London School of Econ accommodations - who knew?
 

Hello again -

So I have been aggressively nailing down the last details of our trip and what not. Let me just say that I am now more excited more than ever! A few months ago, I took the advise of our expert Fodorites and booked hotels on booking.com. I didn't have to pay upfront so all is good. One person in here mentioned that a week or two before you travel,,, try to look again for accommodations as some places might be desperate to fill rooms.

So I was consciously re-checking booking.com, trivago etc, other sites and came across a forum. One mentioned in there to try LSE (London School of Economics) as they try to rent out the rooms at the residence when school is over.

So I did check the LSEVacations site and found some great deals at the Passfield Hall, Roseberry Hall, etc. Around £47.00 a night. And the location is close to British Museum, etc.

Tempting as any £20 a night I save can go to say another tour or another sandwich.

My question is: Has anyone tried this route before? College dorms? How was it?

Thanks

A long time ago I stayed in the hall of residence at Bangor University in Wales. In fact I stayed there twice. A single room with bed, desk and an armchair. Bathroom down the hall and a shared kitchen. There were only two other people staying there so it suited me just great. It was cheap and enabled me to have an independent holiday near relatives without actually staying with them.
I don't know if LSE accommodation is any less Spartan. I expect nowadays students expect more privacy and room than 40 years ago :).

Ahh, good to know. Thanks hetismij2! Will look into this some more. :)

i stayed at a LSE residence at Christmas 2007. Don't remember the name, but it was fine and included breakfast. Many people from all over. I struck up a small friendship with a woman from Israel who, like me, had lived in GB many years ago. Go for it !

I've not stayed in the LSE halls but I have stayed in Halls in both Swansea and Edinburgh and both had their own bathroom, shower, etc and were basic bit clean and well worth the cost. I think students these days expect their own on suite.

I checked LSE out when we were in London and thought it would be fun to stay at the dorms. They didn't have any availability during my visit, but it looked better than some hostels.

Several colleges and universities offer accommodations in London. Have done so for decades.

We stayed in an LSE accomodation about 20 years ago. It was actually in a block of apartments, one of which we shared with other people on a choir trip. The location was ideal, although the rooms were not what I would call spick and span.

The price was very reasonable, and the location excellent. Our apartment had a kitchen, so we saved some money on meals as well. The kitchen was furnished oddly, for example, five frying pans but nothing to boil water in. We ended up making exchanges with people in the other apartments, who might have three saucepans but no skillets.

For the last 20+ years universities, particularly in big cities, have had an eye to the vacation/conference accommodation market when developing and re-developing their student residences. LSE, not having a lot to begin with, was particularly active at this, converting old office blocks and the like. Passfield is one of the "old" halls, but I assume it's been upgraded inline with their newer developments at Bankside and High Holborn, which might also be worth a look. And they're not the only institution in London that do this. It's not a full-service hotel, but there'll be access to a kitchen.

These places are reviewed on TripAdvisor and booking.com, with recent reviews, i.e.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...n_England.html