Hotel Recommendation: London

Premier inn Waterloo or Premier Inn County Hall. Great location, clean , affordable.

We stayed at Park Plaza London Waterloo and liked it. Seemed like a good location, easy to get to stuff on foot or tube connections. Good selection of restaurants in the neighbourhood. Would stay again.

The County Hall area was very convenient for me--even more than I thought it would be after reading the positive comments on this forum. I would not, however, call the area at the front of the hotel "pretty". It's very near the Waterloo train station and has a lot of commercial development. The back of the building faces the river, and there's nice walking there. Still, if it's important to you to have the Olde England feel in your immediate surroundings, I fear you will be disappointed. I don't know that the Blackfriars location is better. It would probably be a good idea to go to Google Maps and use the Earth view to see what you think.

It is probably not within your budget, but if you want a pretty hotel in a great location, it would be hard to beat St. Ermin's, an historic hotel very close to Westminster Abbey, but not on the busy street:

https://www.sterminshotel.co.uk

Lots of history---Winston Churchill set up the SOE (Special Operations Executive) there in 1940 and they had a floor in the hotel. MI6 was there as well:

https://www.sterminshotel.co.uk/about/our-history/

They have a family room that sleeps five, and has two bathrooms. But I agree with Emma that you really need two rooms to be comfortable.

We visited London in October 2019 and found the Sanctuary House hotel a wonderful place. It's actually around the corner from the St. Ermin's mentioned above, but a bit less expensive. It's located just a few blocks from Westminster Abbey and Parliament and two short blocks from the St. James tube stop (a two minute walk) and not far from the Westminster tube stop. Buckingham Palace is a short walk as is the Victoria Station. It's got an 18th century feel on the outside and in fact the first floor is a pub frequented by local workers before heading home - great place for the 20 somethings to hang out. The food in the pub is 'meh', but if you're tired and don't want to trudge around it's fine. There are also quite a few pubs nearby that seem to also cater to happy hour workers. I've stayed in several neighborhoods in London on previous trips and this was the best location for us.

Sanctuary House is a good idea ( we have stayed there several times, once with our 2 daughters). The problem is all of their rooms have a 2-person maximum, so they would need to book three rooms.

Your responses have been very helpful. I took a piece of advice from each person who commented. Now a new question, what are you thought on the location of the Doubletree by Hilton at Hyde Park? I found a reasonable rate there.

I loved the looks and reviews and location for The Sanctuary House, however, sadly they do not have any availability left for my dates in May. They do offer a roll-in bed if you have a family of 3 - but can only do so in the Standard rooms. Hopefully this info helps someone.

I took your advice here and Google Earth'd the two hotels I have on hold. Not exactly what I was thinking and not neighborhoody at all. I will hold on to the reservation at the Park Plaza County Hall in case you fine folks tell me to forget about the Doubletree by Hyde Park.
Thank you also to the person or two who suggested we forgo the family room. After taking your thoughts into consideration, I do believe you are 100% right. This will be the final leg of a rather long trip and everyone will probably relish some extra space.

Thanks again!

OK, I know you said you did not want an Airbnb, and I understand that. But what about a service apartment in an “apartment hotel” with reception desk? The Marlin Apartments Queen Street has 2-bedroom, 2-bath apartments with sofa bed in the living room to sleep 5. The location is great—-a few blocks from St. Paul’s and the Millennium Bridge (with Globe Theater and Tate Modern across the river); tube stop at Mansion House is even closer. The building is on a quiet side street but offers easy access to the No. 15 bus which will take you past several iconic sights to Trafalgar Square, or to Tower of London in the other direction.

https://www.marlin.com/queen-street.html

We really like this location and will be staying there ourselves later this month (if we keep our trip plans).

Prices in May look to be 300-400 GBP most nights in May for this larger 2-bdr. Apartment. (There is a 10% off promotion going on right now, which might reduce that). You could make some meals “in” and save money on restaurants.

My mom and I just came back from several days at the Copthorne Tara hotel in Kensington. It was a nice hotel and the location was great, five minutes from High Street Kensington underground and lots of shops and restaurants on Kensington High Street.

We’ve stayed in many parts of London and each has its pluses and minuses. We really like the area around the County Hall. We stayed at the Premier Inn section of what is a huge building. The Premier Inn side doesn’t have a view. I believe the Park Plaza is on the river side, which is just across from Parliment.

Please don’t drive yourself crazy trying the pick the “perfect” hotel. Wherever you pick will be close to some of the sights you want to see, and not so close to others. But, it’s a city with an excellent transportation system, an abundance of pubs and restaurants, and stays lively all nights for the 20 yr olds.

Unless Google Maps is lying to me, the Park Plaza County Hall is not on the river and is not in the same building as the Premier Inn County Hall. It's across York Street to the east, sort of beyond the Premier Inn Waterloo. There are several buildings between it and the river, so I'm not sure it's going to afford river views.

Acraven - you’re correct and my mistake for confusing it with the Marriott property. I still think it’s a great location.

I do think you may be overthinking this. Public transportation in London is wonderful; it's unlikely you'll be very far from a Tube or bus stop, unless you head out into the suburbs. And as you said, you're not likely to want to spend much time lounging around the hotel.

Clean, safe, and convenient would cover most, if not all, of the hotels mentioned here. We happen to like Bayswater, but I would think any area in London would have nice choices. Our favorite hotel is a bit, ummm, basic, for most tastes, but there are nicer hotels in the area. The Phoenix Hotel is just down the block from our cheapie; it's on Kensington Gardens Square just north of Hyde Park, and has a/c, an elevator, a good breakfast, and a comfortable lounge. (It's the sister hotel to the one we stay in, so we're familiar with the amenities. Love the breakfast!)

Thank you all! I am checking into each property suggested in the posts since I last responded. I am most certainly overthinking this!!

We stayed in Novotel Waterloo, the hotel is within walking distance of the Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We paid just 80GBP per night for a double room with a breakfast in January (Black Friday 40% off offer).