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London hotel prices

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Scotrail12

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Going down for a night tomorrow the hotels are crazy expensive.

I'm looking at over £200 for one person for one night in a Premier Inn.

Is this normal? I could get a Premier Inn in Aberdeen for a third of that a month ago. Jesus Christ, why so much? And I'm pretty sure it was only £300 when I stayed for 3 nights in January in London (and that was two guests).
 
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Trackman

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Going down for a night tomorrow the hotels are crazy expensive.

I'm looking at over £200 for one person for one night in a Premier Inn.

Is this normal? I could get a Premier Inn in Aberdeen for a third of that a month ago. Jesus Christ, why so much? And I'm pretty sure it was only £300 when I stayed for 3 nights in January in London (and that was two guests).
It depends where it is and if there is some sort of event in the area.
We are in May now so big chains will bump up the prices anyway.
You could try expanding your search area with good transport links.
 

yorkie

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Going down for a night tomorrow the hotels are crazy expensive.

I'm looking at over £200 for one person for one night in a Premier Inn.

Is this normal? I could get a Premier Inn in Aberdeen for a third of that a month ago. Jesus Christ, why so much? And I'm pretty sure it was only £300 when I stayed for 3 nights in January in London (and that was two guests).
Don't stay in Central London!

Wembley Stadium Premier Inn is excellent and is priced at £68. It's literally 2 mins walk from WCX station for non-stop trains from/to Marylebone in around 9 minutes. The hotel has excellent facilities including a very nice lounge area and the staff are always really friendly whenever I've stayed there.

Heathrow T4 is £52.50 but is nowhere near as easy to get to, but if you are on a budget...

Alternatively if you want to be a direct tube from central London in a short time, then Tottenham Hale is £85.50 and it's about 3 minutes walk from the hotel to the station.
 

AlterEgo

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Yeah don’t stay in Zone 1. Sweet spots are Tottenham Hale as @yorkie says, and you may want to try east London too. Even Canary Wharf can be inexpensive, especially at weekends.
 

Kite159

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Also try looking at Croydon, far enough out of the city centre not to get the "London City centre" premium but has plenty of transport links (Thameslink/Southern).

Although short-notice can be expensive anywhere.

But I agree, hotel prices have increased, even in some grotty Travelodges.
 

ChrisC

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One of the lowest priced Premier Inns in the London area I have used a few times is Hendon The Hyde. Short ride by bus from just across the road to Hendon Station and Hendon Central tube station. Also buses from straight outside to Cricklewood.
 

davetheguard

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I've stayed in Ealing (West London) twice recently - much cheaper than central London.

There's a Premier Inn and an Ibis Styles, both about halfway between Ealing Broadway & West Ealing stations. About a ten minute walk, but there's a very frequent bus service if you need it. Ealing Broadway in particular has an amazingly frequent train service with both GWR & TfL Rail/Elizabeth Line/Crossrail trains calling there.
 

morrisobrien

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A wee bit off subject,but I have been looking at Dublin hotels for this month/June.
No way,prices worse than London.
 

route101

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I have stayed in Wembley and Cricklewood Premier Inn/Travelodges. Sometimes as low as £29. Not the nicest of areas though.
 

Trackman

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I've stayed in Ealing (West London) twice recently - much cheaper than central London.

There's a Premier Inn and an Ibis Styles, both about halfway between Ealing Broadway & West Ealing stations. About a ten minute walk, but there's a very frequent bus service if you need it. Ealing Broadway in particular has an amazingly frequent train service with both GWR & TfL Rail/Elizabeth Line/Crossrail trains calling there.
In that neck of the woods North Acton is a good bet, I stayed at the Holiday Inn and the tube station Is right next to the hotel. In fact there used to be or still a website about hotels in London near train/tube stations.
 

ABB125

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The only hotel I've stayed in "in" London is the Travelodge at Heston westbound services on the M4. It was £23!

(I chose it because, at the time I was booking, I was travelling by car. In the end, I went by train. This one isn't the most easy to get to by public transport... :D)
 

peterblue

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I've stayed in Croydon Easyhotel twice, and also one near heathrow before - pretty cheap and basic. Certainly isn't the Ritz but it's good enough for a night or two. Was paying around £35-£40.

I got another one booked for June in Romford for £50. The trick is to avoid central London. Go out to the suburbs and you'll have much lower prices
 

Jimini

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I've stayed in Croydon Easyhotel twice, and also one near heathrow before - pretty cheap and basic. Certainly isn't the Ritz but it's good enough for a night or two. Was paying around £35-£40.

I got another one booked for June in Romford for £50. The trick is to avoid central London. Go out to the suburbs and you'll have much lower prices

The Travelodge up by us (Snaresbrook, E11) has cheap rooms most days of the week, and is only ~30 mins outside of town on the central line. We've had many friends / family members stay there over the years.
 

Mikw

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Going down for a night tomorrow the hotels are crazy expensive.

I'm looking at over £200 for one person for one night in a Premier Inn.

Is this normal? I could get a Premier Inn in Aberdeen for a third of that a month ago. Jesus Christ, why so much? And I'm pretty sure it was only £300 when I stayed for 3 nights in January in London (and that was two guests).
I stayed in a lovely b and b in Harrow fairly recently. £55 a night including Breakfast and free parking. Recommended. spotless big rooms
 

Flying Snail

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A wee bit off subject,but I have been looking at Dublin hotels for this month/June.
No way,prices worse than London.

A serious lack of hotel space in Dublin has been an issue for some time now, the lower end has all but disappeared with the properties taken up as temporary accommodation for homeless and refugees and now with large numbers of Ukranian refugees the pressure is even higher.

Air bnb is worth a look, the rental market here is even more dysfunctional with many landlords finding holiday lets a less risky proposition for homes.
 

johncrossley

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Travelodge have opened several new hotels in the London area right next to the station in the last 10 years or so, so are clearly trying to cater for people who are aware that being next to a station is still pretty convenient as you still have easy access to central London.
 

Bletchleyite

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I've found Motel One to often have more reasonable prices than the other budget options. They are also pretty good - small rooms but well designed. Only downside is the breakfast is continental only (as the whole thing is an import from Germany without really changing anything - the rooms even have European sockets as well as British ones), though it is a good spread.

The name is a bit odd and I find it can put people off despite the product being very good - they aren't "motels" at all, they mostly don't even have car parks! They are more similar in concept to Ibis Styles - small rooms but very well designed.
 

dosxuk

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Last minute hotels in central London always have been expensive. There's plenty of bargains to be had though by booking early or going outside the centre.

Covid did cause the cheaper rooms to be available longer for a while, but that has disappeared now.
 

Howardh

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Last minute hotels in central London always have been expensive. There's plenty of bargains to be had though by booking early or going outside the centre.
Yes, Premier Hub at King's Cross, was £49/night for me. Not much of a room to be fair, but it was warm, comfy bed and good shower, all I needed for a couple of nights. Without checking, there must be plenty of Holiday Inn's and Ibis's (etc) on the outskirts which can be quite cheap if booked in advance. A previous trip had me staying in the Travelodge (as alluded to above) by Euston, can't remember the exact price but can't have been above £200 (total) for three nights.
 

Cdd89

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If you want to find hotels along railway lines/bus routes, Google maps can be a surprisingly powerful tool. Turn on the public transport layer, then zoom into an area and type “hotels”. It shows them on the map along with the price.
 

deltic

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Belgrave Hotel next to Oval tube station can be fairly cheap - £70 a night for a double room
 

Butts

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FA Cup Final on Saturday may have boosted rates ?

Heathrow Airport / Bath Road is normally a good call with plenty of providers at reasonable rates provided you don't mind the drag into town.
 

WelshBluebird

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I think there's a few things going on.

The first is London has always been expensive for hotels, certainly more than other cities anyway. There have always been exceptions (easyHotel mentioned above is often a good option, as are the non central London places).

The second is that hotel prices in general nationwide seem to be higher than what they were before COVID. Even in places like Bristol, it can be difficult to get a hotel room for less than £100 a night now on a weekend especially.

And lastly, you were looking last minute. Especially for somewhere like London that usually has high demand (so hotels don't need to flog rooms for cheap just to fill them), booking a hotel last minute is always going to be more expensive.
 
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