Hello! I'm planning a trip to London for my mom, aunt and myself in mid-April. While I know it would be nice to have 2 separate rooms, it's a bit more practical for our travel budget to share a room. (We would rather have more money for activities!) Any suggestions of rooms with perhaps a double bed and twin, or 2 doubles? I've stayed at an IBIS there before, but it appears that they only allow maximum 2 adults in 1 room.
Thanks! :)
What degree of luxury are you looking for? If you are looking for a basic hotel (exceptionally clean, friendly, close to public transportation) but in no way luxury, think about the Luna Simone (frequently mentioned on these boards). We stayed in a room with 3 single beds. It was small, but not crowded. The price was very reasonable for London and included breakfast. I like the Victoria area. However, if your mother and aunt have trouble climbing stairs, this may not be for you. We were only one flight up, but other rooms involve climbing multiple sets of stairs. There is no lift.
I will look into that, thanks! Nothing too luxurious because our budget won't accommodate it. :)
Sheena.. don't bother with being delicate about it,, just state budget.. London has kicked my butt budget wise. I asked for hotels with rates under 100 GBPs ( on several forums)and got many suggestions but when I entered my dates was getting rates up to double what folks recalled paying!! London is so expensive.. got a room in Paris for same dates for 100 EUROS.. but with London I had to up my budget a bit to get what I wanted ( which is only clean and central with ensuite.. not fancy!)
I am staying at two places ( we are doing London twice) .. and haven't stayed at either before so only going by reviews and photos taken by other visitors, but both seem ok.
The Albany Hotel. It does have triples. but it also has some rooms with shared facitilites.. all the rooms are different so you have to be specific. I got a large double with ensuite for 105 GBPS a night , a deal for July ! I also rented Studios2Let( the one on North Gower ST) .. abit more but has small kitchenette where we can at least make breakfast so that saves money there!
Good luck .. its not easy but you may hit it lucky.
We stayed at the Premier Inn in Kensington last June. We had our 2 granddaughters with us, so we did get two rooms (which included a Queen bed and a twin, but not sure if they will allow 3 in the room, though there is space). I am told they have family rooms there. The rooms were 100 pounds a night - air conditioned, elevator, 1 block from tube station.
Welcome Sheena,
dont put blinders on when it comes to travel. think outside the box or be open to suggestions. As you mentioned you want to have more $$ for activities - so do I!.
ALso, as Pat says, say what your budget is. It can be a range too.
Look at what it will cost for getting singes or a single and a double or an apartment.
Look at the London school of economics. They have some apartments for rent. I personally havent checked prices or anything like that, but im going to this year. They even have dorm rooms for rent too. If you can get 3 single dorm rooms for < 300 USD/nt how does that look?
in any case, look at all thats out there. if staying in a dorm isnt appealing, then look at the other options including paying more.
happy trails.
I just researched budget hotels in London for a mother-daughter Quartet. Came up with one of the London School,of Economics places, with double e suite rooms at £84, and a boutique B&B B, Georgian House Hotel. They chose the latter for its charm.
http://www.georgianhousehotel.co.uk/
Rooms for three ( one double bed and one twin) run. £155 to £ 180 midweek, including breakfast.
I believe the well-regarded Premier Inn chain has triples,,but Imdid not check. ,love the location of Premier Inn County Hall, just across Westminster Bridge from Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
@Sasha - we stayed in the Georgian House Hotel a few years ago. Friendly and cheap but not quite as charming as the pix on their website made out. They may have upgraded since then. It was definitely a good experience, though. And you cannot beat the location.
Sheena - Another option is to stay a bit further out of town. We just got back from London a few weeks ago. We'd decided to stay at the Marble Arch Gloucester Hotel - it's a few blocks from the Baker Street tube stop, in Marylebone, and we had stayed there twice before - but this year, rates were higher than we wanted to pay (even though they are still very reasonable).
Since this trip we wanted to go CHEAP, we looked further out of town and ended up staying at the Holiday Inn Express in North Acton. It's about 15 minutes from the center of the city on the Northern Line of the tube. Right on the border of zones 1 and 2. Easy peasy to get to.
We used booking.com (I think!) and got a rate of 100 bucks a night - wow! There is a wonderful FREE breakfast buffet, which saved us a lot of money - and a Tesco Express across the street, which similarly saved us a bunch.
The hotel seems to cater to families - there were lots of groups of people including adults in a range of ages, plus kids (or not). In other words, I would bet you could get a room for the three of you. It is spotlessly clean and has fresh, modern furnishings.
You also might check on the aforementioned Marble Arch Gloucester Hotel - they have a main building with regular hotel rooms and an annex in an adjacent building, which features big rooms that have kitchenettes. Plenty of room for three people in one of those.
They are frequently running deals on their own website - and are amenable to a call to negotiate prices. We would normally have stayed there, but as above, this trip was all about saving money in London.
Have you checked out apt rentals with airbnb? I just did a quick check and not knowing how many nights, just plugged in Apr 15-19, 3 people, entire apt and it shows 50 diff rentals under $130 a night - that's dollars, not pounds, (and Canadian dollars too - I didn't change it to US dollars).
(for the record, $130 can $ = approx. 75 GPB = approx. $120 US).
Now, you aren't going to end up right in the middle of London, but there could be some good spots close to public transport...and I've used airbnb in France, UK, Italy, California and Boston and I love it!
I'd say that we're probably looking to spend between 100-120 GBP per night. My mom will definitely want a bathroom ensuite. I'll check into the suggestions, thanks!
As for our dates, we're looking at April 16-20th.
I second the recommendation for Premier Inn. They have family rooms that would easily accommodate 3 adults. My favorites are at County Hall and Waterloo but I'm sure all the central London ones are good. Comparable to a Hampton Inn here in the US. Good prices, always very clean, and great deals on a full English breakfast.
Try the Columbia Hotel, Lancaster Gate - they do have triple rooms and are affordable. I've stayed there solo many, many times. Right across from Hyde Park, near several bus stops as well as Lancaster Gate tube (central line) and an easy walk to Paddington Station. Excellent hotel and staff. Judy, Perkasie, PA USA
My huband, adult daughter and I are going this summer.
We are staying here in one of the Triple rooms (3 twins, bathroom en suite).
http://www.limetreehotel.co.uk/rates.php
