London - Thistle Marble Arch for $60
 

Wanted to share... I just booked the Thistle Marble Arch in London for 5 nights in Feb for $60 per night. I checked www.biddingfortravel.com to see what a 4 star in the Bloomsbury/Marble Arch area was going for. I bid $60 and it was accepted on the first try.

On www.thistlehotels.com the price was GBP 731 for 5 nights (I think that included taxes, but am not 100% sure). On www.hotels.com the price was $1372 plus $267 taxes = $1639.

This is my first time using Priceline. I decided to try it based on the numerous suggestions here. I never dreamed the savings would be so substantial. Some have said that you get what you pay for and the hotel is not that great. The reviews are mixed, most seem positive. We'll see... Thanks again to all you Fodorites for some great advice!

Congrats, travelgirl2!! I've only used Priceline once and I got a suite in Houston for only $50. Since then I am a Priceline fan for life, and I'm very much looking forward to trying it again.

I am going to London in April and I will use Priceline. I'm not sure when I should make my bid, I really need to post a thread to ask that question. I'm happy for your success, it gives me hope that I will find the same. :-)

Congratulations! I'm sure the room will be fine, and the location is convenient. If you're not happy, this hotel is usually quite ready to sell upgrades for 20 pounds per night, so you're hardly stuck.

For what you are paying, this hotel will be great. London is full of very high priced sub par rooms. You got quite a bargain. I feel totally vaidated for telling folks that London is a great Priceline city. Hooray for you!

I believe your chances of getting a remodeled room are enhanced if you check in early.

Our takeoff was delayed for 5 hours last September, and we didn't get to the Thistle until after 7PM. So the room we got stuck with was spacious, but it was in need of major renovation.

There are twenty-one bus lines that serve stops around Marble Arch, so you can get to almost anywhere in the city without changing buses. The map is here:

<b>http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/spiders/pdf/marble-arch.pdf</b>

The #15 will take you right by many of the most famous landmarks, and the #148 past most of the rest. Your hotel is around the corner to the northwest from bus stop <b><font color="red">N</font></b>.

I booked the Thistle Marble Arch through Priceline for my parents. They got the &pound;20 upgrade to a superior room, which included an English breakfast for both, which in itself was worth more than the &pound;20.

Hey, travelgirl2, guess what? I just made my priceline bid and I got Thistle Marble Arch for $60 also!! I tried to get it for $50, then $57, but they finally accepted $60. Woohoo!!

Hi

Just curious, but does this include the VAT? Even if not, it is still a great rate.

Johanna

With Priceline, you make a bid of, for example, $60, and then Priceline adds the VAT (17.5% in the case of the UK, I think) and a service fee to the total amount. So then you see the total amount for the entire stay before you complete your bid. So it's $60 USD/night + VAT and service fee.

Thanks for the info, WillTravel.

Congratulations P_M! Glad to hear it worked out for you. I'll post when I get back and let you know how the hotel was.

Thanks to everyone for the positive feedback and the reassurance about the hotel.

gracie04 - The Priceline price was $60 for 5 nights plus $63.43 for taxes and service fees, for a total of $363.43.

On www.thistlehotels.com the price was GBP 731 for 5 nights.

Its actually 505 GBP for 5 nights and includes 3 course dinner, bed and breakfast and includes all taxes.
Not a fair comparison ?

See: http://www.thistlehotels.com/winter/

I stayed at the Thistle Marble Arch about four years ago on a week long trip to London and Amsterdam. Of the three hotels we stayed at on that trip, the Thistle was the nicest hotel. The room was extremely large and was spotless. The shower had a feature that converted it into a steam sauna. (I had never seen that before.) It was a very enjoyable hotel.

There was an article in the UK Times newspaper this weekend where the journalists had done tests over several days last week on prices for London hotels.

Their findings were that in most instances they could get a better price going direct to the hotel rather than through a third party site. They used Priceline and Expedia as benchmarks. This was different to previous years when the same test was done.

$60 is a great deal, take an awful lot of effort to get a cheaper one on that particular hotel. But I have noticed the hotel market is going the same way as the airline market whereby the best deals are more often than not now direct with the airlines.

$60 for a hotel in London at that location is a steal!!!!!

For what its worth Thistle have their own auction site http://www.thistleauctions.com

I usually stay at the Darlington Hyde Park in Paddington which personally for me is normally better value for me than a Priceline special.
However I usually bid as much as $80 and if that is rejected go to the Darlington.

As Priceline invariably give you a Thistle I 'play' both Priceline and Thistle Auctions, if they have my dates. With Thistle you normaly get breakfast bundled in and all taxes are included,
I got the Selfridge, the next Thistle along Oxford Street from Marble Arch here last month for 25 GBP.

I'm glad to hear so many have been happy with the Thistle Marble Arch. I do feel like I got it for a steal!

Thanks for the information about Thistle auctions - good to know for the future!

LondonSue - With the way the prices vary, it is hard to compare rates across sites, unless they are at the same point in time. Now, on the Thistle web site, the winter rate shows no availability for my dates in February. The regular rate has also gone up in the last couple of weeks and is now GBP 906.75 (including breakfast) for 5 nights. Back on Jan 22, the rate for the 5 nights was GBP 731 (without breakfast).

It sure is wacky how these rates are so variable! The laws of supply and demand are one thing, but they seem to really be playing some games to command full pricing whenever possible and then drastically cut rates when necessary to achieve high occupancy. It may require a PhD in Economics to figure it out!

We have 3 people going to London this year. I've done Priceline for Seattle, but my understanding is you are taking a chance bidding a double room and hoping to pay extra for a triple or extra bed once you get there. When will Priceline do triples? I'd love to use them for London this year, but with the three of us, I see no way.

Giselle, at these prices you could get 2 rooms for 3 people and still save money.

Giselle,

As you're booking so far in advance try booking the advance specials at Travelodge.
They have several places in Central London with availability on advance specials from 26 GBP per room per night and includes all taxes
Most places have rooms that take 3 or 4, twin beds plus normally pull out sofa beds.

For the price its unbeatable, rooms are pretty standard chain 3 star types. Beds and showers are above average.

http://www.travelodge.co.uk/

I'm just back from my stay at the Thistle Marble Arch. $60 was a great deal.

It was a large, busy business-type hotel. My room was pretty small, certainly sufficient for 1 or 2 people, and probably usual from a city hotel. It was decorated fairly nicely. The bed was very comfortable. It had a small refrigerator which came in very handy. The bathroom, while small, was efficiently laid out. In short, while not luxurious, it was very comfortable. The room was very clean and it was tidied up nicely each day.

At check-in, the friendly woman asked if I'd like a 20 GBP upgrade to a nicer room which includes breakfast. I just said no, thank you. No pressure. No mention of Priceline. Check in took 5 minutes, maybe less. The room was ready when I arrived at noon or so.

The location was very convenient. A block from the tube stop. My room overlooked Oxford Street, so it was a little noisy. After the first night, I didn't notice the noise any more. (We previously stayed near the Notting Hill Gate tube stop and I preferred that area as it was quieter and quainter.)

The people at the hotel were all very nice. The service was not top-notch, but was always friendly. Any comments following are small quibbles. (When I received a phone call, they insisted that I was no longer staying at the hotel. My caller had to tell them 3 times that they were sure I was there.) (When I asked the concierge how to get to Locanda Locatelli, a top-notch restaurant that was 2 blocks away, the concierge was not familiar with it and had to look up the address. Not a problem, but usually the concierge is familiar with the area restaurants and can make recommendations.) (The instructions on the phone for voice mail, room service, etc. were incorrect so I had to call the front desk to inquire how to do these things.) (Then the voice mail message kept flashing on the TV, even though I had electronically directed the message to be deleted, thus preventing anyone from watching the TV. The front desk said they had to reset it and did so. Does everyone who receives a message have to call the front desk to be able to watch TV?)

The lobby was a little smoky, but besides passing though to go in and out, you only have to stay there for 5-10 minutes at check-in and check-out. There is an internet station set up in the cafe in the lobby. It costs 4 GBP for 20 minutes and the mouse didn't work too well. I would recommend an internet cafe, which I subsequently used for 1 GBP for 2 hours, with better functioning equipment. This one was a few doors down from the Phoenix theatre.

To summarize, I would gladly stay at the Thistle Marble Arch again. My first choice, when travelling with a family, would be to rent an apartment if possible. When travelling with 1 or 2 people, the Thistle Marble Arch was great. I would like to have seen the upgraded rooms to see if the difference would be worth it next time.

travelgirl2, thanks so much for this report, it makes me even more excited about my trip to London and my stay at Thistle Marble Arch. I was wondering if the room would have a fridge, and you've answered my question. :-) Can you answer one other, please? Does the room have a coffee pot and cups? ((c))

P_M - there was a pot with a coil inside to heat up water. Also, packets of instant coffee, tea bags and a packet of hot chocolate. I bought a small container of milk and kept it in the fridge.

There was also a hair dryer in the desk drawer (not the bathroom). It was screwed into the drawer, so you had to stand at the desk to use it.

Have a great time!

One other thing I found very useful. I purchased an Oyster card for the tube. It's a pre-paid card for the subway. It costs 3 GBP and then I added 20 GBP to use for trips. This way, it just charged automatically for each trip I made. It eliminated having to get tickets, as you just swipe the Oyster each time you go in and out. Also, my understanding is that if you take a lot of trips, the maximum it will charge you for the day is 50 pence less than a 1 day travelcard. I found it useful because I never knew if I was going to take the tube 1 or 2 a day and then walk a lot or end up using it 5 times.

Hi travelgirl2-Just wondering- we are a family group of 5. Can we buy one Oyster card or do all individuals have to have their own?
It certainly sounds more convenient than trying to work out how much train travel you will do for the day and if you should buy single fares or a day pass

Hi! never been to london before,can you tell me what part of town the hotel is located in? I'll be flying into Gatwick and out of Heathrow at 6:40 a.m. 2 days later, will this location work for that early flight? thanks!

We loved the Thistle Marble Arch! $60/night for this hotel is an unbelievable bargain.

One really nice feature is the &quot;North American&quot; outlet (near the desk) so you don't have to worry about dual voltage appliances or plug adapters.

While we were staying there, I noticed a room key sticking out of the slot on the door of another room on the way back to our room. The &quot;privacy&quot; light was turned on, so I didn't want to knock, even though it was only about 10PM. So, I took the key all the way down to the front desk. When I handed it to the desk clerk with an explanation, he just pitched it into the trash can assuming they would just come ask for another one. So, I wrote a note for him to leave for them - just in case they remembered leaving it in the door.

JoMark: My understanding is that each traveller needs an Oystercard. No sharing.

Just taking a quick look -- even I have heard of Locanda Locatelli. What was the concierge smoking? How was dinner, by the way?

I forget the name of the guy who owns that restaurant, but if I remember, there's at least one other restaurant owned by the same guy.

&quot;Congrats, travelgirl2!! I've only used Priceline once and I got a suite in Houston for only $50. Since then I am a Priceline fan for life, and I'm very much looking forward to trying it again.&quot;

Don't be mislead by success in Houston. It is easy to get good deal in places like Houston where no one wants to go. Hotels in hot tourist areas fill their rooms easilu and don't need to resort to Priceline and the like. This is not to say that Priceline is bad, just don't expect huge bargains travelling to real tourist places in season.

travelgirl2-

thanks for the report on the hotel. I'll be staying there for 6 nights in June - I also won it on Priceline, but for $55.

I'm ecstatic on the deal I'm getting. I think I'll decline the 20 GBP upgrade, too.

FIFTY-FIVE BUCKS! :))

I think TMA must be price-pointing. They've determined that they can maximize their occupancy (and/or liquidate ALL their remnant space) by taking any rate they can get on Priceline.

May they prosper.

&quot;don't expect huge bargains travelling to real tourist places in season.&quot;

Imhornet, do you not condsider London to be a real tourist place? Did you read later my other post about getting Thistle Marble Arch in London for $60/night? Both times I used priceline got what I wanted at a HUGE discount. And it seems that a lot of others have done the same.

As far as my bid in Houston goes, the suite I got for $50 was indeed a very popular and pricey area of town. I did quite a bit of research before making that bid and I found nothing else in that area for less than $100/night for just a basic room.

Just checking back in...

JoMark - Oyster was very convenient. I don't know about using it with a family, but I will be researching this also since I will be returning next summer with my family. I'll be checking into this on their website too.

Corgis - I'm not an expert on London, but this hotel was 2 easy blocks from the Marble Arch tube station. On the way from Heathrow, I took the tube (with 1 change, I believe it was at Holborne). The trip was 1 1/2 hours, including a long walk from the terminal to the tube stop. On the way back to Heathrow, I took a more direct tube route (with 2 changes, which was difficult with luggage due to the stairs) and it took closer to 1 hour 10 minutes. Another faster option is the Heathrow Express. I don't know how early these start running. But, I assume you don't want to stay at the airport for 2 nights, so you'll probably be coming into the city in any case. I'm not sure what the best location for you would be. I can say that I found travel on the tube to be very easy. Good luck.

djkbooks - I didn't notice the North American adapter! What a great feature.

111op - I had an excellent meal at Locanda Locatelli. Scallop appetizer, pasta with chicken livers (never would have tried that but I asked the waitress for her favorites - it was very good) and a fish dish. Wine, cappucino. Expensive at 69 GBP plus gratuity. Wonderful service. As a solo diner, they were very welcoming and attentive. The staff was excellent, in my opinion. The atmosphere in the restaurant is elegant (but not too much so). A very enjoyable evening.

chepar - $55! Wow. Great deal.

&quot;Imhornet, do you not condsider London to be a real tourist place? Did you read later my other post about getting Thistle Marble Arch in London for $60/night?&quot;

When did you go. If it is in high season, I'd be surprised. You can always get lucky, but it is the ezception, not the rule.

People have won their $55-60 bids for dates in every month of the year - check out betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com .

$60 is awesome. Just as an FYI I booked The Hilton Waldorf for $90 in late June of this year, which I considered to be a pretty good deal for a 5 star, and considering the location.
Jeff