London

Ok so the papers are full of doom and gloom and everyone is hanging onto cash. Consequently, London hotels are under occupied as gone are the weekend theatre trips as the cash stays under the mattress, or in my case, is stuck in falling shares!
Today I had a client looking for a bargain but decent 3 star hotel in London. Prices were “ok” but not amazing. A good tried and tested hotel in Kensington was selling at 89 pounds for a double, reasonable but not brilliant. Of course we all know that you can get cheaper but websites dont really tell the truth about how long it was since the rooms were refurbished or that its in a crappy location, or that you have to tube it everywhere you go.
I was checking for him and realised that 4 and 5 star hotels are actually amazing value at the moment.
Think about it, they can afford to drop the price more because they were more expensive in the first place…logical?
I actually found a four star hotel in Mayfair with fully refurbished rooms for £113 pounds. Now, add in the fact that the wifi was free and that you have just saved 6 pounds per person on tube travel cards and you can see that paying £90 in South Kensington for an average three star is no cheaper than paying an additional £20 to be in the west end in luxurious surroundings and a sexy bedroom with no travel costs and free wifi.
Three star (tourist class) hotels are trying to keep occupancy high and to some extent they are succeeding because bookers subconsciously are downgrading in the hope of saving money. In reality they would be better going upmarket as there are bargains to be had in the superior hotel market.
Let me give you a perfect example, the Washington Mayfair is a superior hotel in Mayfair in the West End. From here you can walk almost everywhere. The price this weekend was £113 pounds for a double room. Who would want to save 20 quid for a grot box elsewhere.
My case rests !!!
For more details of the Washington Mayfair go here:
Washington Mayfair