Five ladies plan to celebrate our birthdays by spending four days in London. The following hotels have been suggested:
Chesterfield Mayfair, Marriott Marble Arch, Millenium Bailey. Can someone out there give us opinions as to which to choose?

I've heard great things about the Millenium Baileys. I wanted to stay there this past May, but they were sold out. Marriott Marble Arch is in a good location as well. I don't know anything about the Chesterfield Mayfair. The best price of the previous two should be fine.

I haven't stayed at any of these, but recommend that you research the hotels on tripadvisor.com. This website pulls together published (e.g. Frommers, Fodors, newspaper articles, other) and on-line reviews of hotels. It's great for up-to-date information (on-line reviews are sometimes less than a week old).

I'm not sure I'd recommend Marriott Marble Arch. It's not that it's in an unattractive neighbourhood, it's just that it's further away from the centre of the West End than the hotel name would suggest. For Marriotts, I'd suggest the Marriott Grosvenor Square.

I can recommend a 5* hotel, Le Meridien Grosvenor Square in Mayfair (facing Hyde Park) - but only if you book it through a discount booking site. I've stayed there, and sent a colleague and his wife there, and we got terrific rates on superbreak.co.uk (118 pounds a night, including tax and breakfast). It has a fabulous pool, a good gym, a spa - and it's got tons of character in a very posh neighbourhood. It's close to West End shopping, about a 20 minute walk to the theatres, and across the park from Kensington. If you book through a discount booking agent, you won't get the best room in the house, but you'll still get a very nice room. Mine was the size of my apartment (although it was beside the elevator).

The Mariott Marble Arch is at the top of Park Lane, and under a minutes stroll from the Mayfair area. Therefore location is not a problem with this property. As to the quality of the hotel I am unable to comment as I have never even been in the lobby!

I have friends who have stayed at the M. Bailey's several times and they love it. Excellent location, across the street from a tube stop, charming lobby and bar, nice rooms, all services.

The Marriott Marble Arch might be "north" of Park Lane, but it's certainly not at the top of it. (I think Park Lane ends at Oxford Street.) The Marriott Marble Arch is near the southern end of the Edgeware Road, about a 10 minute walk from the department stores on Oxford Street. It's not as nice a neighbourhood as Mayfair, Kensington, or the neighbourhood N of Oxford and East of Baker St. It's not a bad neighbourhood, it's just a little shabby compared to its neighbours. Also, I would prefer to stay in Mayfair or the area immediately north of it, if I wanted to walk a lot (including to the West End theatre), be close to multiple tube lines, etc. The MMA is probably a better value for being a 10-15 minute walk from the heart of Mayfair/West end shopping, so if you're looking for a bargain this might be a good one (as Marriotts usually are very good quality on the inside).

hi,

Just wanted to put in a recommedation for M. Bailey's or M. Gloucester. (they are side by side).

Bailey's is a smaller hotel but with full services. M. Gloucester is a much larger hotel serving business conferences etc. Both are on the same block off gloucester rd and you can walk thru the lobby of baileys to gloucester and vice versus. why do I mention this? because right across the block from bailey's is the gloucester tube station. this makes these hotels priceless. that station hooks up to three of londons main lines. I mean you walk out of the lobby of baileys and across the street, how convenient can you get?

from my notes, these two hotels are in an excellent neighborhood. small grocery, pharmacy right across the street from the hotel. restuarants galore in the surrounding neighborhood, all within walking distance. (recommend dino's across the street for english full breakfast at 4 pds)

the neighborhood itself is wonderful. Right below hyde park on the southwest side, it is within walking distance to at least 3 museums, including the V&A. Cromwell rd, two-three blocks up goes directly by harrods (bus route).

As for the price of hotel, you do not mention when you are going or how many rooms you will be needing. to get the best rate try tripadvisor.com or the hotel site direct. hotels rooms for oct and november are going for about 106 pds per room right now (standard)on the hotel website.

We are going in october and wanted to stay at bailey's but it was full, so we choose M. Gloucester as our second choice. They have three levels of rooms, standard, club, and executive club. we got a steal on a standard twin, but found that this past winter and it is no where to be found now.

Everyone I have talked to about this hotel raves on the club level. but there are some critic's of the standard, especially m. gloucester. this is a business hotel and large and the standards are well traveled and somewhat worn, but clean. If you are not satisfied, they have been good about changing the room per trip advisor.

I have found this group to be excellent to work with. Our trip is now in october. we originally were scheduled to go in april and had to cancel at the last minute. they graciously rescheduled for us at the same special rate in october. then about a 2 weeks ago, my travel buddy, who I was sharing a room with, developed allergies to cig. smoke. we asked the hotel if they had a second room and they found one for us at the same special rate. can you believe that! we were expecting a "no" or at least a high rate for last minute change. but they were wonderfully understanding and easy to work with.

All in all, I would highly recommend any of these two M. Baileys or M. Gloucester for these 4 reasons:

1 for location and neighborhood
2 for service
3 for type
4 for rate