Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ahead you book. Midweek prices are generally higher than weekend rates, and Sunday
nights can be shockingly cheap. To comparison-shop, visit several sites and punch in the
dates you're considering to see what the going rate is. The best deals generally must be
prepaid a few weeks ahead and may not be refundable—read the fine print carefully.
I've listed and briefly described a few of the dominant chains below, along with a
quick rundown on their more convenient London locations. Many of these hotels sit on
busy streets in dreary train-station neighborhoods, so use common sense after dark and
wear your money belt. For a sneak preview, try looking up the “Street View” for the ad-
dress in Google Maps.
Premier Inn'
s locations include a branch inside
London County Hall
(next door
to the London Eye), at
Southwark/Borough Market
(near Shakespeare's Globe on the
South Bank, 34 Park Street, Tube: London Bridge),
Southwark/Tate Modern
(on Great
Suffolk Street),
London King's Cross St. Pancras
(across the street from the east end
of King's Cross Station and near the Eurostar terminus at St. Pancras),
London Euston
(handy but noisy location at corner of Euston Road and Dukes Road),
Kensington/Earl's
Court
(11 Knaresborough Place, Tube: Earl's Court or Gloucester Road),
Victoria
(82-83
Eccleston Square, Tube: Victoria), and
Putney Bridge
(farther out, 3 Putney Bridge Ap-
proach). Avoid the
Tower Bridge
location, which is an inconvenient 15-minute walk from
the nearest Tube stop. Book online at
www.premierinn.com
or call 0871-527-9222; from
North America, dial 011-44-1582-567-890.
Travelodge
has quite a few locations in London, including at
King's Cross
(200
yards in front of King's Cross Station, Grays Inn Road, Tube: King's Cross St. Pancras),
Kings Cross Royal Scot, Euston, Marylebone, Covent Garden, Liverpool Street,
and
Farringdon
(
www.travelodge.co.uk
)
.
Ibis
has only two locations that are convenient to London's center:
Euston St. Pan-
cras
(on a quiet street a block west of Euston Station, 3 Cardington Street, Tube: Euston)
and
The City
(5 Commercial Street, Tube: Aldgate East); book at
www.ibishotel.com
.
Jurys Inn'
s locations include
Islington
(near King's Cross Station, 60 Pentonville
Road, Tube: Angel), and
Chelsea
(Imperial Road, Tube: Imperial Wharf); book at
easyHotel:
With several branches in good neighborhoods around London, easyHotel
(
www.easyhotel.com
) has a unique business model inspired by its parent company, the
easyJet budget airline. The generally tiny, super-efficient, no-frills rooms feel popped out
of a plastic mold, down to the prefab ship's head-type “bathroom pod.” Rates can be sur-
prisingly low (with doubles as cheap as
£
30 if you book early enough)—but you'll be
charged à la carte for add-ons that are included at most hotels, such as TV use, luggage
storage, fresh towels, and daily cleaning (breakfast, if available, comes from a vending
machine). If you go with the basic package, it's like hosteling with privacy—a hard-to-
