Hotel in London- need advice...

[CJcruzer]

I will be in London pre-cruise mid June- and would like a nice,clean hotel - right now I have a tentative reservation at the Rembrandt in Knightsbridge area (across from the Victoria & Albert Museum, near Harrods), but the price is a little steep!

 

Any suggestions for 4 star hotel? (Rembrandt is rated 3 star some places, 4 star others)...

 

I had read a suggestion about the Hutton Hotel - in Belgrave?

 

We will be touring Tower of London, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, etc....will be touring strictly London area -

Looking forward to suggestions.....this is my first time in London.

 

CJ cruzer

[lord of the seas]

Just looked at the Hutton, I have never heard of it and it does look low grade.The Hotels in this street are very basic,they are converted from family houses,you would be amongst the back packers here and the asylum seekers.The Rembrandt is a million times better in quality and location.

[Casshew]

I would take the Rembrandt too, I am not fond of the Belgravia area, little locked up gardens, streets like ghost towns in the evenings.

[cberge]

I agree with the above poster's..and if memory serves me right you should be able to get the Hop/on bus very close by the hotel if you chose to go this route.Have a great visit to London.

[bigwally]

I'm not a big fan of the Rembrandt. Good location to Knightsbridge, but the room we had there was small, well worn, and hotter than a plant house. On the plus side, their rates do include full breakfast.

 

For similar money, I would go the Holiday Inn Forum just a bit further down the street. If you can stretch a bit further, then the Millenium Gloucester across from the Forum would be my personal choice.

[sddsddean]

A friend of mine who is a US TA stayed at the Hilton Paddington (what used to be the Great Western Hotel) and was very impressed with it. It has just (well in the last year or so) had a £16million refit and is right on top of Paddington station, so when you want fly home, the Heathrow Express is on your doorstep and you will be at the airport in 15 minutes. Sorry, I've no idea of prices, but heres a link.

http://www.hilton.co.uk/Paddington

 

Simon

[Fritzie]

We were just in London for four days--stayed in a 3 star B&B near the Marble Arch--serviceable and clean, but nowhere near the level of amenities for the same price as what we'd get here in the States. Check out tripadvisordotcom for hotel ideas--as long as the hotel is recommended and it's near a tube station, I'm not sure the location is as important. The Tube is so easy to use.

Enjoy your trip!

[Globaliser]

A friend of mine who is a US TA stayed at the Hilton Paddington (what used to be the Great Western Hotel) and was very impressed with it. It has just (well in the last year or so) had a £16million refit and is right on top of Paddington station, so when you want fly home, the Heathrow Express is on your doorstep and you will be at the airport in 15 minutes.

But it's worth pointing out that the Hilton Paddington is close to pretty much nothing else.

 

That's one of the big complaints about the Heathrow Express, too - it's really fast to get to Paddington, but then you have to deal with business of getting where you really need to go in London. By the time you've done that, you often might as well have got the Tube from Heathrow to central London.

[squirrelgardens]

This hotel may be a little past the area you want to stay. but for the past 5 years I have stayed in the Bloomsbury area. Restaurants and pubs are very affordable in this area. Lot of guests in the hotels in the area are affiliated with the Universities and the Museum.

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g186338-d209146-Reviews-Arosfa-London_England.html

 

Arofsa Hotel review on trip advisor above. The search engine on Trip Advisor may give you other reviews too. Arofsa is online for bookings too. You have to Google the name and should pop up.

 

Good luck with you stay in London. We are going to be there in late April and early May.

 

Here is a link for a review of the Hutton Hotel in London. FYI

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g186338-d193150-r2176933-Huttons_Hotel-London_England.html

[handfordr]

Huttons hotel is a basic Bed & Breakfast hotel behind Victoria Station - of its type its average, but its type is low cost basic accommodation where price is the biggest attraction.

 

If you're watching your budget the biggest thing to remember is that because of the London Underground it doesn't realyy matter where you stay in the centre. If you want to stay in Trafalgar Square/Covent garden you're pay at least a 30% premium for the convenience of a 10 minute underground ride.

 

The Rembrandt is an OK hotel opposite the V&A Museum in South Kensington, just along from Harrods. Nice hotel but nothing special.

 

For a clean 3 star hotel I'd suggest the Stylotel in Paddington, around 80 GBP for a twin with a good buffet breakfast.

The neighbouring Darlington Hyde Park Hotel is one of the best independent hotels in London, doesn't bother with stars - concentrates on old fashioned service and comfort rather than putting money into installing an excercise bike in a broom cupboard to get the star ratings which just signifies facilities, most people don't use. You'll get a twin about 100-130 GBP mark here.

 

The Rembrandt in Victoria is a good 4 star by Victoria, very central and very good weekend deals.

 

If you're stay is the weekend, the east side of London around Tower of London, The City cuts its rates whilst the west side around Kensington/Paddington puts them up. The reverse is true during the week.

 

Very good value can also be found at the Premier Travel Inn's. The County Hall site is probably the best sited hotel in London next to the London Eye and opposite Big Ben. Rooms are < 100 GBP - like all the best deals you'll have to book well ahead to get a room.

PTI also have a very handy hotel at Earls Court Kensington, 40 minutes on the tube to Heathrow. Again, one of the best <100 GBP hotels in London.

[bigwally]

I've been hearing some very significant and positive buzz about this property:

 

http://www.hoxtonhotels.com

 

Sub £100 rates w/ a light pret style breakfast included.

 

I'm not sure it's close enough to the tourist areas of the city to keep me happy, but some on a tighter budget might find this minor inconvenience bearable.

[lord of the seas]

Wally, 81 Great Eastern street is not a good place for a tourist,mind you it is not a bad place for clubbers. (I am told)

[bigwally]

I think they might be after just that market. Young junior execs who want to boogie down after a long day of towing the corporate line.

 

But £59 a night for the nights I'd need sounds mighty tempting compared to £200 a night at my usual gaff in South Ken!

[phabric]

Has anybody heard of the New England Hotel, 20 Saint George's Drive, Victoria, Westminster.

[pcur]

I did an exhausting bit of research finding our hotel, because we have to be on a tight budget for our pre-cruise stay in London.

 

The Hutton was one of my choices, also, and we decided on the Luna and Simone which is also on Belgrave. I am actually delighted to hear the previous poster say it's a ghost town at night, because our previous hotel last trip was in the Kensington area and VERY noisy at night.

 

If you have the time, this is what I did:

 

Go to Yahoo's home page. On the left is "Yahoo International" at the bottom. Go to Yahoo UK. Then do your searching for hotel booking sites. You get better results.

 

Open up another window or tab to tripadvisor.com. As you find a hotel that you like, reading the details and getting the price, go to tripadvisor.com and read the reviews on the same hotel. These reviews are as recent as yesterday!!

 

Then see if there is a web page for the hotel. Usually you can get better prices by booking directly.

 

Belgrave is close to Victoria station with basic hotels. The L&S is getting exceptional reviews for the staff and cleanliness; at least the last time I checked the reviews last week.

[lord of the seas]

Has anybody heard of the New England Hotel, 20 Saint George's Drive, Victoria, Westminster.

 

I'm Afraid,just another low grade place to rest your head.

[squirrelgardens]

I did an exhausting bit of research finding our hotel, because we have to be on a tight budget for our pre-cruise stay in London.

 

The Hutton was one of my choices, also, and we decided on the Luna and Simone which is also on Belgrave. I am actually delighted to hear the previous poster say it's a ghost town at night, because our previous hotel last trip was in the Kensington area and VERY noisy at night.

 

If you have the time, this is what I did:

 

Go to Yahoo's home page. On the left is "Yahoo International" at the bottom. Go to Yahoo UK. Then do your searching for hotel booking sites. You get better results.

 

Open up another window or tab to tripadvisor.com. As you find a hotel that you like, reading the details and getting the price, go to tripadvisor.com and read the reviews on the same hotel. These reviews are as recent as yesterday!!

 

Then see if there is a web page for the hotel. Usually you can get better prices by booking directly.

 

Belgrave is close to Victoria station with basic hotels. The L&S is getting exceptional reviews for the staff and cleanliness; at least the last time I checked the reviews last week.

 

 

Every time I email or phone they have no vacancy. You are so right to go there.

[SelectSys]

I used to stay in a couple of hotels by the British Museum - Radison Edwardian - that were reasonably priced. They were the Kenilworth and the Marlborough. I stayed at each 4 or 5 times while working on a project about 6 years ago. The Marlborough was a better overall hotel, but I liked the bar at the Kenilworth.

 

We used to get a pretty cheap rate and these hotels aren't too far off from the main tourist destinations. The tube access is to Tottenham Court Road.

[dewhit6959]

There is a new Sleep Inn at Tower Hill that just opened in mid Feb. I just released a double that was very reasonable. Go thru the web site and you can book in dollars.

[dewhit6959]

Also, the Mayfair gave me some good rates for weekly stay when I called Hotel direct.

[Tina G]

If you want cheap and safe, I stayed at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum with my 83 year old Mother. It's high rise, modern, basic (very) but next to a grocery store mini-mall and the tube. Nothing romantic or charming about it, but cheap!!!:o Great views!

[bigwally]

If you want cheap and safe, I stayed at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum

 

Cheap! You call an average rate of £160 a night cheap? Girl, my wife and I wanna party with you! We'll get the Dom in, you can pay the check :)

[Tina G]

This is London we're talking about. New York City is expensive, too. London is generally acknowledged to be the most expensive city in Europe. Paris is a bargain, compared to it. You can easily spend 300 pounds and upwards for a good hotel. I have stayed in some cheap London hotels that are definitely NOT reccommended at any price. Many American airlines use the Kensington Forum as the hotel in which they house their flight personnel overnight because of convenience and price.

[Tina G]

Big Wally, I just checked Kensington Forum, and that price is for room plus complete breakfast. You can get the same room for about 102 pounds without the breakfast if you check with some of the discounters. Come on - nobody pays the rack rate!

[pcur]

Yes, but all those people looking for a good, but inexpensive, hotel in London are really going to appreciate this thread! I know I did when I found some threads last year when I started looking.

 

I just checked the latest tripadvisor reviews for the Luna and Simone. This was written on 4/2/07 by someone from Texas. I didn't know they had internet access, too!!

 

We're paying the equivalent of $158 a night, including taxes:

 

"We stayed in the Luna & Simone hotel (Simone side) March 24th through the 29th. The hotel is just as all the reviews state. The rooms are absolutely spotless. We saw a housekeeper vigorously scrubbing down the shower in another room like it where her own bathroom.

 

The room is somewhat small but gives you a feeling of staying at a friend's house (just as another had posted). The hotel is comfortable and met all our expectations.

 

Luckily, we had a room with a balcony that gave us a nice view of Belgrave road. The French doors to the patio were helpful in cooling the room during late afternoon. (Note: to lock the balcony door, pull the handle up.) We did not notice road noise however; we live within a mile of a major interstate in Texas and may be use to the noise.

 

The breakfast was great (one fried egg, two slices of bacon, beans, toast, hot tea, and orange juice). We heard many people asking for more items and the owners were very accommodating with the request. There were other options but we stuck with the plate above.

 

The owners are on site and quite friendly (actually fun to chat with). The owners are two brothers that look quite similar. They actually serve breakfast to the guests.

 

There is a bus stop literally outside the front door. Also, there is a Sainsbury store about two blocks away that can be used for a low cost dinner. In addition, there is a small convenience store not even a minute's walk away that stays open late.

 

A computer with internet access is available to all guests.

 

Overall, we highly recommend the hotel. The location and service are great. Cleanliness can not be beat."