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Best value hotel accommodation district in London
If you're travelling to London on a budget, where do you start
to look for good value hotel accommodation. Which districts are
unsafe or best avoided? How much should I be paying?
I would suggest if you are looking for the best value in London
you use as your benchmark the area just north of Hyde Park. This
area is a strip about one kilometre long and half a kilometre
wide that borders Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, Central
London's biggest park. The local sub-districts within this area
are called Paddington, Lancaster Gate and Bayswater. On
Priceline this area is Bayswater / Notting Hill. There are 4
underground stations in the area, you are never more than 700m
from London's favourite way of getting around the city. There is
also a dense network of local buses that provide a 24 hour
service. During the day it's only a 10 minute ride to Oxford
Street, about 20 minutes to Piccadilly or Trafalgar Square.
Paddington Station is one of London's major railways stations,
apart from serving much of the west of England and South Wales
it is the terminus for the Heathrow Express train to London's
Heathrow Airport. Immediately around the station are about 30
budget hotels, mostly relatively small and independently owned.
The only really upmarket hotel is the Hilton in the station
complex itself. Many people flying into Heathrow find it
convenient to use one of these hotels as Paddington is so
central. There is a left luggage office at Paddington Station
too which stores luggage or you can send things home if you
need. Paddington Station is a bustling place with activity from
very early to very late, many of the shops and services are in
cramped streets and are nearly all small and family owned, apart
from the fast food chains like McDonalds and Burger King.
About 5 minutes walk south from Paddington Station is Lancaster
Gate, adjoining Hyde Park. The streets here are much wider, tree
lined avenue affairs, very pleasant. Bordering the park and
Lancaster Gate itself are a number of larger, more upmarket
hotels, many of which are owned by chains.
Lastly west of both Lancaster Gate and Paddington is Bayswater,
for the budget traveller, perhaps the place to start looking for
your accommodation. The centre of Bayswater is Queensway, a
classic High Street with two underground stations, an ice rink
and a shopping centre. Along Queensway you will find probably
the best choice of places to eat in London with just about every
cuisine and price covered. There are also a good choice of
things the budget traveller finds convenient, launderettes,
convenience stores, supermarkets open until very
late,
pharmacies and 24 hour public transport.
In the streets around Bayswater resides about every grade of
Hotel. Whilst there is a Hilton, a Ramada and a few other large
4 star hotels there is a definite bias towards budget
accommodation. Apart from several hostels offering dormitory
accommodation there are many so called 'bed and breakfast'
hotels. These are not comfortable homestay accommodations with
attentive hosts, but very simple hotels staffed in the main by
cheap immigrant labour. There is a great variation in quality
for about $US 50-80 for a double room with breakfast, ranging
from the almost unacceptable to very pleasant. The cheapest
rooms are not ensuite. Perhaps the best value hotels are the
deeply discounted 3 star hotels. Many of these are self
proclaimed 3 star hotels. This term generally means all rooms
are ensuite, there are lifts to rooms, a 24 hour front desk and
probably a bar and often a restaurant. Room rates at these are
highly volatile and rates tend to be higher at weekends. A good
deal is a double room from about $US 80-120, often but not
always with breakfast.
If you are using Priceline this is not a good area to bid on
hotels below 4 stars. The volatility in the quality standards is
such that you'll probably be allocated a cheap dud. At 4 star
level, like so much of the London bidding districts, if you get
a good low successful bid there is a good chance it'll be one of
the Thistle chain. If you read reviews of customers to Thistle
Hotels, there is a constant theme of very large, grand old
hotels not being effectively maintained with a comment like 'It
was acceptable given that I only paid $US100, but if I'd paid
the full amount I'd be very angry'
A good starting point for your research on the Bayswater and
Paddington area is the web site, the London Hotel Toolkit. This
has an accurate hotel map, pictures of the district, full
transfer information from airport and rail stations in addition
to online discounted room rates. Critically you'll have access
to reviews on each hotel so you can work out the ones to avoid.
H
otels In Bayswater London
Hotels Around Paddington Station and Lancaster Gate
About the author:
Bob Handford is an expert about his city, London and is the
owner of the website London Hotels Toolkit
that aims to provide practical information for independent
visitors to London. You can contact Bob direct at the web site.
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