined that she "left" by the next day?

NeoPatrick, I believe socialworker is correct. If you try finding mkat's profile it seems to be gone altogether. You apparently missed the last snit posted at the end of the thread started to circumvent what he/she called half wit remarks on this one...well, here:

"You know I don't really get these forums. People come on asking questioning and you get these half wit passive agressive remarks from people who spend too much time on the Internet. I'll just use google, dig through info. Without the oh so clever replies." mkat25

I think having no sense of humor may make living a very difficult road.

Whoa! Now I'm really confused. You're saying those comments were posted on this thread and apparently removed without the editors adding "comments removed"?

And are you saying that quote was BY mkat25 and you copied it before it was removed? For what reason would you have done that?

Really confused now.

Mkat started another thread because he/she was unhappy with the response here.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ons-please.cfm

I think I may have been the one guilty of "hijacking" the thread, as the OP had written, when I had asked about the Fleet River Room apartments.

But my intent (though evidently not appreciated by the OP) was that the apartment might be a rather nice option for him/her. Though I didn't preface the question with a "by the way, here's an apt. that a poster stayed in & likes and an apt. two long-time posters took an interest in, and might be a nice option for you").

But then, I also provided the link to jamikins' wonderful link to lower-priced, well-located hotels that the OP didn't seem to acknowledge, either.

Oh well. Pearls before swine.

As my grandmother used to happily say "they just don't know what's good".

Not sure if the OP aufed him/herself or the editors did it for him. But aufed he is . . .

Okie. So I was Mkat25. Sorry if you got 'tude maybe I was just a sensitive Sally that day, really though my apologies. I deleted my account though because there's a user who seems to follow me around and make strange comments so janisj I 'aufed' myself. Anywhoo I upped my budget and found a hotel that looks good I'm happy with it anyway, so I guess this thread can finally die. That's all =) laters ha.

Since mkat called me a stalker at one point (deleted by the editors) I assume I'm the one who follows her around and makes strange comments. Apparently it isn't cool in her world to ask questions (on 2 other threads) in an effort to provide more useful information. So naughty of me, I know.

I've seen other threads where OPs declare discussions done. Is that it, are we done?

But R-girl, don't we get to know what you picked?? :)

Just a bit of what I hope is useful info.....we stayed in London twice and the first was at the Russell, a gorgeous grande dame of a hotel and this last time at The Thistle Royal Trafalgar. We were so much happier this time at the Thistle, even tho the Russell was so lovely! And that we b/c in a 2 min walk (no exaggeration) we were in the heart of action and liveliness and the Russell felt remote.

social, I picked DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel London Tower of London. I thought it seemed alright, pretty good reviews and such. Really though as long as it is clean I'm good. =)

MmePerdu, you are free to continue talking as long as you want, about Norman Bates or otherwise.