smschloss

Hi,
Going to London this summer with husband and 14 and 18 year old daughters. So overwhelming where to stay. Don't care if it's a B&B, small hotel or large chain. Price is important. 7 nights with 2 rooms adds up. Looking at Bayswater and Kensington areas. any suggestions?? Budget is hopefully 350 us dollars a night for the 2 rooms. Someone suggested Hyde PArk Hilton as you can get second room 1/2 off, but it's busy there. Want to be able to sleep with not alot of noise. So far...Vicarage, Mayflower, New Linden, Bayswater inn, hyde park radnor, comfort inn kensington. Any suggestions?? thanks!!

janisj

For that long a stay I'd <u>definitely</u> rent a flat instead.

For 2 or 3 nights any hotel would do. But w/ the size of most rooms, for a week those walls will soon start to come in on you. A 1 or 2 bdrm apartment will give you much more space, a full kitchen (not for major cooking but for the washer/dryer and fridge - BIG plusses), and cost less than two rooms just about anywhere.

There are many threads on here about rental agencies and private apartments. I'd try vrbo first just to get an idea of what's out there.

There are lots of good areas - probably the most convenient would be South Kensington, Victoria, Covent Garden, Bloomsbury, Knightsbridge and Mayfair. Knightsbridge and Mayfair would generally have the most expensive properties

Robespierre

Priceline has given me good results in London. Your $350 target will get you really nice accommodations in any of the areas you mention.

Go to biddingfortravel.com to learn the strategy.

smschloss

Thanks. good ideas. we were going to rent a flat, but then thought it might be better to stay in a hotel where someone could advise us how to get where we are going. vrbo - we have used before, but flats were very $$. Will try again.

WillTravel

If you use Priceline, two 4* rooms should fit easily into your budget, unless there is something very unusual about your dates. Check out www.betterbidding.com and www.biddingfortravel.com for more info about bidding.

If you don't mind a bit more spartan-ness, you can get rooms or flats from the London School of Economics. Some of these have very central areas, much better than Bayswater or Kensington, in my opinion. However, some of your listed options sound rather spartan anyway, so I think the LSE would likely be better.
www.lse.ac.uk/collections/vacations/

janisj

this site has many apartments for well w/i your budget

http://www.londonguestsuites.com/

MaureenB

Try londontown.com. It lets you select what you're looking for by type and budget.

Our family of four stayed at the Hyde Park Radnor for three nights. It's a nice enough little hotel, in a nice neighborhood, but the quad room we had was very small. The bathroom was tiny, too.
&gt;-

janisj

Just to give you one example http://www.londonguestsuites.com/tem...ty.cfm?apt=380

is a 2 bdrm, 2 bath flat in Near Russell Square for just $197 a night. It would be hard to beat that even using Priceline. Of course - it may not be available for your dates - but there are many others to choose from.

Merseyheart

Janis, I'm impressed with the reasonable rents for the flats offered by this agency. Have you ever used their services? Do you have any personal experience with them?

janisj

I haven't personally since I prefer to stay in very specific places. But there have been many threads about them and lots of long-time fodorites have used them.

angelnot1

Hi

It has been a while (2002) but our family of five stayed at Citadines Apartment Hotel just a few steps from Trafalgar Square and the cost was not exorbitant. Have not checked it recently but you may add it to you suggestion pool.

Enjoy London

KayF

I can see that a flat would give you more space and more facilities but you are right, there will be no one around to give you help with anything, at most flats there is no reception or anything. Somewhere like Citadines or Aston Apartments would have reception though. We have stayed at a Citadines in France and it was good.

We stayed for a week in London in an apartment and one other thing which was a bit difficult was there was nowhere to store our luggage on our last day. We had to be out by 10am and leave the keys behind us and then we were stuck with our bags. We ended up leaving them at Kings Cross Left Luggage which was not cheap. Just another thing to be aware of.
Kay

cathies

We stayed in apartments in London that we booked through www.apartmentsw1.com. Really clean and spacious. The one we booked was on Harley Street and only a few minutes walk to 2 subway stations. That trip was in May 06 so not sure of the cost now.

Robespierre

I wouldn't worry about having anyone around to give you directions. With a few basic navigation tools, getting around London is a piece of cake. Here are two:

download and print out
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...al_bus_map.pdf

available on paper at any Tube station
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/centlond.pdf

smschloss

Wow - everyone has been so helpful. I will check out all these sites.

laustic

Agree with what everyone else has said about getting a flat. London is an easy city to get around and build your own itinerary. I wouldn't do it any other way now that I've done it once. My dad and I are saving a lot of money (since we would have also required 2 hotel rooms) and getting to stay in a really nice area. Plus you save money on food by having a kitchen for snacks and drinks and such.

smschloss

ok. so I have been on vrbo.com and londonguestsuites.com and all are still $$. (cheaper ones booked)I did find one on Avonmore street - good area??? I am looking in kensington area. any other areas to look at? thanks!

laustic

Did you call london guest suites and see if they are offering any sales? They were really really great to talk with on the phone. They mentioned discounts that weren't reflected on the website. I'm staying in property 838 in March and paying about $50 less per night than the listed price. That might just be a seasonal discount, but still that could be a really great property for you guys since it has 2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms and the 2nd bedroom has twin beds. I've also heard that Pimilico can be an affordable area.

LAwoman

We went to London a few years ago with our 2 daughters and used this agency

http://www.athomeinlondon.co.uk/

We rented out the third floor of a lovely victorian home in Chiswick, it was L111 per night, we had the entire 3rd floor, 3 bedrooms and a bathroom, our own key to enter, and the hostess answered all our questions about how to get around, etc. Pretty neighborhood, short walk to the tube, nice pub to end the night at, twenty minute ride to Picadilly etc.

I don't see it listed now but they have other properties, some much more central. If interested would contact the website with your wishes and let them tell you what they recommend, they're very good at that.

Like a lot of other posters I also get killer deals on priceline.

smschloss

hi eveyone, (janisj - you are so knowledgable)

So I found a flat in the district of Kensington between West Kensington and Olympia Underground Stations on Avonmore road. (between Warwick road and N. end raod) Anyone know if this a a good area to stay?

-Sharon