Hello,
I have secured plane tickets to travel to London (starting city for our 15 nights; we'll have 5-6 nights in London) in mid/late July of 2023. I am ready to start finalizing our itinerary/nights and to start booking our lodging.
We have a family of five, but the kids are teens, so really it's equivalent to five adults.
Itinerary: I am the only one of the five who's been to London before, so we'll be doing the typical touristy London stuff - Tower of London, theater one night at least, Westminster, St. Paul's Cathedral, etc. We may do a day trip (or two separate day trips) to either/both Harry Potter Studios and/or Highclere Castle.
Budget: I'm hoping to spend around 300 Pounds or less per night for our lodging, but could go up a little if necessary.
Must Haves:
- Safe, walkable area with good access to public transportation.
- Clean rooms!
- Air Conditioning (my husband and sons can't sleep if it's too hot)
- Two bathrooms and 3-4 decent beds (not pull-out sofas). My sons can share a double and/or queen if need be; they're still small males at this point. So we'd for sure need two hotel rooms, if we go that route.
- Good Cancellation Policy (I prefer to have cancellable reservations until 24/48 hours out, which probably eliminates apartment/short-term rentals, but I could reconsider this if need be). I am willing to pay more at hotels for a better cancellation policy.
My research/questions so far:
The Premier Inn chain looks pretty good for us and is right around my targeted budget for two rooms for 5-6 nights. The Travelodge looks like a possibility as well and probably cheaper, but I haven't researched this chain as much yet. Any other affordable chains that people recommend?
If we do the Premier Inn, the most affordable locations right now are Clapham, Tower Hill and Aldgate. Any thoughts on any of those locations and/or any other locations you'd recommend more that might be worth a slightly higher cost?
I did some practice bookings with the Premier Inn and was confused by their booking website. I put in my dates - for example July 18 (our arrival day) and then July 23 as our checkout date. When I looked at the price breakdown, however, they had the dates of July 17 to July 21 (but still five nights). Anyone know what's going on with that? Do we book dates differently for English hotels versus American hotels?
Premier Inn Bed Question: With our two rooms we should have a double or Queen in each. Then one of the rooms will be a "family" room with an extra bed. It looks twin size in the online photos, which is fine for my daughter. Sometimes they call it a "pullout" bed. Anyone have experience with the "extra" beds at the Premier Inn? Are they better than sofa beds? We just want my daughter to have a decent bed to sleep on.
How do I contact these places to ask questions like the above (#3 and #4)? When my husband and I last travelled to Europe a long time ago, we communicated with our lodging sites by email typically. But Premier only gives a phone number. Can I use my iPhone to call international from the United States? Husband researched our plan and it looks like we'd have to add international calling. We have T Mobile - any recommendations? $15 a month looks like their best option, which seems steep.
Thanks for your thoughts on any/all the above.