What do you think of this London apt?
 

www.vrbo.com/56469 ? I think the area is fine and apt looks nice. Any advice? We need it for 3 nights. Do you think they divide the weekly by 7 for each night? I will also contact them, but like to hear from you posters. Thanks.

Judy

"Notting Hill" is a fairly elastic term that can cover some horrid places - you should get the name of the road.

You don't want to end up in Ladbroke Grove!

I like the doorman (last photo)

audere_est_facere--I have a message in for the owner to answer that question. According to an email
I received a bit earlier, it is (somewhere) in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, 5 minutes from Hyde Park.
Where is Ladbroke Grove anyway? I really meant to post this to the Europe. Thanks for replying.

wombat7--yeah--pretty spiffy, isn't he?
I really don't think he would be MY doorman! Think he is a Beefeater?

Judy

Ladbroke grove is next to Notting Hill and is horrible and dangerous.

The fact that the bloke hasn't given the street makes me a bit nervous.

Once he's come back with the street we'll be able to give you the full story.

audere_est_facere

Thanks for your quick reply! Yes, I'm waiting, impatiently, to hear back from them! I'll post again soon as I hear from them. Judy

I doubt one nights rental will be a weeks rent divided by 7, no, but you can ask.

Think about it logically - they have to arrange cleaning/welcoming/fresh linen etc etc for each set of guests - one lot of guests for 7 nights will only have this once, but several batches of guests a week will increase their costs quite a lot.

AEF, are you taking the piss? I remember the area around Holland Park (Ladbroke Grove is just north of it, no?) as lovely.

I'm with farce on this.

There is practically NOWHERE in London that can be 100% guaranteed to be lovely. Within 5 mins of NHG tube (at any rate, 5 mins at my walking speed) there are some horrible places.

The fact that the owner keeps on repeating this crap about "Royal Borough of K+C"(K+C has areas with some of the highest levels of social deprivation in Britain) and "within 5 mins" is near-certain proof he's hiding something.

Get the full alphanumeric postcode and we might be able to help. If he's still waffling, he's ripping you off.

PS:

You don't even have to wait to get the address to know this guy's bullshitting

Claiming a "200 year old Victorian fireplace" doesn't just mean he's lying through his teeth. He thinks you're too stupid to notice.

Fuggedaboutit.

This is interesting, I can't wait to hear where it really is. Lots of owners talk about something being 5 to 10 minutes walk from some place desirable, and usually it means a 30 minute walk or at least a couple km. We'll see. I thought it looked okay but the owner had bad taste in decor and furniture, not that this is unusual for a vacation rental. But that's just visible in the photos and personal taste, obviously. A lot of cheap modern Ikea-type stuff, which looks really tacky next to the 200 year old Victorian fireplace (especially the cubbyholes on the wall right next to it). I am looking in vain for those original 16th Century Spanish paintings next to the plywood cubbyholes. Does this guy have an original El Greco in a rental flat?

Maybe he just is bad with years or math or doesn't know when the Victorian era was. Maybe the fireplace was 200 years old and they put a reproduction Victorian mantel over it, that could be. I didn't look at that photo enough to see what style it was.

yeah - we really do need the address - or at VERY least the street to be of much help.

A few blocks one way or the other can make a big difference. Lots of hotels/B&Bs and flats will advertise being in Kensington when they are in earls Court. And the Notting Hill is the same - pretty elastic boundaries.

meant to add - assuming the address turns out OK - the flat does look fine to me. But it seems a bit pricely for a 1-bdrm.

(no, he isn't a Beefeater. He is a guardsman but I can't see the pips/buttons well enough to tell which regiment)

<b>Do you think they divide the weekly by 7 for each night?</b>

During what time period? If it is during Christmas holiday (peak season), it's unlikely. That has been my personal experience so far.

The flat is on St. Stephen's Gardens, just off Chepstow Road, near Westbourne Grove. We had reserved this one (starting tomorrow!) and were just upgraded to another of their properties on Holland Park Road. I spoke to the owner this am. Email them-they have always answered me immediately and have been lovely. They live in the Bahamas but are in London right now. I will report back once we arrive.

www.londonrentalflats.com
is Liz and Carl Risberg (the owners of this flat) website with a little more info. I believe 189/night is the nightly rate versus 999/week (142/night), at least this month.

St Stephen's Gdns is closer to the Westbourne Park and Royal Oak stations than it is to Notting Hill Gate. I can't help w/ the street itself because I haven't walked that far up from NHG and up Chepstow. I have driven w/i just a stone's throw when coming in on the A40/Westway. But the roadway is elevated there and I just never noticed the neighborhood.

But the locals will probably be able to give you details.

Good evening posters! Thanks for all your concern and imput.

SusanSDG Looks like you will find out first hand about the area? Unfortunately, we will not be reserving with them due to 249 GBP being over my budget. I think that's $498 US per night plus an unknown cost for the cleaning fee.

You people are so great to check this place out for me (us). The owners have emailed me with a lot of good information, but not the exact address. They are very helpful in all other ways though. IF I felt I could splurge on it, I might really consider it. But, London is just the first stop on a 4 week odyssey of sorts. From London, we travel to Paris for 4 nights, on to Rome to pick up a 2 week cruise, back to Rome for 2-3 days, then to Nice for couple more, then home. So, you can see my US dollars need to stretch as much as possible. We do have our apartment in Paris and a B&amp;B in Rome already reserved. Is it just me, or is traveling getting more costly each year?! Hummm, should I simply stay home? NO WAY!!

Think I'lll just get a quad in a B&amp;B hotel in London. Seems to be he least expense.

Judy

&quot;Is it just me, or is traveling getting more costly each year?&quot;

Do you mean as opposed to everything else? (except some electronics).

Yep, I find travel is definitely getting more expensive every year -- especially in London! But I find it somehow worth the horrible splurge.

I find that good apartments tend to only rent by the week, or if they do them for shorter periods, they'll charge almost as much since they figure they'll also lose a few days between renters.

Whatever you do - avoid londonflatrentals.com! The Risberg's are lying cheats! Why do they quote such a low rate? Because they take your money and run!

What about trying this apartment? The rates look reasonable...

http://www.vrbo.com/45089#morephotos