A friend of mine is travelling to London next summer and has decided (for some reason) he wants to stay in the Mayfair area. He wants a reasonable place that will offer a continental breakfast. Any recommendations?

What is "reasonable"? <BR>I stayed (of all places) at the Holiday Inn Mayfair a few years ago and it was quite nice, good location, and had a wonderful breakfast!!!

The Washington Hotel in the heart of Mayfair is quite a nice hotel with continental breakfast. They often do great "package rates". We once stayed there because they were offering a special of paying the pounds amount in dollars--instead of a room being 180 pounds, for example, it was 180 dollars. As you probably know most of the Mayfair hotels are quite expensive, the Washington being one bargain by Mayfair standards.

For bargain (and not so bargain!) hotel listings anywhere in the UK, try www.smoothhound.co.uk

Reasonable is a relative term. I have stayed at both of the above hotels (the Holiday Inn was over booked and they sent us to the Washington). I found them both to be rather expensive, but only until I started shopping in London. I didn't care for the room at the Washington - it was on one of the very bottom floors and had no view. But for the amount of time I was there, it really didn't matter. I think I remember the room at the Holiday Inn being quite large. They were both nice enough. The bar/breakfast area at the Holiday was very pleasant. The bar (I'm not sure if that's where they served food...) was pretty big. The locationw were great - we walked everywhere from there.

Jane, <BR> <BR>Mayfair is a very central downtown London location...Buckingham Palace, Whitehall, National Gallery, St. James's Park are all within walking distance (more of less). This upscale area comes with upscale hotel prices. <BR> <BR>I've stayed at the Holiday Inn Mayfair several times. The rates can be high, but check the Holiday Inn (Bass Hotels) website for special rates. Also, join the Holiday Inn frequent guest program and you may get a better rate. For this particular hotel, which is only a block from the VERY upscale Ritz Hotel, I suggest rooms that are back away from Picadilly for noise reasons. The HI Mayfair is on Barkley street (is that spelled right?) and within a very short walk of the Green Park tube stop. <BR> <BR>Another area that your friend may want to consider is Westminster, just south of St. James's Park. We stayed at the Hilton St. Ermine's hotel this past summer. It is near New Scotland Yard (crime should not be a problem), walking distance to St. James's tube stop, along with Westminster Abbey, St. James's Park and Whitehall. Once again, the hotel is expensive, but Hilton has special rates. <BR> <BR>Hope this is helpful. <BR> <BR>Regards, <BR> <BR>David White <BR>_______________________________ <BR> <BR> http://www.KidsToLondon.com <BR>_______________________________ <BR> <BR>