London Hotels Insight provides up-to-date, independent advice for your perfect stay in London. We research guest feedback, meet management and identify hotels at the top of their game.

Bloomsbury Street Hotel opens exclusive floor.

March 14, 2012
Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street

With the Olympics on the horizon London hotels are doing all they can to attract visitors and stand out from the crowd.  The latest hotel to offer something special is the Radisson Blu Edwardian Bloomsbury Street.  You may recall that we visited the hotel for our recent free WiFi touchdown; it has now also unveiled a new 7th floor with [...]

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Anticipation builds for London’s first “personality hotel”.

March 12, 2012
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The ME London has announced it will officially open its doors on 6th July and we’ve already spotlighted it as one of our top 10 new London hotels in 2012.  Located on the Strand in the old BBC Marconi building, the luxury hotel will have 157 rooms and suites, including the Suite ME – a luxury [...]

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Thousands apply for Travelodge apprenticeships.

March 9, 2012
Travelodge jobs

Amidst record youth unemployment and spiralling university costs, young people seeking a footing on a secure career ladder may well be feeling disillusioned at this point.  But it seems that many are keen on hotel jobs, as evidenced by a staggering amount of applications for Travelodge’s new management apprenticeship scheme. The JuMP (Junior Management Programme) [...]

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@FranklyStafford: tweets from a top London concierge.

March 7, 2012
Stafford Concierge

It’s lovely to see that Frank Laino - interviewed on this blog and a past winner of the Luxury Travel Advisor Awards of Excellence Top Concierge Worldwide award - has just joined Twitter.  Frank has been head concierge at The Stafford, currently celebrating 100 years in hospitality, for 11 years. He must have countless interesting, funny or downright outrageous stories to [...]

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Marriott County Hall gets a new restaurant.

March 5, 2012
Gillray steakhouse and bar London

The five-star London Marriott County Hall Hotel located on the South Bank is all set to open a brand new restaurant by the end of the month. Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar aims to represent the best “English of English” from the cuts of beef served, to the interiors with Chesterfield sofas and Waterford chandeliers and [...]

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London hotels throw eggs at each other.

March 2, 2012
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Last week we wrote about how the two Jumeriah Hotels in London have a couple of Faberge Big Eggs on display as part of the big charity Egg Hunt taking place across London in the run-up to Easter.  Well now we’ve discovered a host of other central London hotels hiding some of the 200 eggs hidden [...]

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What women want from hotels.

March 1, 2012
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Since my blog colleague Holly recently published a scathing and funny critique of the ‘women only’ service at Duke’s, I wanted to offer hoteliers some further thoughts on how they might cater to women’s needs from a professional working female perspective. Admittedly, business-oriented hotels have traditionally been very masculine places.  Even the decor often showed that such hotels were designed primarily for men – sporting prints and [...]

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London boutique hotels round-up – Feb. 2012.

February 29, 2012
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With London’s much anticipated Olympic year now in full swing, the capital’s boutique hotels continue to compete for their share of the city’s many visitors from overseas and elsewhere in the UK.  In their bid to stay ahead of the competition, many are seeking to innovate perhaps to distract from all the negative publicity about high room rates. According [...]

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The Grosvenor unveils the Courtesan’s Boudoir.

February 28, 2012
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The Grosvenor Hotel recently changed from a Thistle to a Gouman Hotel following an 18 month refurb and has just unveiled an original new suite.  The ”Courtesan’s Boudoir – The Cora Pearl Suite” pays homage to the hotel’s famous former guest the Cora Pearl who was allegedly turned away from the hotel following rumours of her hedonistic lifestyle. Check [...]

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Even Premier Inn now “gets it” on free WiFi.

February 27, 2012
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Hurrah!  Premier Inn recently announced it will give guests 30 minutes free WiFi access a day in all its UK hotels.  A move to be welcomed by guests sick of paying through the nose for internet access during hotel stays.  This still leaves the chain slightly in the slipstream of its main competitor Travelodge, which announced last summer [...]

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New UK budget travel guide published.

February 24, 2012
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I’ve travelled in India on ten dollars a day; it’s not that easy, but it can be done.  I’ve done the Loire on the cheap – staying in municipal campsites and making friends with local bakers and farmers to supply our picnics – and I’ve walked across Spain staying in pilgrim hostels and eating out [...]

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Can budget hotels be service-focused too?

February 23, 2012
Tune Guest Satisfaction Survey

When staying at a hotel, I often wonder what services am I paying for that I am not in fact using.  It can be tricky to untangle what is included in the hotel rate and what isn’t – but this is less of an issue with Tune Hotels, where all extras are transparently listed before you book. This [...]

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Free WiFi touchdown: the best tweets.

February 22, 2012
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London Hotels Insight’s free WiFi touchdown visits are now complete, but we’ll continue to pressurise London hotels that charge extra for WiFi without stating this information clearly upfront before travellers book. During our campaign, we personally visited 14 different free WiFi London hotels and promoted them aggressively on social media.  We took hundreds of photos which are being uploaded onto the [...]

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Free WiFi touchdown: 14 hotels in a month!

February 22, 2012
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Over a period of a month, London Hotels Insight bloggers personally visited a massive 14 free WiFi London hotels (chronologically listed below) for the Free WiFi touchdown - an initiative designed to promote London’s best free WiFi hotels through the most popular social media channels; while naming and shaming some of the naughty luxury hotels that charge their guests extra for internet use without making [...]

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It’s egg-cellent at Jumeirah Hotels.

February 21, 2012
Faberge Egg

The Faberge Big Egg Hunt kicks off on Tuesday 21st February (Shrove Tuesday) for 40 nights and 40 days across venues all over London.  During the hunt, participants need to track down 200 eggs, many of which are hidden.  Only those with egg-cellent detective skills will find them. To give you a head start, we can [...]

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London’s most exclusive hotel: fully booked all year.

February 20, 2012
A Room for London

London’s newest and most exclusive hotel opened this year – and has already sold out for the duration of its twelve month residency. A Room For London is an installation by artist Fiona Banner, which doubles as a hotel.  The boat-shaped room sits perched atop South Bank’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, as if it has accidentally washed [...]

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