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Family of Four, Hotel Occupancy question

Hi Everyone,

Just starting to plan a trip to London/Ireland in July or early August and have a question about hotel occupancy in London. We are a family of four - mom, dad, son- age 18 and daughter - age 16. When looking into hotels, is it common to find a room with two double or queen sized beds or should we consider two rooms. Ideally, we would like to spend $350 or less per night, so multiple rooms would affect our budget.

Thanks!

Posted by
2688 posts

You can certainly find family rooms in some properties - and they can have 3 or even 4 beds. Not sure how many nights your city stays are, but you might want to consider an apartment if you're staying a few nights in each city. You'll get way more room and you can definitely come in under your budget.

Posted by
533 posts

Many hotels in the UK have rooms that sleep four. You're likely to see them called "family" rooms, and they often have one double bed and two single beds, rather than two doubles. Here is one example from a budget hotel in London (click on "family" for a picture of the room):
http://www.hotelmeridiana.co.uk/W/meridiana/Rooms
(I don't have any connection with this hotel - I just stayed there once, and it was an example that came to mind.)

Posted by
2 posts

Fantastic - thank you both, I'm sure this is the first of many questions (after using the search button of course). Right now, I am planning a week in England - not sure if we will use London as our base or break it up into two different areas. I may look into Airbnb as well.

Posted by
2688 posts

So here's an example of an apartment that's well within your budget. It's in West Kensington. I've actually stayed in their 2 BD unit, which is pricing out at 211 GBP per night on some random August dates I put in. That's 305 US per night. It's quite a large unit. There's a master in the bigger bedroom and two twins in the smaller bedroom. There's a nice outdoor patio, a big living room and a kitchen. Here's the property name: http://www.castletownhouse.co.uk.

Posted by
533 posts

Obviously this depends a lot on where you want to go and what you want to see in England, but I'd definitely at least consider staying outside of London for part of your trip. London hotels - especially ones that are well-located for day trips outside London - are expensive. Your budget is generous enough that you should still have plenty of options, but you can almost certainly save money and get a nicer room if you stay almost anywhere else.

Posted by
889 posts

I like to get one room for my family of 4 (2 teens). Usually the room is a double and 2 singles or a double and a bunk. It takes some looking. As I recall, family rooms at Premier inn have an age limit so won't work for your older teens. Travelodge did not have a limit. Don't quote me on that! My memory isn't perfect!

RS guidebook usually indicates if there are quads which will save you time.

Posted by
23642 posts

Rooms in Europe (including England) are almost always priced per person as opposed to the common practice in the US of being priced by the room. The typical US room with two queen beds is not common in Europe. SO, be very specific about your rooms needs and that it include two, almost adult, children. Don't expect to book a double and show up with four people. You could be denied a room in that situation.

Posted by
2305 posts

Once you fix your date, run it through the Premier Inn website and see what kind of rates you get. Their County Hall and Waterloo locations are convenient to transport options and seemused by lots of UK families. In our experience, UK beds are smaller and while a property ( AirBnB, VBRO)may say it sleeps 4, it may not sleep 4 adults comfortably. You may want to ask for dimensions to guarantee it will fit.

Posted by
1829 posts

Some Premier Inns have connecting double rooms which means that you get the advantage of two bathrooms!