Headed to London Summer 2018 and would like to rent a large house/apartment for 7 people. Looking at lots of agencies. I would appreciate any experiences you are willing to share regarding Ivy Lettings, London Connection, Plum Guide. London Perfect or other agencies? Thank you!

The NYT recently had a story about using Plum.

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/tr...n-rentals.html

We used One Fine Stay to rent a flat in Nitting Hill in 2012. We had a good experience with them.

@ £810 per night . . . they saw the author coming and knew she was on an expense account. My Goodness! Just from the house's description -- it sounds like £450-£500 per night would be a decent rate.

Plum Guide is sort of a high end airbnb - and recent addition to the industry.

Ivy Lettings and London Connection have been around for ages. London Perfect IMO/IME tends to be over priced but lots of folks like their service.

Other very good high end agencies include http://www.farnum-christ.com (highly recommended) and http://www.onefinestay.com/

You can also find lots of listings on booking.com

Another place to check is Dolphin Square -- not an agency but a block of holiday flats within a very large upscale housing development in Pimlico. They have up to 3 bedroom units.

http://www.dolphinsquare.co.uk/dolphin-house/

These are wonderfully helpful! Because all of the travelers require separate sleeping surfaces, it means we will probably have to have at least 4 bedrooms--it looks like any time we go above 3 bedrooms, the choices narrow quite a bit. I will check out all the above sugggestions. Thanks especially for the take on Plum Guide--I wasn't sure what to make of them. If anyone else has had experiences with the above choices (or additional ones), please share. Thank you!!

We rented a lovely flat through sabbaticalhomes.com in 2010. You don't say how long you're staying and while most on that website are longer term rentals they do vary and if you see something you like, it's worth contacting the owner because they often have a short term space between two long term rentals.

londonperfect.com

If you need that large a place you will have a MUCH better chance renting two smaller flats within the same complex -- like two 2-bdrm units at Dolphin House or in one of the Fraser Suites locations. 4 bdrm properties are very few and far between.

Here are 4 bedroom houses in London on VRBO. I don't know your dates and I left that blank so really this is just a sample:

https://www.vrbo.com/results?page=1&...lus&Bedrooms=4

I've used Ivy lettings once and London Connection twice. Slight edge to London Connection, mainly becasue it is so easy to deal with a merchant in the US. When we were stuck in London behind the Icelandic volcano (yes, a terrible fate ;-) )they took very good care of us through the uncertainty.

>>ere are 4 bedroom houses in London on VRBO. I<<

Yes - there are a few 4 bdrm properties but they make up a really teensy % of the available rental stock.

You would have a much easier time finding two 2 bedroom units in the same complex. Plus two flats would usually give you more space for not more money. Unless you are talking a mini mansion costing a fortune two smaller flats would provide more bathrooms, two living rooms, etc.

(Very large units tend to be either very basic/dorm-like - or - very high end/expensive.)

My main point is ease of locating accommodations -- I've taken groups as large as 13 people to London, and 7 or 8 a few times. Each time we were able to book 2 to 4 smaller flats either in the same bldg or next door to each other.

My main go-to for that sort of thing has sold off 4 of their flats and now only rent out one. So not useful for your trip -- but the same concept works elsewhere (Like Dolphin Square or similar)

Used Ivy Lettings for a rental in May. They eere perfectly fine and responsive.

Just came across the Lovelydays site. They seem to have some very nice places. If we can't find what we want in one large unit/house, the idea of renting two flats in the same building is a good one. If we could find something a bit upscale in central London near public transport, it would work fine. If anyone has stayed in such a place, I would appreciate knowing your experience.

Forgot to mention that we'll be there toward the end of July for about 8 days.

Try "Home from Home". They have a large selection on apartments and seem very good.

My sister used this agency and found a great flat for a few weeks:

https://www.aplacelikehome.co.uk/properties/#

>>If we could find something a bit upscale in central London near public transport<<

Just about EVERYWHERE in central London is near public transport. Tube stations are pretty much everywhere except a slice of Chelsea and there are bus routes even there.

You say upscale -- what is your actual budget per night?

For 7 of us--we're hoping not to have to go more than $1200 a night. I should have been more specific--we'd like to be near (as in not more than 4-5 blocks) from a tube station if at all possible.