London airb&b worthy on this kind of trip?

Please delete one post. You have posted the same thing twice.

Sorry, I hadn't notice it .

Are the 6 people traveling together couples? Personally I would look at hotels (as per the suggestions in your General Europe thread) or spend a little more money for an Airbnb. Two real bedrooms and one shared bath for 6 people isn’t easy. In all of the pictures and descriptions of your 3 choices, 2 people are going to be sleeping on something in a common open living area with their suitcases taking up some precious floor space.

We are a group of close friends. My husband and I and four female friends.
Sorry for having two similar (identical!) threads. I was reccomended to put it under the relevant country and I felt bad deleting the first one with the comments that people have taken the time to write.

Important things to consider the ones that you mention, Mona. Thank you!

All three are lovely apartments, but are your four friends all comfortable sharing beds? The sleeping arrangements appear to be three double beds in each flat, and one of the beds is a sofa bed in the common area (living room). In other words, no privacy.

All three appear to be in or near the area known as Shoreditch, north of the City of London. It is a trendy, lively neighborhood, with cool bars and restaurants, but not the best for seeing the tourist attractions. And I hope someone who knows that area better than I will chime in, but I’d say connections to and from your airports are not good. The first one can be reached from Heathrow by the Piccadilly line (tube) with a single change at Kings Cross to Old Street, but I don’t know about the other two. And I have no idea how you would get to Gatwick, which is served by train into London, arriving at either Victoria Station or St. Pancras/Kings Cross (or is it Euston?)

With such a sort time in London (one full day) I suggest you pick someplace more easily reached from the airports, and closer to the main things you wish to see in London.

Thank you Lola for the great information!
I'll adjust our plans. Thank you very much!

With that little time in London, I’d just pick a hotel. Why mess around with key pick up and drop off and the slight chance something could go wrong. And, it’s easy enough to find 3 rooms at a hotel in a good London location.

I recently returned from the UK. Last year I traveled to Rome and Naples. 95% of the time I use a vacation rental for lodging; Airbnb being one of the places I look to find something suitable. We personally like to be away from the built up areas where the hotels are. Plus we find it more relaxing to be in a home-away-from-home atmosphere at the end of a day of touring. But I have yet to do a vacation rental that is less than two nights. Hotels are more suitable for overnight type stays.

I would suggest that you can find a larger house, duplex, or cottage that will nicely accommodate 6 people for less costs than a hotel for that many if you move out west of Heathrow. Our last stay was in one such place that had 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths and only 20 minutes west of Heathrow. As the Brits say "it was lovely". It was EZ to get into London centre by train as well as dropping of the rental car at Heathrow.

It is my preference to have a vacation rental owner meet me because I can ask questions about the place and they are a source of info that helps refine my local tour plans. But I've never had a problem with a lock box. Just make sure they give you the exact location of it. It probably won't be fun looking for it should you arrive in the dark. Also please be aware that if you wish to have an owner meet you, then you must do them the courtesy of giving them a good estimate of your arrival time. That can sometimes be difficult with air travel not knowing the delays involved in getting through an international airport. I use a Wi-Fi based cell phone app called WhatsApp to communicate with owners for that purpose. It's free international calling. You can Google it to find out more.

Please know that doing a rental car pick up at one location and drop off at another isn't an expensive deal like in the US. I paid less to pick up at Gatwick and drop off at Heathrow than I would have if the location was the same.

Speaking of driving, I did that in Naples. What a zoo; especially, in a round about. I asked a local about why no one obeyed traffic signs. Their response was "Oh, those were left over from the Roman Empire. We don't use them".

I flew British Air and was not all that pleased. They changed planes twice and both times cancelled out my paid for seat assignments. I could not get new ones until 24 hours prior to check-in. It was an unpleasant hassle getting them to reassign my group of four so that we could sit together. They worked it out to my satisfaction, but nonetheless it was a chore for me.

Viajes seguros.

To add to the previous poster, however, the possibilities of things going wrong with meeting a person for an air bnb rental are huge. We had three air bnb rentals in Greece and had difficulties with 2/3 of them meeting up with a specific person. Only hassle free rental was the one where we got the key from the restaurant below the apartment.

I like key boxes for these reasons!

Beth

I strongly support Lola's suggestion of a hotel for your brief time in London. Why spend precious time figuring out how things work in an apartment, looking for groceries and supplies even if all you want is breakfast in? I can't tell you how many times we've hit a rental with insufficient toilet paper or some other critical component missing! You only have two nights. Get a place that serves breakfast and devote your time to London.

FWIW, 2-to-3 nights we ALWAYS do a hotel or B&B. For 4 nights, we'll do an apartment if we've been in the town before and know our way around and what the apartment has to offer. For 5 or more nights we will take an apartment so we do not have to eat in restaurants all the time. For less time it is not worth outfitting an apartment with items you need that they may not supply.

Thanks to all of you!

I would suggest that you can find a larger house, duplex, or cottage that will nicely accommodate 6 people for less costs than a hotel for that many if you move out west of Heathrow. Our last stay was in one such place that had 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths and only 20 minutes west of Heathrow.

This is NOT what you want to do for your first trip to London, and when you have only two nights there.

With the # of adults traveling together and your very short stay, you need to do what Lola, Dale, and Laurel have suggested: find a hotel and don't mess with the AirBnB.

You are really only going to have about a day and a half in London, so just get a centrally located hotel. I think airbnb is inconvenient when you have a short stay. You have to arrange to meet the owner and then you usually can’t leave your luggage after checkout time.

Friday - By the time you get into London, it will be around 6pm. With a hotel, you won’t have to coordinate your meetup time with the owner.

Sunday - You will need to leave London around 3 to head to Gatwick. Since many of the sights open later on Sundays, there won’t be a lot of time to squeeze things in. With a hotel, you can just ask the front desk to hold your bags after checkout and swing back by the hotel on your way to the airport.

Booked three rooms in a very well reviewed hotel very, very close to Victoria Station. I really appreciate your help and opinions.

I think that that will work out well for you.

hi Veronica
so happy you got the hotels rooms, one less “where”, two more to go. Beer or gin&tonic at a local pub for you all. tally ho
aloha

I stayed near Victoria station when I was in London a little over a day. We were able to see an amazing amount just the same.

Beth