Shocked at price of London hotel rooms?

[antelopevalley]

I was thinking of organising a weekend away just for DP and me in London. But I am totally shocked at the price of hotel rooms. We would semi-regularly do this before the pandemic, but prices have soared since then. No way am I paying nearly £200 a night for a Travelodge room.

It’s all really changed. Tbf the hotels cost have risen with inflation and higher wages - but not by that much. There’s just massive demand for travel.

Unfortunately, businesses and individuals are now suddenly realising that they can actually go without expensive hotels. Prices are unlikely to drop, but lots of hospitality venues will go to the wall if we go into recession.

I've booked a night in August for husbands 40th it was £209 but it's a 5 star with spa. I was looking and travelodges where like £170!

Never stay at the premier inn at county hall, it’s a rip-off. Instead stay at the Travelodge London Waterloo, it’s five minutes from Waterloo station and it’s often a lot cheaper

Premier inn at Wembley is always my go to. Always cheap (unless theres a big event on) and cracking transport links.

We stayed a couple of months ago for a special treat occasion and the nice soho hotel I used to stay in pre-pandemic had gone from £350 for 2 nights to £700!! Managed to find an almost-comparable hotel In Kings X on Secret Escapes (the standard) for £500, but it still felt like such a huge whack and if it hadn't have been such a special weekend I would have sacked the whole thing off.

Look at Citizen M hotels, quirky rooms, great locations, very comfortable beds, hotel bar and restaurant are nice and not extortionate.

I paid almost £300 for LINCOLNSHIRE! I live in London and even I was shocked.

I agree. I used to be able to get a hotel room easily for under £100. Now I struggle to get that with premier inn even. It is possible if you book early and are canny but much harder than it used to be.

But then I used to get to London and back from Newcastle on the train for £20 so I do remember when it was properly cheap too. I just don't go to London as often now.

The premier inn at ? Smithfield is where their execs stay for meetings. So is much nicer

We go to London every 6 weeks, and stay at Premier Inn KX. £380 for 2 nights midweek and that was booking 2 months in advance

I stay at Premier Inn a lot and where I used to pay around £150 a night for various central London hotels it's now £200. The even bigger hike has been the airport hotels, we used to pay £40-£50 for one of the Heathrow PIs and it's easily double that. Every time.

I recently went to Edinburgh. Reduced my time there because hotels and AirBnBs had risen in price extortionately. I've been booking the same/similar places there for years and a bit of a rise is normal. What's happened recently isn't.

Definitely Premier Inn Hub booked in advance. So reasonable for London.

London hotel rooms are highest since about 2011

in many boroughs Airbnb is luckily highly restricted and so by renting one you may be supporting breaking the law. It is 90/120 days a year and not at all in ex LA and many private blocks

Yes, we used to stay regularly at the Hilton Canary Wharf on a weekend. Was around £150 for a family of four. Has now more than doubled. We won’t be going back unless the prices decrease. We only live 40 miles from London so can travel home.

Hi OP can I join? Also hoping to do an over night in London before Christmas with DH and DD. She's now at the age where sleeping on the pull out coach in a double room doesn't cut it (very tall) so we've the joy of having to pay for a room bigger than we need to all be comfortable

Saving so many of these reccs!

We got a central London premier inn for about 80quid a night but booked about 9 months in advance and are staying midweek. I remember when that was their standard price!!

There’s a staffing shortage in hospitality so many employers have having to pay more to attract and retain them. I think it’s great if they’re finally getting a bit more pay for a tough job.

It's summer, it's London, there's inflation. Prices have gone up massively for the summer season - I stay in London every week and have had to decamp to a distant Travelodge.

Either wait until it's out of peak season, or book in an outer borough near a station and travel in.

Avoid the St Giles Hotel. Stayed there twice and both times it smelt of sewage

If you can go midweek and book in advance it makes it a lot cheaper. Saturdays are by far the most expensive.
Try looking on groupon for London hotels and seek out the leonardo ones - booked in advance on a Sunday or midweek they are as little as £105 for a lovely hotel with pool access. I stayed at the Tower Bridge one with an amazing breakfast included for £145 on a Friday night (for 2).

It's worth having a look at Secret Escapes. They have loads of London deals.

Not just London - we need to stay in Newcastle in October, granted it's a Saturday night but omg, the prices, even for Travelodge/Easy hotels. Premier Inn is extortionate.

you could try a snooze box (called box for a reason, they're small!) in London.
Ensuite, double bed towels. Most locations are adults only, couples. They're very small, no family rooms.
Everything you need to explore London, unless you want to spend a lot of time in
your room. Which most of us dont. Stay at
snooze box olympic park and you're right next to the Abba Arena too (best concert ever!)

snoozebox.com/

Yes. I’ve done a hub. Liked