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.
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Base2stay
I fondly remember the FT’s ‘lunch for a fiver’ offer, which I sometimes made use of when I worked in the City. You cut out the coupon, you went to your preferred hostelry and you paid £5 for lunch. Except, of course, that usually you didn’t. You’d pay £15 after a glass of Perrier, a [...]
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Liverpool initially seems an unpromising destination for a weekend escape. A cursory glance at the map shows that it’s at the opposite end of the country to London. Surely there must be more user-friendly short break possibilities like Brighton, Windsor or even Paris? And at least within the UK, Liverpool historically acquired a slightly unsavoury [...]
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Since launching at the end of July 2010, the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme (more commonly referred to as “Boris Bikes” after the charismatic London Mayor) has proved extremely popular amongst Londoners, with over 500,000 trips made in the first six weeks alone. Visitors to the capital can now also make use of the scheme’s 5,000+ [...]
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London hotels have contrasting views on this particular topic. Flagship hotel restaurants are often seen as a selling point. This especially applies to luxury hotels, with Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester and Gordon Ramsay at Art Deco gem Claridge’s notable examples, along with Galvin at Windows (Hilton on Park Lane) and Apsley’s at the Lanesborough. [...]
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London Hotels Insight has already featured a good selection of the most eco-friendly London hotels and it’s now time to do a recap of the very best. We’ve only listed hotels that have won rigorous external awards for their environmentally-friendly approach (such as from the Visit Britain Green Tourism Business Scheme) or have supplied us [...]
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We have a passion for eco-friendly hotels on this blog, having sung the praises of various environmentally-aware London hotels including Rafayel on the Left Bank, the Cavendish, the Zetter and the Lancaster London. It is no coincidence that all the hotels mentioned above are well-regarded in general with consistently solid guest reviews. There seems to [...]
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To call the competition at the budget end of the London hotel market “vigorous” would be something of an understatement. You’ve got established budget chains like Travelodge and Premier Inn growing at breakneck speed, offering cheap promotions and decent locations aplenty – though often housed in fascinatingly “ugly” buildings. Then there are well-priced, good-quality independent [...]
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There are many different hotels in London and no individual one is perfect for everyone. But we all love “something for nothing” and the feeling that we’ve got ourselves some valuable extras without paying for them. Here then is our guide to some of the best “freebies” in London hotels. All the hotels mentioned below [...]
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It’s becoming more and more trendy to look for “green hotels” and it’s clear that our expectations are getting higher. But what if the question is flipped round: how green are you as a hotel guest? Since I love to feature “green hotels” on this blog, I’m sometimes approached by hotels wanting to publicise their [...]
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Regular readers will know we’re a little green-obsessed on this blog. Especially given the typical wastefulness of hotel processes, dictated as they are by the massive daily turnover of guests checking in and out. With this in mind, the mould-breaking new Rafayel Hotel was recently featured as an example very much in the “eco-luxe” camp. [...]
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We recently mentioned Base2stay Kensington as an excellent hotel for shopping to enjoy London’s amazing “January Sales”, thanks to its special winter rates and other little touches to boost your shopping budget. It’s also rated at a lofty number 13 on TripAdvisor (consistent in recent months), showing that the high Base2stay standards continue to hold. [...]
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Since January is a time for great bargains for those who love to shop in London, the “budget luxury” hotel Base2stay has come up with a rather interesting offer to further boost your shopping budget. Rather than pass on the government’s VAT increase from 15% to 17.5% (in effect since 1st January) the hotel has [...]
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We’ve commented on the rise of London’s “luxury budget” hotels, with the likes of the Hoxton Hotel and Base2stay Kensington leading the way. There are also the impressive London airport hotels created by YOTEL, adapted from the Japanese “capsule” idea, which show that “cheap” can also be fun, look good and provide free WiFi. In [...]
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Several bloggers engaged on the “Free the WiFi” campaign have mentioned an odd thing: how can some of the cheapest hotels and hostels provide free internet access while many of the most famous brands cannot? Here we put the spotlight on London’s budget hotels to identify more “good guy hotels” with free WiFi. We hope [...]
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This blog’s free WiFi drive has certainly been ruffling a few feathers. Several hoteliers (as well as their IT suppliers who seem to have a vested interest) are saying that hotel WiFi is too expensive to give away for free – as some comments under the recent “Open Letter to Hoteliers” testify. While I appreciate [...]
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Base2stay in Kensington has previously been highlighted for its unique “edited luxury” experience: you get only the essential elements (a decent room, free WiFi, cleanliness, etc.) with the unnecessary stuff (hotel restaurant, overpriced amenities, unnecessary clutter) left out. All this is usually offered at a compelling room rate. Uniquely however, the hotel’s management (whom I’ve [...]
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