To not understand why there are no 1x night a week City London sop overs more readily available?!

[citygal1986]

I travel to London for work once per week. I need a bed for a night. Usually work late, arrive back at 8pm or so, bed by 9pm, out the door early between 6-7am. I am at a loss at how to make this work logistically.

Pre-Covid, the Travelodge was great. £50-70 a night, sorted.

Now the TRavelodges are double that, easily. Usually more £150+ upwards. Isn't this a lucrative and fairly steady income market. Any suggestions from anyone that does this weekly?! I don't really fancy a shared bathroom, youth hostel or a shared apartment on an Air B & B. There must be alternatives...

I think you've just listed the alternatives to be honest.
What would you be looking for? Essentially a cheap hotel?

Well, pre Covid there was less Mon-Fri demand, but now with the rise in flexible/hybrid working there are more people just in 2 days a week who need a bed for 1 night. That’s why it’s gone up.

You might just need to widen your search/location and travel further out.

Easyhotel.com

Head to a bar, have a one-night-stand, and then head off early.

Simple.

From those alternatives I'd pick shared apartment on Airbnb. Sorry.

Or I'd look at an altered work arrangement.

That’s typically just the going rate now. I don’t stay in town but a lot of my colleagues do and it’s £130 if they got a very good deal.

Are you employed by a company? Can your company negotiate a rate with a hotel?
That’s what ours does, although it’s only about 10% off.

But the answer is yes, it is a lucrative market which is exactly why you don’t get a London hotel room for £50 a night.

Plus pancakes in the morning if you’re lucky.

Pancakes will be less likely these days though with cost of living crisis though :(

The Premier Inn Hub near Bank used to be pretty reasonable, although I haven't looked at it recently. You'd struggle to get a Travellodge around here for £50-70 even on a weekend now, and that includes the couple of really grim ones over near Aldgate/Tower Hill.

No central London hotel is going to be cheap though - the demand is there to the point that people/companies will pay whatever the price is.

Just went to check the place I usually stay for London overnights and it's about £100 a night now too.

Easyhotels (which were my bargain basement backup) have some for ~70 in a couple of locations when I just had a look - you'd have to not mind the bright orange everywhere, but cheap!

There are still cheap-ish hotels available under the £70 mark. I generally just book whatever booking.com has to offer, some of them are OK, others not so much but for 1 night I don't really care.

If its regular i would look at whether it would be cost effective to be a member of a club. I've stayed at the army and navy club which is cheaper than hotels because a friend is a member. I have no idea what it costs to join i should add! (But you don't have to be ex military)

wouldn't just traveling back after work make more sense or is it 3+ hrs?

OP, which side of central London do you work? If you're willing to travel out of the centre, you can still get Travelodges on a Wednesday night for £75 - £85 e.g. Ealing, Cricklewood, Finchley.

Doesn't work for either of my clubs, ggohmm! Both are more expensive than Travelodge albeit more comfortable. Hotels are all charging what the market will bear.

Well the OP put 'City London' in her title which I took to mean City of London/Square Mile, where I live and work. If that wasn't what she meant then yes, there are likely cheaper options out in the boondocks.

😂

Become an MP - all travel and accommodation paid for by tax payers and tax free too.

Covid is probably the main reason.

Costs have soared, especially electric and heating.
More people are hybrid working, which means staying in the city for an odd night (like you) and working at home the rest of the time. £150 on a hotel is still cheaper for most people than paying what they used to on a commute.

You can travel out but once you factor in trains I'm not sure it would save you much.

Are you able to book many months in advance? Certainly cheaper at Heathrow but a long trek.

Surely your employer pays

Combine this with the one night stand idea. Gold plated pancakes over looking the duck house for breakfast plus free wine from the subsidised bar!

Also, MPs are well kinky apparently 😉

You could contact Travelodge head office and ask for a corporate booking code. This would allow you to enter a code when booking to access an agreed fixed rate. Typically you would agree to X amount of nights per year in order to access the rate.

If you work for a massive organisation they may already have corporate rates agreed with certain chain hotels.

I would find a reasonable smaller chain hotel or independent through booking.com or similar, contact them and see if you can get a discount rate for an ongoing booking rather than treating each stay as a one off.

You might want to look at serviced apartments as well, they might be cheaper.

Now the TRavelodges are double that, easily. Usually more £150+ upwards

Indeed. I was shocked when I saw this. It used to be the budget option. Not any more it seems