4,631 posts
|
Post by Phantom of London on Aug 30, 2018 20:34:37 GMT
Premier Inn is always consistent, comfortable and purple.
Holiday Inn not too bad, the free breakfast is yuck, even for free.
Travelodge, last time I stayed there, the bed gave me chronic backache.
Marriott, can be expensive, but the quality is excellent, American know how to do good hotels, (Travelodge aside) there ones are better than ours.
|
|
3,482 posts
|
Post by showgirl on Aug 31, 2018 4:36:31 GMT
Also like a few others, give me a samey corporate hotel over a 'quaint' B&B any day (fun fact, my visually impaired friend tells me Premier Inns are by far the best for people with sight issues as their room layouts are so consistent). Hear hear. Most B & B owners are lovely - as are all the Premier Inn staff I've ever met - but I just dread having to engage repeatedly with them, especially if they're very chatty. PI staff are usually happy to have a quick conversation around whatever you and they are doing: checking in, leaving bags, etc - but they're busy and so are you. OH prefers to stay in B & Bs so I indulged him by booking one for our anniversary trip recently but the local Premier Inn would have been cheaper and better in terms of what it offered; plus one of the owners was deaf but his hearing aids weren't working so there was lots of shouting and repeating things. OH has an annoying habit of melting away, leaving me stuck with an owner eagerly telling me about all the local attractions, while I'm fuming, thinking "Yes, I know, I've done my research, thank you - and if you'd let me escape I could get on with going out and seeing them for myself."
|
|
2,583 posts
|
Post by viserys on Aug 31, 2018 5:46:20 GMT
I'm a whore for a Premier Inn I must say (love love the Hubs too- super cheap breakfast at £5) That breakfast is amazing value for money, I love it - and luckily they start serving at 7am even on Sundays, so I can take advantage of it before heading over to St. Pancras for my train home.
|
|
18,889 posts
|
Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 31, 2018 6:47:58 GMT
The breakfast at the Hub on St Martins Lane is rubbish. A dry bacon sandwich and a machine coffee in a Costa branded cup. I was stuck in an underground room with no window. Tiny room barely big enough to turn round, It was like being buried alive. Never again. PI Holborn next time for me. I think natural daylight is a reasonable expectation when you’re paying over a hundred quid for a night.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 7:08:34 GMT
I LOVE pod hotels. I wouldn't want to spend a two week holiday in them, but honestly if I'm just putting my head down for a night, all I need is a bed, a ceiling, and a lockable door, and a pod hotel is just such a neat use of space. And with a location as hilariously as convenient as St Martin's Lane, I don't quite get why you would go for the hotel breakfast when the whole of central London is at your feet!
|
|
18,889 posts
|
Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 31, 2018 7:10:52 GMT
Because they included it in the voucher deal I got, no doubt in an attempt to justify the exhorbitant price they were charging.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 7:37:10 GMT
Well don’t know what price you paid but usually those Hub hotels go for £40-80 which comparatively to the areas is an utter steal. And being Premier Inns I feel far safer there than say a hostel or air bnb of similar pricing
|
|
18,889 posts
|
Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 31, 2018 7:40:02 GMT
That particular one goes for about £150 for an average Saturday night. I paid a bit less with a voucher but it was still outrageously overpriced even for that prime location.
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Aug 31, 2018 7:40:10 GMT
I have to echo the votes for Premier Inn - unless I'm combining a business trip (and so getting accommodation on my company's expense account!), Premier Inn is the one I'll consistently choose. The one near Euston station (there's another just a few minutes walk away towards Kings Cross on Euston Rd) is fantastic. The staff are brilliantly friendly - not the most usual occurrence in London, I've found - and the breakfast (with discount vouchers) is great value.
Another person mentioned it, but it's worth saying - look at hotels located in the City or Docklands, if you want to get a weekend bargain compared to their weekday rates. Those business centric hotels are pretty much deserted by Friday night, and heavily discount their rooms pretty regularly. Slightly more expensive than the budget chains, but I've had a 5-star hotel room for just £20 more than a budget hotel! My favourite is the Grange hotel chain - there's one near St Pauls cathedral that has a separate 'aparthotel' block just down the street. Really lovely studio room, with a mini kitchen (very useful) and easy walking distance from various tube routes, as well as bang in front of the cathedral, so plenty of eating options!
|
|
2,583 posts
|
Post by viserys on Aug 31, 2018 8:21:39 GMT
That particular one goes for about £150 for an average Saturday night. I paid a bit less with a voucher but it was still outrageously overpriced even for that prime location. If the windowless basement room was like mine at King's Cross, I can understand the anger. I mean, I paid half of that and was still a bit WTF when I entered. Some chains like Easy Hotels clearly advertise their smallest windowless rooms and offer them for a lower price. Think Hub should do that too and give people at least the choice if they want to pay to have a window or not. And given the squished-in location in St Martin's Lane, I wonder if that Hub doesn't have the kind of large lovely breakfast room the one in KC has. Delicious fresh bread, toast, croissants, fruit, muesli, cereals... gah, I'll stop doing their marketing for them now.
|
|
456 posts
|
Post by mistressjojo on Aug 31, 2018 8:42:34 GMT
I think the Hub breakfast does vary with the location. I stayed at the one in Edinburgh and it was quite a small spread in the bar with a coffe machine and pastries.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 9:00:53 GMT
I think the Hub breakfast does vary with the location. I stayed at the one in Edinburgh and it was quite a small spread in the bar with a coffe machine and pastries. It does the Spitafields one is choice of say 2 things from the cafe and coffee while Kings Cross is a buffet so assume they all vary a little bit
|
|
3,080 posts
|
Post by Dr Tom on Aug 31, 2018 10:16:14 GMT
If it's outside of term times I always stay at one of the LSE properties. I second mistressjojo's LSE recommendation. Imperial College and King's also good options LSE Bankside is my "go to" place at the moment. Nice walk along the river and a choice of bridges to get to the theatre district. Really convenient for the National, Menier, Union, Old/Young Vic and a few others. And next to the Tate Modern if that's your thing. I've tried many of the other halls around London. Some others are okay, but that one wins out on price and location terms. The bathrooms are shared between two rooms at most (sometimes you get an en-suite) and there is a very good buffet breakfast. Will be a shame when term starts soon and they're no longer available. I'm currently working part of the week in London, but not enough days to move to London, so getting very familiar with the cheap options and how to make the most from them (the chain hotels just don't tend to price up as an option - although there can be good deals in the Docklands - and Croydon is direct on the train to the Victoria theatres if you're seeing Wicked, Hamilton or going to The Other Palace). There are also lots of very cheap hotels around Earls Court, which is just a few stops from the West End. Most of them are fine if you understand you're getting a small room which won't have had much money spent on repairing it and you just need somewhere to sleep. Earls Court is great for food and small supermarket options. With those, look at reviews to avoid the very worse, but take moans from people who don't understand what to expect from cheap hotels with a pinch of salt. I'd recommend checking for a private bathroom (some of those hotels only have about 1 bathroom per 20 guests - and lots of stairs to get to it and find it engaged) and don't assume any relationship between price and quality. There's very little between the £40 a night hotels (which might just be reduced as they have spare capacity that night) and the £100 a night hotels. You'll also often find a better deal if you're willing to change hotels based on which is cheapest on any given night (for Earls Court, I think it's a good idea not to stay more than 2-3 nights at the same hotel anyway - as at least then you're likely to get clean bed sheets). Final hint. Chain hotels, if you stay enough, get status with them and book direct for all kinds of perks. You can also get status and free nights (to use at a luxury hotel) by taking out credit cards. Non-chain (lower end) hotels. These always seem to end up cheapest booking through one of the main hotel sites. You can often get cashback and extra discounts too. I mostly use Hotels.com as it has a very good rebate scheme (works with many of the university halls as well, including the LSE ones), but you can sometimes save a bit more by checking the price aggregation sites. [disregard much of this advice if you're going for a romantic weekend - as opposed to just wanting somewhere acceptable and private to crash between shows/work etc]
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 10:49:34 GMT
Another vote for LSE Bankside. And the Kings College ones by the IMAX. If I’m travelling solo for work stuff (as in freelance/sh*t I don’t get paid for) those are my go to as well.
Student halls in general I’ve never had a “bad” night in. Sure it’s not the Ritz but they’re clean and well maintained. Also very safe with security and staff 24 hours. And usually a great deal.
|
|
230 posts
|
Post by hal9000 on Aug 31, 2018 10:56:52 GMT
Do Premier Inns/Travelodges tend to have minibar fridges?
|
|
3,080 posts
|
Post by Dr Tom on Aug 31, 2018 11:16:04 GMT
Do Premier Inns/Travelodges tend to have minibar fridges? No
|
|
18,889 posts
|
Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 31, 2018 11:17:00 GMT
You’ll be lucky to get a shortbread biscuit on the hospitality tray!
|
|
4,047 posts
|
Post by kathryn on Aug 31, 2018 11:24:57 GMT
I think the Hub breakfast does vary with the location. I stayed at the one in Edinburgh and it was quite a small spread in the bar with a coffe machine and pastries. It does the Spitafields one is choice of say 2 things from the cafe and coffee while Kings Cross is a buffet so assume they all vary a little bit Hotel breakfasts are a pain if you have dietary requirements because you can never be sure if you’ll be able to eat much or not, given the variations. . Especially buffets - the hotel I stayed in this week wanted £13 for the breakfast buffet. I ended up checking with the host what I could eat before sitting down: pastry, no; yoghurt, no, scrambled egg, no; what’s in the sausages? Do you have soya milk and non-dairy spread? In the end he waved me through and said to help myself to cereal, fruit and tea for no charge, since we worked out that was all I was going to eat and charging me £13 for it struck him as ridiculous. The cafes up the road were doing cooked-to-order breakfasts for about £6.
|
|
2,583 posts
|
Post by viserys on Aug 31, 2018 11:37:44 GMT
Do Premier Inns/Travelodges tend to have minibar fridges? No. Travelodges definitely not, Premier Inn I'm not sure but I don't think so. Travelodge is super-no-frills with minimal services (very cheap soap/shower gel/shampoo), free wifi limited to 30 minutes per day, no safe for valuables and just a few open hangers for your clothes. Once you know what to expect, you can prepare though, i.e. I make sure to take an extra lock for my suitcase to lock up my valuables when I leave the room and bring all my own toiletries. Premier Inns don't offer that much more, but the rooms feel a bit nicer/bigger/more upmarket and at least outside London they usually have a bath tub. As a foreigner I love the British obsession with tea as even the Travelodges come with a small kettle for coffee and tea (great for a first cup of coffee in the morning before I get going). The kettle is the one thing I miss at the Hub.
|
|
2,583 posts
|
Post by viserys on Aug 31, 2018 12:09:51 GMT
As a foreigner I love the British obsession with tea as even the Travelodges come with a small kettle for coffee and tea (great for a first cup of coffee in the morning before I get going). The kettle is the one thing I miss at the Hub. Hope you remember to boil a full kettle at least twice before making that first cup... and rinse the cups in the boiling water too . Um, not really... but I'm still alive and haven't grown a second head yet? But I'll keep in mind for the future
|
|
Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
|
Post by Xanderl on Aug 31, 2018 13:49:46 GMT
You’ll be lucky to get a shortbread biscuit on the hospitality tray! I love getting a shortbread biscuit on my hospitality tray #notaeuphamism
|
|
18,889 posts
|
Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 31, 2018 15:43:01 GMT
As a foreigner I love the British obsession with tea as even the Travelodges come with a small kettle for coffee and tea (great for a first cup of coffee in the morning before I get going). The kettle is the one thing I miss at the Hub. Hope you remember to boil a full kettle at least twice before making that first cup... and rinse the cups in the boiling water too . My mum had to give a urine sample to a visiting medic last week and as it wasn’t planned they were a bit stuck for equipment suitable for an elderly lady to “collect” it. So she grabbed this fancy, decorative teapot off her kitchen shelf and went to the loo. When she came out the nurse said (jokingly) “I hope you’re not going to make anybody a brew in that now!”. To which Mum replied “I’ll tell them it’s PG tips” 😆😆
|
|
97 posts
|
Post by aksis on Aug 31, 2018 20:54:42 GMT
I usually check booking.com and trivago.com depending on the company I will travel with and up to now we have been lucky. I think I enjoyed the Arosfa hotel in Gower street the most. I was by myself and the 1 person room was halfway the stairs. They used the space very well and the breakfast was good. I like to be able to have easy and quick access to central London.
|
|
196 posts
|
Post by rockinrobin on Aug 31, 2018 21:26:57 GMT
I have travelled to London for almost 15 years, every month or two. Never counted but I think I've stayed at approx. 50 hotels, hostels, B&Bs, serviced apartments - including some horribly dodgy places in Acton and near King's Cross when I was a poor student. I actually packed my stuff quickly and left a place once because I felt genuinely unsafe. But then, that's another story and another thread...
I'm team Premier Inn as well although I love last minute offers at Double Tree by Hilton or Radisson Blu in November or February (normally I can't afford them since I live on the continent, so I'm always chuffed to bits when I find a nice room for half price, and low season is actually a great time for theatregoing). I did use Airbnb a couple of times but it's not really my thing - the hosts were lovely but I just didn't feel comfortable. I'm getting older and I like my air conditioning, fresh linen, shower and the afore mentioned kettle. Strand Palace is also nice - ok, the rooms are small but the location!
|
|
2,974 posts
|
Post by crowblack on Sept 3, 2018 11:29:09 GMT
I've just noticed Virgin trains' website is showing nothing for December: "no tickets available" for randomly selected dates I've checked. I spoke to a man at the tickets desk in Euston a couple of weeks ago and he said the HS2 situation meant it was going to be problematic for a while - they don't really know what's happening. But it's something to bear in mind when booking ahead. I've got a few things coming up in Dec and Jan that might be difficult now.
Update - apparently there will be a timetable change but no info yet.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2018 20:54:34 GMT
Having stayed at the Stratford Premier Inn this weekend I can vouch for that one. Easy transport links (Central and Jubilee and overground) about 30 mins door to door for central London stuff.
It’s a bit tricky to find the entrance - it’s at the rear of the Westfield shopping centre-but can’t fault it for nearby amenities as a result. Also I enjoyed my first trip to Stratford-nice area to stay in, even had a Potter about the Olympic Park. (Before the West Ham fans invaded)
|
|
821 posts
|
Post by ensembleswings on Sept 3, 2018 21:07:13 GMT
Whenever I visit anywhere I tend to stay at a Travelodge. Cheap, clean and personal space are my only requirements and Travelodge hit them. The fact they also have a kettle in the room is a real bonus for me, saves me an small fortune with the amount of tea I drink on a morning. I used to switch between Premier Inn and Travelodge but PI just seem to be quite expensive for what it is these days. Also I never bother with breakfast in any hotel I stay at, always just go to a local cafe/McDonalds and grab something there.
|
|
2,706 posts
|
Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 3, 2018 22:01:37 GMT
Premier Inn for me as well, especially when I've got a London trip booked.
I'm very much a 'value for money' person and they have everything, food, comfort, quiet (nearly always). The air conditioning was a godsend during the awful heat in July and the breakfast is far too tempting and served at a humane hour.
One thing that keeps costs down is being willing to travel outside of Central London and further afield. Woking is usually very cost effective for example. I was just looking at a week for later next year and it's £100-£110 for three nights (without breakfast). Yes, you have to get train tickets but the travelcard will also pay for any tube travel. Less than 30 minutes from Waterloo with frequent trains.
Occasionally I've used London Travelodges, the one in Finchley was good when I stayed there.
In Stratford I tend to go very much out of season and have had a B&B all to myself!
I have difficulties with Edinburgh though as the prices are whacked up and VFM is difficult to find. I don't like traffic noise and B&Bs tend to stick solo travellers in rooms that are usually at the front and Edinburgh is full of main roads. If I've miscalculated I have an app on my ipad which creates white noise and so blocks out the noise. It's a constant sound so I get a good nights sleep! If anyone knows of the same on quiet roads with low costs then I'd love to know.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2018 4:27:35 GMT
Usually Travelodge here (but they can be depressing). Has anyone here used hostels ?
|
|
|
Post by kiwi on Sept 4, 2018 6:14:37 GMT
Has anyone here used hostels ? Ive stayed in 3 different hostels in London (Smart Russell Sq, Clink78 & Generator) You couldn't pay me to stay in Smart Russell Sq or Clink78 again. I really hated them. Generator is alright. If I was super tight for budget id probably stay there again.
|
|