Recommendations for mid-range hotels and B&B's in London

I wouldn't want to stay in an unairconditioned hotel in London in June. Odds are you'd be fine, but what if you weren't? A few years ago I very nearly needed air conditioning in June in Edinburgh, so I'm gun-shy about this.

I haven't stayed at any of the places you're considering--I stay in cheaper places than you're looking for or in Premier Inns, so I have no personal experience to call upon, but I don't think any of your three possibilities for the first part of the trip can be counted on to provide an airconditioned room. Now, I got this info by Googling, so it may not be totally reliable; you definitely should verify with the hotels themselves. Google says the Celtic Hotel and the Vancouver Hotel and Suites aren't airconditioned and only some of the rooms at Hotel 63 are so equipped.

One reason I so often recommend Premier Inns when people are traveling to London in the summer is that most of them have a/c when many other places in their price range do not.

acraven, Thank you very much for raising such valid points. I did not realize these properties do not have airconditioning. However, looking at the temperatures in London for the whole month of June, I would say it's still cool by my standards. The temperatures are similar to where I live at around this time (late April to early May). We can comfortably sleep by just opening the windows. I think we will require airconditioning if temperatures are already above 30°C/85°F.

I stayed at the Vancouver hotel and studios a few years ago. The photos look as though it’s been spruced up a bit since then. I found it fine, but didn’t get a sense of it being family run or particularly homely. I remember it as a small(ish), inexpensive (for London) hotel in a decent location but nothing special. To be honest on your budget I would go for Premier Inn every time. Clean, comfortable beds, good showers, and usually air conditioning.

I don’t think you’ll notice that much difference in hotel level for the extra £50 a night you’re willing to pay for part 2. For a 6 night stay I wonder whether an apartment-hotel might be a better bet. I know you want family run but in central London I’d be worried that ‘family run’ and under £250 a night is advertising code for a ‘a bit cheap, tatty and run down’.

I’d love to be proved wrong and someone comes up with a hidden gem for that price in London in June…….

Edited to add that I’ve just seen The Resident offers a 5 nights for the price of 4 deal. Might that make it a better deal for all 6 nights? Although their rooms looks pretty similar to, but much much smaller than a Premier inn, and it doesn’t look family run either either with hotels in several cities.

Thanks, Skyegirl, for the comment. I'm having a tough time looking for nice, family-run accommodations in London compared to Rome and Madrid where I can easily find TONS of them. Considering that Bath has a nice range of B&B's/small hotels, I guess London isn't really the best place to look for something "homely."

By the way, the £250 budget is not a strict cap and I'm willing to increase it further to £280, but so far, The Resident Victoria has a £259 double room so it works perfectly in my case.

I know you want family run but in central London I’d be worried that ‘family run’ and under £250 a night is advertising code for a ‘a bit cheap, tatty and run down’.

I 100% agree with this. I stayed a couple of nights at Vancouver Suites, and liked it, definitely one of the better budget choices, but my single room (with cooking facilities) was on the 4th floor and the final two flights of stairs were so steep and narrow that I actually needed to use hands as if it was a ladder. The hotel was generally pretty friendly but I nearly broke an ankle getting downstairs with my luggage. No lifts, of course. I’m pretty fit, incidentally, if a bit clumsy.

The front desk people were friendly and did say I could ask for help, but I was leaving to catch a Eurostar at stupid o’clock and I didn’t want to wait for someone to help with my luggage. But to be honest the friendliness of a front desk can only go so far to make a hotel worth staying at.

In my old working life I had to find London hotels on a budget and after a few too many “quirky” family-run hotels in the under £250 bracket, I very happily switched to Premier Inns for reliability, lifts and better room size.