London Thistle Hotels - Piccadilly, Royal Trafalgar or Marble Arch?
 

HI everyone - I am traveling to London for my first time for 4 nights the end of July and am looking for hotel recommendations. I have narrowed it down to the Thistle Piccadilly, Thistle Royal Trafalgar and Thistle Marble Arch. They are all within my budget, so I am basing the decision on location, proximity to tourist attractions and experience. Has anyone stayed in the above mentioned hotels? Good/bad experiences? Thanks for your advice!

Among those three, Trafalgar and Picadilly are more centrally located than Marble Arch. Not sure how you picked that chain though as for some random dates at end of July I found the rates 162 pounds (MA) 172 pounds (P) and 244 pounds (T) (all including taxes). You would have a wide range of hotels in central London in that price range for those dates.

Thanks for the advice. Do you have other recommendations I could look into?

AMT6 - I agree with Laurie_ann. I stayed at Marble Arch - a little far out, didn't like the neighborhood that much.

Trafalgar is most central in my opinion. Enjoy London...

So you would choose Trafalgar over Piccadilly? Trafalgar happens to be the less expensive of the two for our travel dates. Thanks for the feedback!

I don't have specific recommendations but www.londontown is a good site for searching for London hotels. It has good features to narrow your search. You can then cross check their reviews on www.tripadvisor.com. Other websites I like for hotels are www.lonelyplanet.com, www.tablethotels.com, www.i-escape.com. They each have their pluses and minuses.

In your price range which seems to be US$250 to US$350 you should have lots of choices.

My search on www.londontown just now for price range 160 pounds to 240 pounds (total including taxes but not breakfast and with free cancellation) arriving July 26 for 4 nights showed 108 different hotels.

You might narrow those down by what appealed to you about Thistle hotels besides the price? Modern, historic, bigger, smaller, free wifi, air con, on park, with a view, whatever.

I am staying at the Ampersand earlier in July. That appealed to me for the modern decor, location right at South Kensington tube station (on Picadilly line from Heathrow and on District and Circle lines for other destinations) and that it was one of "best new hotels" in London in Conde Nast Traveler magazine recently. It is a comparable price to those Thistle hotels if it appeals to you.

The Thistle Picadilly and Thistle Trafalgar Square look to be only about three blocks apart. If I had to choose it would be Picadilly. I know nothing about the hotels but that one is a little closer to the tube station which means you are also likely a little closer to other services you might be looking for such as coffee, bottled water, newspaper stand, pharmacy, etc.

I have actually discovered that the Royal Horseguards Hotel is the same price as the Thistle Piccadilly. It seems like comparing apples and oranges, with the obvious choice being the Royal Horseguards. Am I correct?

AMY6, Royal Horseguards should be head and shoulders over any Thistle Hotel in my view.Great location too nearer to the river.

We decided to go with the Royal Horseguards! I am really excited as the hotel looks gorgeous and in a great location. Thanks for all the input!