Travel Inn - London?

[Peter Pan Fan]

Hello, we are planning our 5 year anniversary trip and one of our stops is London. In researching hotels on the web (my, it's expensive to stay in London! ) I came across the Travel Inn website...it looks nice but I'm surprised because the prices seem VERY much lower than most others (about 70 pounds). There is one that is adjacent to the Mariott in an old county hall (?) and is supposedly near the London Eye. Does anyone have an opinion on this or other Travel Inns? I would like a clean, comfy room for (hopefully) less than $150 american dollars per night.

Thanks for any advice..if anyone of you is planning a visit to California I'd be happy to help!

Thanks all,
Susan

 

[Peter Pan Fan]

Here I am posting on my own post...

In my research I came across the Thistle Hotels. They have an "advanced saver" rate for 96 pounds at Thistle Victoria - I think that is an area we would like to stay in, it seems close to many of the must-see's. They had rates around that price for some of the other Thistles. They don't have star ratings, but they seem nice...any advice?

Thanks!

 

[floridalol]

Hi Susan

Travel Inn are a nationwide chain of hotels, clean and comfortable and very good value in London. The one near the London Eye is as good as any, breakfast does vary from location to location but this one is pretty good but more expensive than in USA (about £7.00 per head I believe). The location of this one is good as it backs onto the London Eye and is central to most of the places you will probably wish to visit. Personally I would take a taxi to your desired destinations once in London, the tube (underground railway) and buses are dirty and prone to long delays.

Have a great time.

 

[BevS97]

If you just want a clean basic place to stay then I would go with the Travel Inn - they are a perfectly good chain of decent hotels - all pretty much identical.

The Thistle chain could vary considerably, I have stayed at the Thistle Tower hotel and it is very nice but it costs a lot more than £96. (I have only stayed there on business).
If you can get a good rate at the Thistle Tower, I would highly recomend it - especially if you reques a room with a view over Tower Bridge - beautiful!

Bev

 

[Peter Pan Fan]

Thanks to you both for the advice.

Bev, when you say that the Thistle may vary do you mean the price or the quality? They all look really nice on their website, but they could always be showing an outdated or exaggerated picture.

I checked for our dates at the Thistle Tower (Sept 24th through Sept 28th) and they do have the 96 pound per night rate - it is the advanced saver rate and is good for a standard double room for 2 people including tax. They charge you for the first night on your credit card and it is non-refundable, no matter what the reason if you have to cancel. They also had an "executive" double room for 116 pounds, it looks like that one has air conditioning whereas the other does not.

What do you think? The Tower hotel looked more out of the way compared to the Victoria Station area one, but by just looking at the map its hard to know where is a good location. We are looking forward to seeing all of the "touristy" sights such as the Palace, Parliment, the Tower, the crown jewels, Harrods, etc. We do plan on following floridalol's advice and traveling on the tube rather than taking buses.

Thanks in advance

 

[floridalol]

Travel Inn take your credit card details for the booking but do not take any payment until you arrive. You can also cancel up to 16.00 same day without any penalty clauses.

 

[Terry&Janet]

Hi

The Thistle Tower is right by the Tower Bridge over the River Thames which could be another 'must-see' on your list. As Bev says, if you can request a view of the bridge from your room its stunning, especially at night.

Its also a short walk away from the Tower of London where the Crown Jewels are. I can't advise re the nearness of the other attractions you mention as I'm not a Londoner but maybe someone else will come along.

I would imagine that the Tower of London is on a 'tour bus' route (where you can hop on and hop off on a day ticket) which covers all the popular sights on the London tourist trail so it shouldn't be too difficult to take everything in if you did decide to stay at the Thistle Tower. Or any other hotel for that matter.

Good luck.
Janet