Cheap hotels in London

So i wanted to do another post but about a more specific area of hotels. This time im going to talk about cheap hotels in central London and how you can find the ideal hotel for your needs right in the heart of the city. So one of the first things that you have to realise is that hotels in the centre are always going to be more expensive that the equivalent accommodation on the outskirts of the city. However with that being said it is possible to find cheap hotels if you know what to look for and you are prepared to prioritise the most important factors that you need in a hotel. However im not going to make you do all the work! Below im going to list a few hotels that are all considered budget but also right in the centre of London, hopefully there will be something to fit everyone’s needs here, wheather you are looking for the cheapest hotel possible or something more expensive:

• Washington Mayfair Hotel. According to google maps this hotel is just 0.7 miles from the geographic centre of London and that’s pretty close in my book. An average room is going to cost around £130 per night during the week. I know that may seem like a lot but you must consider that this is a 4 star hotel right in the middle of the main square mile of the city.
• Saint Georges Hotel. One problem i had when making this list was how to you classify weather a hotel is central or not. My main criteria was to keep the distance under a mile as im not sure if you can really call a hotel further than this central. Saint Georges is also 4 star and has all mod cons like WiFi and widescreen TVs. During the week the lowest you will get a room for is around £100 which i think is the cheapest i have found so far.
• Hotel Russell. Another 4 star hotel, are you starting to notice a theme here. The simple fact is that there are very few if any low grade hotels in the centre of London as it just wouldn’t be cost effective for them to run. However there are still good deals to be had as this hotel is around £110 per night during the week and closer to £140 during the weekend. Again it is a 4 star hotel that is AA attested so you cant really go wrong.

As you can see prices for the centre really are quite high when you compare London to other cities not just in the UK but all over the world. I suppose thats the price you pay for staying in one of the most popular tourist destinations and right in a prime location! Still there are some good deals to be found if you are prepared to look. As you can see one of the biggest factors is the time of week. The same room could be as much as 50% more expensive at the weekend compared the start of the week. You may also want to lower your criteria for what you consider central as i have stayed within the so called “Square mile”. At about 2 miles out you can expect much cheaper rates in places like Kings Cross and Marble Arch. When you think about it an extra mile if you are going to be taking a taxi isn’t really going to make that much difference. However i know for many people their main reason for wanting to be in the centre of the city is the special atmosphere that is found only there. There are also the views to consider too, as the skyline in the square mile is one of the best you can see.

So hopefully this provides just a small insight into finding the right hotel for your needs. I will hopefully be doing some most area specific posts for London soon so stay tuned! Also ive just finished another post on my Cardiff blog about central hotels if you want to check it out too!

read comments (0)

So you wont be surprised to hear that given the incredible heat wave in the city last week that more people than ever are now looking for cheap hotels in London and outside the city centre. With temperatures of up to a reported 34C in some areas of the city it’s not hard to see why people are still travelling from all over the world to experience the capital city in the high summer. Especially when you compare it with some southern areas of the continent such as Spain which reached a measly 24C! So with all of this in mind i thought i would take the opportunity to review another cheap hotel in the city. The hotel this time it is a 3 star visit Britain assessed hotel right in the heart of the city close to the Thames. Huttons hotel has recently been refurbished to a pretty high standard with a wide range of rooms throughout.

Apart from the location the other main factor is the price which the price as you can get a standard double for around £50 which for a hotel in this location is great. I know some people will still be discounting location as the most important factor when choosing budget travel accommodation but being 5 minutes from many of the main attractions in central London is a major bonus. Everything from the London Eye to the Houses of parliament are just a short walk away and as such you can expect to save a significant amount on both taxi and London underground fees. As always it does matter what dates you are booking for as room on Friday is going to be at least £20 more than the same on a Sunday but that is probably true of most hotels. I still don’t think many people understand the benefits of booking not just out of season for London but also at different times of the week as some of the price differences can be huge. London like many tourist cities is still thought of as a “weekend city” by most, in that the majority of people coming to the capital do so for the weekend. This goes for both foreign visitors and native Brits too. Staying from Monday to Wednesday can be much quieter as well as cheaper which may or may not suit your needs.

So anyway i got a little sidetracked but not for the first time! As mentioned before the price and location of this 3 star hotel right in the centre of London really is a rare bargain. Also as mentioned before it is visit Britain attested which does make a difference as you know there is some kind of independent assessment of the accommodation. So check out their site at www.huttonshotel.com if you are interested.

read comments (0)

Just a quick post with some of my favourite pictures from around the city. Enjoy!

read comments (0)

Ok so here at CheaphotelsinLondon i decided to list few tips that i have picked up on how to get cheap hotel deals in the city of London. I suppose the first point is quite obvious but it still has to be said. You need to check as many websites as possible and also the offline options. First stop should surprisingly be the actual hotel itself. It can be more difficult that it should be on some occasions to find the official hotel website these days as alot of the big sites such as Expedia and lastminute have individual pages for every hotel that they service. This can often mean that when you type the hotel name into google you are still getting the same travel comparison sites, however you will usually find them somewhere on the first page. Surprisingly alot of the smaller hotels may not allow you to book on their site so you will have to go the old fashioned way and pick up the phone. The success of this technique can vary but its worth keeping in mind that many hotels will have to pay the travel sites as much as 10% per booking so this is money that they could in theory give to you instead.

Its also worth trying to bargin a little to get the cheapest deal if you do get onto the phone with the hotel. A case in point is when a colleague was talking to Gainsborough Hotel in London and they managed to get the price down from £1,500 to £1250 which is quite a saving. However bargaining is not for everyone and in most cases is only successful with the smaller hotels. At the same time we are in the middle of the credit crunch and many hotels are desperate for guests so you could be surprised at the results.

Many of the bigger chains now have loyalty schemes which can allow you to make some very big savings right off the bat. The Hilton and Marriot are probably the best known and since these hotels are dotted right around the world there will be alot of opportunities to build up points. You may be thinking there will be no discount if you have just signed up but many chains will still give you a reduction for being a member of the scheme. For example when i rang up the Hilton in London kensington recently i got the standard “this is the lowest rate we have” but when i rang back and told them i was a “preferred guest” then i got almost £60 of the price of the room even though i hadn’t yet acquired any points on my card.

Just turning up at the reception desk and asking if there are any rooms available is something that most people have never done before. However there really is no shame in it if you want to get that cheap last minute deal on a hotel room. The trick with this is really timing, as i will explain. Many hotel managers will tell reception at about 5 in the afternoon how many empty rooms they have and how much they want to sell them for. For instance talking to a reception friend of mine recently she informed me that a room that was £105 before 5 can be as little as £65 after it. I suppose this is because the vast majority of people who book do so before 2 or 3 and so if they still have rooms left at this time they need to vastly reduce the price to get them to sell. Remember if there is no-one in the room then the hotel is losing money on it. Also note however that at the same time many hotels in London do look to exploit peoples desperation. They will usually put prices up from around 10pm to midnight as someone looking to book a room at this time probably doesn’t have alot of options left and is unlikely to want to wonder around the streets looking for a better deal.

So there you have it, my list of tips for finding budget and discount hotels which can really be used all over the world and not just in London!

read comments (0)

So yours truly here at cheaphotelsinlondon was thinking a bit today about the travel market and where it is in general. If you think back just 10 years ago the vast majority of people were still booking/organising their holidays through a vast network of high street travel agents. These shops in your local town or city were really your only option as far as booking a holiday or hotel. If we look forward today it seems like the market as done a complete u turn with the vast majority of trips are booked by people using the internet and booking the separate parts of the trip themselves with individual companies. Its rare now that people even think about a package deal when they just assume that they can get a much better price by cutting out the middleman and going direct to the hotel or airline. This doesn’t just apply to hotels in central London but hotels all over the world, indeed many hotels now report that were they used to deal only with travel agents they now work mostly with online hotel sites like Laterooms or lastminute.com. I suppose for them it doesn’t really matter who they are dealing with as they are paying commission to whoever sends them the booking. Makes me wonder why most hotels don’t spend more on a bit of marketing themselves, i suppose the smaller ones cant afford it but for the larger chains there really is no excuse. Alot are still stuck in a time warp and the internet just seems like a step to far. Eg many big chains in London are still pumping out brochures like its going out of fashion, i mean seriously who wants to order and wait for a brochure when you can just hit a website and find out all you need to know.

So do i think high street travel agents are all going to go out of business? Well not exactly, they can still offer some good deals especially if you have a big booking with a couple of rooms and a long flight. Its in these cases they can use the leverage with the chains to bring the price down. However at the same time you have to realise that they are not well placed for changes in the market (eg the current rescission) as their costs and overheads will be ongoing and constant no-matter the market conditions. Its much easier for a website to scale back on different expenses that a physical shop which will have rent and static staff costs. All this has led to a dramatic rise in internet bookings for cheap hotels in London over the past couple of years, even if it is primarily to check prices and compare hotels. For many its just an automatic thing now to use google or their favourite travel site to get the best deals that i don’t see how high street shops will ever come back. In fact i have found that its not just budget but also luxury hotels in London that have been affected by this shift in public habit. Many business people need to book a hotel with very short notice and as we all know the quickest way to book a hotel now is the internet, even the phone can come second place now as you have to spend so much time giving over personal details and the different room options. Why bother talking to someone on the phone or in a shop if you already know what you want and you can just pick it there and then right in front of you. I suppose we all still take it for granted but the idea that the customer would have access to so much information about a hotel would be crazy just a few years ago. Many sites now have every option possible when it comes to searching for a hotel, you can specify everything from non-smoking to if pets are allowed! I know for some this level of detail is too much but for others it’s a life saver, especially if you do have special requirements like travelling with young children or a disability.

Ok so im rambling a bit too much here i know but i do find it very interesting how the hotel market particularly in London city has changed and how people looking for the cheapest hotels now have the whole market laid right out in front of the them to choose from. As always my advice is to look around as much as possible before committing to anywhere, and the internet is making that easier than ever.

read comments (0)

Hostels are becoming a more attractive option for people these days instead of staying in a hotel. The price drops we have seen as far for hotel rooms in London is really quite astonishing bringing many cheap hotels into the range usually reserved for hostels. This makes staying in a good rated hotel an option now for many travellers who are visiting the city on a budget. This is not to say that many hostels also haven’t considerably increased their standards in order to compete.

Some hostels in London have had some very dramatic make-overs. Such as the YHA in central London which has had over £4 million spent on new decor and amenities for the guests. However with this being said im still a great believer in the benefits of a cheap hotel in London and the comfort and security that it can provide. For many having their own private room and space is a must and while a good 3 star hotel may be slightly more pricey than a hostel i think it is money well spent.

I don’t usually recommend 2 star hotels in the blog as i have often found that the price difference between a 2 star and 3 is quite small but the difference in the hotel itself could be much greater. However i am always looking for great deals and also hotels with character. The Lincoln House Hotel is certified by an outside agency which is always a plus as is still don’t trust self certified to a large extent. The unique thing about this budget hotel is its impressive Georgian architecture which really gives you a slice of authentic period London. Also the accommodation is situated under 2 miles from the city centre which is a huge plus for those wanting to explore the city. You are right beside Hyde park and very close the Piccadilly Circus and the west end.

The rooms are also well fitted out with en-suite and complementary WIFI access throughout. This place would primarily be thought of as a B&B in most scenarios but i wouldn’t let that put you off as the friendly service and homely atmosphere is something many of the larger hotel chains are sorely lacking. You also have many extras like satellite TV plus i am told the mediterranean breakfast is one of the best you can get in London.

For a single en-suite you can expect to pay between £60 - £70 and for a twin between £90 and £100. It is worth noting that compared to other cities London is still quite expensive and its worth keeping this in mind when you are trying to find a cheap hotel in the city as you should not get your expectations too high for price reductions. Hopefully ill have some great tips soon on how you can find the accommodation of your dreams within your budget.

read comments (0)