london hotels.
 

LONDONTOWN HAS THESE HOTELS ATE MY PRICE RANGE. Any preferences?
Hotel at Chelsea
Thistle Lancaster Gate
HILTON kENSINGTON
THE RUBENS AT THE PALACE
RYDGES kENSINGTON pLAZA
thistle victoria or any other on Londontown.com Staying for 6 nights

I'm going to London and I checked www.biddingfortravel.com to get info on making a bid on Priceline. People seem to be getting good deals. I'm going to try it. Good luck.

Yeah, I got the Thistle Marble Arch for $75 in September through Priceline and was thrilled with it; off-season, people are getting it for $20 less even. Next time I go to London I would definitely do it the same way.

Andrew

Priceline really does a good job for London where the hotels are pricy. We stayed at the Waldorf Hilton 4* in the Theater district in April for $110 (dollars) a night for a double. I know a lot of people get the Copthorn Terra in Kensington near the tube station for 75-80 dollars a night.

Highly recommend Priceline (after doing your homework on BFT).

If you're a single or a couple, cannot imagine booking any other way. You'll save a fortune.

We've stayed at the Thistle Marble Arch ($75), Waldorf Hilton ($100), and Millennium Baileys ($80) - all absolutely fabulous and for a fraction of the rate booking through any other resources.

If you haven't already booked flights, check out the packages on Priceline. We got an AMAZING deal that way. And, you get to pick the hotel, and flights.

Have never done Priceline so can't comment on that, but we have stayed at the Rubens at the Palace on two separate occasions and really like the hotel and location. We also booked the Rubens thru londontown.com and never found a lower price on any other website.

Rubens at the Palace is heads above the Thistle Victoria. Stayed at both last year and very much preferred the Rubens.

Like all things in life you broadly get what you pay for.

The "4 star" hotels allocated to Priceline customers invariablly are the hotels which have problems filling their beds without 'distrees selling'. Particularly the Thistle Chain hotels which almost without exception get poor reviews but who can grumble if you're paying $75.

You can pay about $20 dollars more from an online discounter and select which Thistle or similat you stay in.
In December and January all Thistles are making rooms available for $100.

Of the list you selected the Rubens is probably the best hotel and the Thistle is far the worst. Though these are really big hotels. i.e. Taking the Thistle Lancaster gate if you're a Priceline customer you'll normally get an internal room, if you book direct you'll normally get a room overlooking Hyde Park.

If you're into large impersonal hotels probably the best deal currently is 'The Tower' hotel, a new hotel owned by the Thistle Group but not with the downmarket Thistle brand plastered on it. (It used to be the Thistle Tower Bridge). Its been refurbished a much higher standard than Thistles but rooms booked direct are $100 or less a night. Its right next to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge.

A lot of regular travellers to London not on an expense account find independent hotels like the Darlington Hyde Park and the Luna & Simone far better value for money than the big chain hotels however deep the discount.

I got the Meridien Piccadilly for $145 through priceline & for my next London visit I'll certainly be booking through them again.

handfordr says, "Particularly the Thistle Chain hotels which almost without exception get poor reviews but who can grumble if you're paying $75."

If you read BiddingForTravel.com, you'll see the Thistle Marble Arch gets great reviews and not as the exception. Believe me, I have stayed at a few Priceline hotels that were so-so but acceptable of the "Priceline rate," but the Thistle Marble Arch was great, I was very happy with it and would hope to stay there again. As for the $100 deal on Thistles in January: I think I'd rather get the TMA on Priceline again for about $55 off-season.

Andrew

I'll be staying at the Thistle Marble Arch for 6 nights next June through Priceline for $55 per night.

At that price, I wouldn't complain if the hotel was only so-so, but considering the relatively good reviews, I am thrilled with the deal I got.

We stayed at the Copthorne Tara in August for $80 a night through Priceline, and it was wonderful. The restaurants were great, the location fabulous (right down the street from the High Street Kensington tube station) the service great. No complaints at all! They even gave us free unlimited DSL access during our stay (evidently it was a monthly special).

chepar, the Thistle MA was the last of five hotels I stayed at during my September Europe trip. I stayed at a variety of hotels, including an Intercontinental in Prague, but the previous night had been at a modest 2-star in Budapest, so the Thistle MA seemed like heaven! The Thistle MA wasn't as nice as the Intercontinental, of course, but it was still quite nice and comfortable. Read my review on BFT for more details.

Andrew

I've stayed at several Thistle hotels, and IMO the Lancaster Gate is the best.
I thought it better than the Royal Horseguards. It is quite luxurious, in a sort of country house style. Very, very comfortable. Before it 'joined' the Thistle chain it was called White's, and was one of those wonderful old-fashioned hotels you sort of imagined Miss Marple staying in! Traditionally English.

Have a great trip to london.

Re: handfordr says, "Particularly the Thistle Chain hotels which almost without exception get poor reviews but who can grumble if you're paying $75."
If you read BiddingForTravel.com, you'll see the Thistle Marble Arch gets great reviews and not as the exception. Believe me, I have stayed at a few Priceline hotels that were so-so but acceptable of the "Priceline rate," but the Thistle Marble Arch was great,

Reviews on Biddingfortravel are hardly impartial, try reading independent sites reviews like TA. All are in the context of I only paid $75 at Priceline for Thistle Marble Arch what else can you expect:
Taking TripAdvisor this morning first few hotel reviews include:

"After reading quite a few negative reviews on this site, I was a bit apprehensive, but was pleased with my 2-night stay here. "

"Compare this too the Regent palace at piccadilly for roughly same price, this wins easily." (The Regent Palace is a 2 star hotel with shared bathrooms)

"I have lost two days of work upon my return to the states because my back is in such pain. This didn't make my cheap price from priceline worth it. If you do decide to stay here NEVER book this hotel without using priceline. Do not pay more than US $60 a night or you will be disappointed. At best this is a 2.5 star hotel."

I don't consider having that one bad review in a slew of good reviews to be that remarkable (I know there are also some other not so positive ones). Almost any hotel in London, even the ones people pay 200 pounds a night for, has at least a few similar reviews. Any old building, which describes the vast majority of London hotels, typically has a few rooms that are duds. Avoiding these rooms is an art, no matter your booking method.

I agree with WillTravel...the "reviews" on TripAdvisor, for example, and including my own, are about as biased as it gets and based on whatever the reviewer thinks is "good" or "bad."

I'm amused by some of the things that people think make a hotel "good" or "bad"...some so trivial, IMO, and others major so one has to always read carefully and between the lines as well.

Granted hotels are an individual thing, each to his/her own choice.

But the original question listed 4 four star hotels in London for comparison which all of course have their own followers.

At this moment every Thistle in London is making rooms available through the normal channels for around $100 over the next 6 weeks. If you read reviews on whatever bb is your preference nearly all the people staying at Thistle's are staying on deeply discounted room rates like Priceline.
Thistle have just refurbished the Thistle Tower Bridge and renamed it the Tower for $10 million for example and tried to disguise its a Thistle by calling it a Guoman. Doesn't it tell you something that its having to offer a supposed luxury hotel within 100m of Tower Bridge and Tower of London for $100 a night on its official web site, not just in the off season but through to next Summer.

That is not opinion, that is fact. I would suggest most reasonable people would come to a similar conclusion of why a single 4 star hotel chain has to make most of its rooms available at the prices of a 2 star to fill its rooms.

If price is everything to you then fine, Priceline and Thistle are made for you. But I would suggest most people are looking for best value, not necessarily the lowest cost, no matter what the product you receive is.

Where did you find the thistle hotels at 100 per night? their website..I can't find such a deal.
thanks
Jean

Stringbean, what is the price range you're talking about? When is your trip scheduled (since that will have an impact on the price) and was there a particular reason you are using the Londontown.com reservation service?

Also what are you looking for in your London hotel--is your number one priority convenience/location, cost, style, comfort, or something completely different? "Our" preferences won't help you at all if they are completely different from "your" preferences.

If it were me, I would shop around for the very best deal I could get for the Sofitel St. James and stay there. But that's not one of the hotels on your list, and I have no idea what your preferences/needs are so...