London Hotel help

[Cudz]

Hi
We are hoping to take our ds9 down to London either the 3rd/4th or 10th/11th Dec as he is obsessed with the underground and wants to plan lots of routes and travel all around. The problem is our finances are tight and hotels are just so expensive! Even those hotels on the outskirts of London as we travel down from the north (e.g. Watford, edgewater, etc) are around £180 for one night! I am an nhs worker/blue light card holder so I'm just looking for any tips on discounts or cheaper hotels that I could look at rhat you have experience of? I'd really love to take my ds9 there as he's just so excited about it all.
Thank you!

The trouble is that Saturday nights are hugely expensive in London hotels.

You could perhaps look at a weekend in January when Saturday nights are a bit cheaper. So Travelodge Harrow would be £78 Saver Rate on Saturday 11th January for 2 adults and 1 child.

If it's a Christmas treat, you could print a fancy certificate "Valid for one weekend in London travelling the Tube" + dates and put it in a Christmas card as a gift.

It might be worth considering the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden, too. I enjoyed it immensely and I'm a grown adult! It has lots of hands-on things.

We always stay Premier inn Kings Cross...close to the station. Normally pay about £100 a night if booked in advance

I've just looked...its fully booked. That's going to be the issue for you unfortunately

Thanks both. Yes unfortunately I've left it quite late in the day to book hence a lot of hotels are sold out and the ones available have premium prices due to the demand. What a nightmare! X

Is Elstree / Borehamwood any good?

The Ibis London Elstree Borehamwood is currently £98.00 (or £88.20 member's rate, which just involves signing up) for Saturday 3rd December and £107.00 (or £96.30) for Saturday 10th December, for a family room i.e. double room with extra bed.

Main Accor website all.accor.com/united-kingdom/index.en.shtml

Ibis Elstree page all.accor.com/hotel/6186/index.en.shtml?dateIn=2022-12-03&nights=1&compositions=2-9&stayplus=false&snu=false#origin=accor

Premier Inn, Croydon Town Centre which is 15 minutes from Victoria by train is £110 a night at the cheapest rate for your dates. As someone else said, Saturdays are very expensive and December extremely popular.

No secret tips or tricks from me, but just get on the Premier Inn website and Trivago given you have fairly fixed dates to see what comes up.

The other option is to stay even further out. I'm in Surrey but whatever the north side of London to Woking is could be an answer. Stevenage? V quick train in and out, but potentially not London hotel prices?

Premier Inn Canning Town. Bit of a way out but its really well connected. I find it really cost effective.

Should have said equivalent to Woking.

Thanks everyone I'll have a look at all of these. It may be best to hold off though and look more towards the new year.to access cheaper rates x

The Travel Lodge Kingston upon Thames. Direct train to London and lots to do around Kingston area too.

Bromley premier inn. 12 min fast train to Victoria.

YHA! I got a private room near Oxford street for £79.. they also have a winter sale no right now, use code CHILL-22

I've used them across the country an they're actually really good.

There's a non-refundable room for £128 on Sat 10th Dec at Southgate Premier Inn in north London, 15 mins inside the northern M25 and about 2 mins from one of the most iconic and beautiful art deco stations on the entire tube network. Piccadilly Line so straight into the West End.

@Cudz - yes basically the further in advance you book, the cheaper it is. I'd book now for January using a cancellable rate.

Would somewhere like this work?

www.hand-picked.telegraph.co.uk/comfortable-watford-base-near-the-harry-potter-studios-fully-refundable-jurys-inn-london-watford-hertfordshire-south-east-england/sale-hotel?source=swd&checkin=2022-12-03&checkout=2022-12-04&offerId=A25283

Although I think that's only for 2 people.

There is a family room at the Premier Inn Farnborough for £49 for one of the dates you suggested? 35 mins on the train to Waterloo....

www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/695/London-Lewisham-hotel
This could work - Lewisham itself not the most glam but easy to get around and has the DLR which could appeal to your DS also really easy to get to Greenwich to pick up the river boat

Try south London Travelodge. Southwark, Waterloo and Brixton. Look to have availability and fairly cheap.

Don't forget that if you stay way out of the city then you may be paying 20-30£ in travel everyday.

And £30 return train fare per adult.

Thanks everyone. I've spoken to my ds tonight and we've agreed to push our trip back until Feb half term. I've told him that way we can then stay for two nights as that's the same cost as one night in Dec. He's up for it as it means one extra day of tube riding!!!!!

have you tried booking.com.
i just found a rental place near finsbury park, a complex station !, for £135.
one bedroom. 2 double beds.
for 10/11th.
sorry can't put link.

I'd suggest you look at booking for Feb half term asap. Some of the better located budget hotels (such a Premier Inn County Hall) already look fully booked for half term. London is RAMMED at half terms. So don't hang about OP, get booking!

@HundredMilesAnHour I've just booked now. Two nights at Premier Inn Wembly Park (it is litterally located next to the Wembly Park tube station) for £86. Couldn't even get one night in Dec for that price. Bargain!