Made reservations for Aster House - my third trip to London!!

Dave.. just looked that place up.. looks very nice.. and very pricey! Let us know how it goes.. we are going next May and staying at the Celtic.. its a lot cheaper, but we stayed there two years ago and loved it.. great breakfast etc. Wish we could afford a place like the Aster house though!

Gets fairly exceptional reviews and in a nice part of town. You didn't say what time of year you'll be here, but hope you get some good weather. You're very close to the main museums there, and I'm not a museum fan, but check out the V&A if you haven't before... even I was impressed. Hope you have a great trip.

It may be more expensive because of the Rick Steves effect.

I think it was they who ran afoul of the VAT regulations not too long ago because they were quoting prices not including the 20% VAT which should be rolled up into the headline price. Be sure that their quoted rate is not rate plus VAT.

If there is no bacon... it's not breakfast.

Checking back with an archive version of their prices, they seem to have increased by around 10-13% since 2010. It seems a lot more since back then they were incorrectly advertising prices ex VAT.

No sausages either ...

Enjoy your stay at the Aster House. It's a wonderful property with the added bonus of having an ice machine. It has clientele from all over the world, whom you will be meet and converse with at their wonderful, tasty and filling breakfast. All hotels in The Smoke have raised their rates dramatically in the past couple years.

Quoting hotel prices as £x+VAT to the general public has never been allowable since the late 1970s. However, somehow it crept back into some hotels mainly in London who wanted to appear higher up comparison lists ordered on price than they should have. This gradually sucked in more and more as they saw their competitors doing it. Ridiculously this went on for years but was stopped by a single member of the public making a complaint, to the right place (as it happened about an IHG property) and everyone was pulled back into line as this had enormous publicity amongst the hotel sector.

Thanks All, for your replies. I know I will enjoy Aster House. Will be staying for 10 nights in November this year. I chose Aster House as a single traveler, they were able to offer me a very good discounted rate as an RS member (126 pounds per night including VAT for a single room). I considered a lot of other lower priced places, but none of them were in a location that pleases me as much as Aster House. And no bacon for breakfast isn't a deal breaker for me, I don't eat it much anyway. But I love the idea of a cooked buffet breakfast, just show up, grab a plate, get what you want and sit down to eat in the charming dining room. I figure there will be mornings when I have to leave early to catch a train to somewhere outside of London, and I'll have to skip the 8am breakfast included with my room. But knowing I have a comfortable room to return to, in a safe and quiet location, at the end of a long day, is a very good feeling! And the reviews seem to be unanimously good so that's something worth thinking about too. Will post more during my stay!!