London with Kids - Premier Inn Kensington??

[scotgirl]

So October half term - we're in Scotland, so week before England.

Planning on vising relatives west of London and popping in for 2 days midweek. I am lucky, I get a weekend on my own every 6 months or so in London (and used to live there) so not bothered about doing too much.

Kids are little, 3 & 5 and I want to be realistic. Thinking Museums/ Kensington Gardens one day and maybe Aquarium/South Band the next and that is it!

The next 2 days will be at Legoland, so don't want to exhaust them. Buckingham Palace et al would be meaningless for them at this age.

So looking for decent priced family room near South Ken. The only thing that is not £500+ for the 2 nights is the Premier Inn Kensington (£225 - still really pricey) (short bus ride taxi from museums).

Anyone got any opinions or a better place to stay? Spend hours last night on this and my head is done in! Price of hotel rooms is a bit shocking!

We stayed at the Park Plaza Westminster which was fab. We got a deal for around £175 a night. Great rooms for families as they have a small living room with tv which there is a sofa bed for the kids. Breakfast was included and there is a pool which ds loved. I snook off for a massage.

Have you tried lastminute.com top secret hotels? There are websites which will tell you which hotel meets the description so you DO know before you book! I have just booked a two nights in a 5* hotel in Leicester Square for £250 less than the hotel's own website rate (and that was their early booking deal) AND I also emailed the hotel directly after booking and got a free upgrade! Booking.com also has some good deals.

I second piellabakewell's suggestion. I've used the Top Secret Hotels option on lastminute.com about three or four times - it is usually a Holiday Inn or a Hilton - so it's bog-standard, middle of the road stuff, but usually beats most of the 'budget' hotels in the area you're looking in, many of which are simply horrendous.

A lot of the budget ones are awful. And every travelodge I've stayed in for London stays have also been beyond basic - grotty and uncomfy.

Premier inns are usually okay. I've stayed in a couple around hampsted/belsize park and been pretty pleased - check trip advisor for some reviews before you book somewhere as they're more often than not pretty accurate.

Thanks for the ideas. The Premier Inn seems to do okay on trip advisor. I just resent having to spend that much on a Premier Inn iyswim - would rather pay a bit more and stay somewhere nicer.

Will check out the secret hotels too. The problem I'm having is that lots of sites down allow you to search for a family room and most hotels don't seem to cater for 2 beds.

I normally stay with my mate in South London (not enough room for all of us though unfortunately) so this is all new to me!

Have you looked at the YHA places in London? They do en-suite family rooms and you can self-cater if you want to keep the costs down.

DD has stayed in a YH in Green park with the Guides, I don't know if that has family rooms.
We've stayed in a premier inn in North London Edgeware area, parking and short walk to the tube, but probably too longer tube ride for 3 and 5.
P Inns are defiantly nicer than travel lodges in other parts of Britain and attached to passable pub chain restaurants.

No way that DH would stay in a Youth Hostel - sorry. Tried the secret room on Last minute but there is nothing for 2 adults and 2 kids...Might try looking further afield like Westinster area. Was keen to not wander too far though!

Park Plaza's look good though - the rooms seem really geared up for families. Shopping around now...

At least one of the Park Plaza hotels regularly comes up as a top secret hotel so don't give up on that idea yet.

We stayed at that hotel 2 years ago with a then 1 one 5 year old. It was fine, very well situated and nice and clean. The onsite restaurant is very pricey for what it is though, imo, but there are local shops just on the next street and we stocked up on stuff from Tesco to keep us going. If we were doing it again, as we hopefully will be soon, I'd have no problem staying there again.

Sorry, to be clear I mean we stayed at the Premier Inn in Kensington. I'd say go for it OP, especially if it's the cheapest.

Fuckity that is really good to hear. The Park plaza are working out £225 for County Hall or £279 for Westminster - a night! But the rooms are good, more of a suite with double bed, then bathroom, then sofabed area. Even have a kitchenette and seperate tv for the kids. Westminster one has a pool too and is brand new (I'm talking myself into dropping £600 for 2 nights aren't I!

They do look really nice and would be perfect. Might hold out for a bit and keep checking the secret hotel. I am in inveterate planner though..

We're staying at the Premier Inn in Kensington next week, but are paying far less than that - I know going midweek sounds like the best plan, but when we were looking, we found that going Sunday-Tuesday was far cheaper than going, say, Tuesday-Thursday, which surprised me at the time, but then I would imagine a lot of central ish hotels get filled with business people during the week. Is changing your days an option?

BTW, not wanting to pee on the bonfire, we've used the secret hotels thing twice - once was fab (got the Landmark just behind Marylebone station - v posh) but the other time was dreadful - a twin room for DH and I in a Thistle near Barbican, and the window wouldn't shut (it was December) so not great.

We booked a couple of weeks before we decided on which hotel, probably why we got such a good rate at the Park Plaza. South Bank is very close so plenty of restaurants to eat at which are suitable for the kids. Just get there early.

Thanks - we are staying with relatives who both work full time - so if we don't stay with them at the weekend, they won't really see much of their nephews - hence why we are planning o going into town midweek. Sunday/ Monday night would be much better I know...

I think Premier Inn uses the same model as Easyjet - the rooms start of very cheap and jsut keep going up!

We have stayed at the Premier Inn in Kensington twice and it was fine.Rooms were clean and comfy,decent breakfasts and friendly staff We walked to the museums from there only took about ten minutes no need for buses or taxis. We were down for a wedding and stayed 3 nights over a weekend for about £250 .