Please Help With London Hotel (One Night) Priceline or Otherwise
 

Hi, I'll be need a room for London on a Sunday night in February.

I'm thinking maybe Priceline, but I've not used it in a while. Are there difficulties with booking just for a Sunday night, do people think? I'm thinking maybe Mayfair 4* -- it used to be reliable. Any surprises since I used Priceline? I got Thistle Charing Cross this way before.

I checked Days Hotel near Waterloo where I stayed a while ago. The rack rate is 85 pounds. It was cheaper then. I think this is more than what I want to pay.

Any other websites or options I should look into? I'm not picky, but prefer cheap and central.

Thanks!

Sunday night should be the best - as it's usually the slowest night.

The problem is that the Mayfair/Soho zone is so expensive, usually.

If you choose Bloomsbury, you could get the Kings Cross area, which is fine with me.

If you choose Westminster, you could end up south of the river about 10 minutes or so walk from a tube stop.

So personally, I'd stick to Bloomsbury or Mayfair for a one-night visit.

You could check www.accorhotels.com in case it's just easiest, for one night, to book a prepaid rate.

Ibis London Euston St Pancras has a 69 pound prepaid rate for Sunday.

I wouldn't use Travelodge, unless you book extra nights, because they are so inflexible about not storing luggage, so it would be a pain.

Try the Darlington. It gets amazing reviews on tripadvisor-I have not been there but I did book my husband and his three work associates there for a Feb. meeting. It's very reasonable and located near Hyde Park.

http://www.darlingtonhotel.co.uk/

Well, what do you need it for? Where are you going the next day? Do you need to be somewhere in particular?

Kensington seems to be consistently the cheapest on Priceline. Some of the hotels aren't super, but all seem to be acceptable. If you are coming from or going to Heathrow, this area has the advantage of being quite convenient to it.

Bloomsbury seems to be slightly more expensive, but seems to have a better selection of hotels. I got the Novotel Euston there recently, and was very impressed with what I got for my less than $100 bid.

If you don't know about biddingfortravel.com, then now is the time to learn. You should be able to find other good information there.

Hi, I know about BFT and checked it earlier today. The problem is that sometimes I get lazy and I'm also hesitant asking on BFT because the moderators usually insist that you follow a certain format with your questions. I don't need to get the best deal and I don't want to be that detailed.

I just need an ok deal. So that's why it's frequently easier to ask on Fodor's. Also I don't bid for a London hotel that frequently, and these things usually change, so it's helpful to know if there's been a big change since I last used it.

I'm flying in in the evening on a Sunday evening. Then I'll be out most of the evening. On Monday I'll be flying home. I'm leaving from Heathrow.

Actually that Sunday night I'll be at the British Museum to see the terracotta soldiers exhibition. So Bloomsbury will be convenient, but obviously Kings Cross is further away.

In general I think that I'm still most comfortable with the Mayfair zone.

I forget what hotel I was looking at earlier today, but there's a chain hotel near Aldgate (?) that's also around 69 pounds a night. It could be an Ibis as well.

It looks like I probably have to prepare to spend up to 70 pounds. Maybe if I can get Mayfair 4* for $140 on Priceline I'll think about it. I don't really need to be anywhere in particular, but I think that I find Mayfair, East End or Waterloo area most convenient for me.

Thanks!

Ratestogo.com has the City Hotel in Aldgate for 50 pounds per night. You need Feb. 17, right?

There are a couple 3* Bloomsbury options on RTG that are in the 50-70 pound range.

Don't forget to check Hotelscombined.com .

You can try, but I think the odds are against a 4* $140 Mayfair win.

It looks like Hotwire has some good options too. If you find one that interests you, maybe I can figure out which hotel it is.

Wow. That's a great deal! I wonder if that's the one I found earlier today. I don't think so. But probably same general location.

Yes it's Feb. 17.

The TripAdvisor reviews for this hotel are not good though. Also people complain about the location. I'm a little surprised. I wouldn't think that area is that bad.

Let me see if I can find the chain hotel I was looking at earlier today.

As usual you have some very good suggestions. :-)

Maybe I can pick your brains about Berlin hotels too. I think I'm a little late. I remember checking your favorite Mercure An Der Charite a few weeks ago. I think I saw it for 59 euros on hotel.de. I can't get that anymore.

I've booked a B&B called Hotel am Savignyplatz for 49 euros on hotel.de. But reception closes at 10 pm and I've not asked them about going in and out late at night yet. If you've some suggestions, maybe you can put them on the Berlin transportation thread I started?

Thanks!

Yeah it's Ibis London City on hotel.de. 69 pounds a night. Located at 5 Commercial Street and reasonable TripAdvisor reviews.

The recent City Hotel reviews on Tripadvisor are poorer, it seems.

I'll look into the other suggestions and continue to check this thread for suggestions. Thanks!

Remember before that when I found the cheap rate for Days Inn Waterloo, it was on Orbitz.

For your dates now, the Days Inn Waterloo is available on Orbitz for a relatively cheap rate - $107 USD per night + taxes, so about $129 USD total - so roughly 65 pounds.

Yes, you're right (as usual) about that Days Hotel! I didn't think of checking Orbitz. I just checked the hotel's website directly.

There's a cancelation charge of $25 associated with this booking. I think I'll decide between this one, Ibis City or possibly doing a PL bid. Probably I'll be too lazy to bid in the end unless I can get something with a lowball bid right away. It's not really worth my time even though the hotel is probably nicer.

"I'm also hesitant asking on BFT because the moderators usually insist that you follow a certain format with your questions."

I don't post on BFT, precisely because the moderators are so petty. They fail to understand that BFT is only useful if there are enough data points, yet they have stupid policies that drive people away. For example, you can be banned from the forum if you don't use their link (so they get the kickback). I just hope that it doesn't drive so many away that it becomes useless.

I would suggest trying www.londontown.com We have used them to book London hotels quite a few times, their website is helpful and easy to navigate, it shows you maps of where the hotel is and photos etc. Good prices too, generally you give your credit card for guarantee but pay at the hotel. This detail, plus any cancellation info, are clearly spelt out. It's a very good site.
Kay

How does BFT know if you use that A-B link they want you to use? When I checked yesterday there were very few posted bids for mid Feb -- and none (or maybe just one or two) for the Mayfair zone, if I recall correctly.

I can see though that the moderators shouldn't offer help for free, so I don't mind using the A-B link. And probably posting a request in some format isn't difficult, but I just think that I haven't gotten the time to learn this kind of thing. :-)

I've come across londontown, but I've not used it. I'll look some more.

Thanks!

"How does BFT know if you use that A-B link they want you to use?"

If they see a post about a winning bid without a corresponding bid on A-B, then they know you didn't use the link.

Agree with travelgourmet about BFT. It limps along, due to petty management, when it could be a vibrant site.

You will get much more friendly advice on betterbidding.com

These sites are mostly useful for getting hotel lists for the various zones, and seeing which ones keep coming up. It narrows down the uncertainty of which hotel you might win. One easy method I sometimes use is just bidding 15-20% less than what is available on hotwire for similar properties.

Wow. I didn't know they actually check. But I guess it's necessary if you're attempting to make a living off that website.

I'm taking a look at Priceline and BetterBidding. There used to be a trick of doing a free rebid for London. If I want to bid 4* in Mayfair, then I figure out if there's another zone that has only 3* or lower hotels and I can add this as a free rebid in the next round.

I looked at the list and zones listed on BetterBidding, and there are London West Suburbs zones not listed on Priceline. How could that be? Am I missing something?

It doesn't seem like I can use the free rebid trick anymore for London. Does this sound right?

Thanks.

Regarding the free rebids. It looks like Priceline has changed the zones, so I agree that there is no free rebid.

Of course, you can always just create an account in your significant others name and have them bid for you. Do this all the time with my account and my wife's.

At some point I think that I had about three or four accounts going with Priceline. That was when you had a lockout period of 72h. I would stagger my bids so that I could bid every 24h.

I'll try to bid and see what happens since I've a good idea that I can get a chain hotel for about $140.

If you are at the British Museum, try the Morgan Hotel http://www.morganhotel.co.uk/index.html. It is adjacent to the museum on Bloomsbury St. We stayed there on the recommendation of several Fororites and we really liked it there. It is not fancy, just a basic room, but VERY clean. Believe me, I am fussy when it comes to that! It came with breakfast which was wonderful.