Mister P.

Thanks again cws! And thanks about the infos on the Lost Property Curio, not many images available so far.

RE: Hilton London Bankside, any chance standard room availability will open later on?

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, and quite a reasonable chance. There are a high level of cancellations at the moment, and so you need to keep an eye on it, it's sometimes a hairline trigger between standard availability and premium rates. I would book something that's OK and just move it over if the availability changes, if you have sufficient points for this.

Mister P.

Ok, thanks for all the infos, good to know!

brp

It sounds like the Park Lane (where we're booked for an upcoming May stay) would not be considered a good choice here? We've stayed at the Conrad previously and found it to be nice. Just wanted to try something new and Park lane sounded interesting. But we do like our lounges and it sounds like Park Lane may not be a good choice in this case.

We'll be there for 4 nights, so a specific location is not critical although our main event is at the Royal Albert Hall, so Park lane seemed to be a good location. But other considerations could outweigh this.

There's also the Waldorf where we've stayed a number of times. But I don't know what things are like there now (or likely to be in May).

Bankside looks to be available as well.

I'll also add this this is 3 free credit card nights and 1 on points. So the point value is less relevant since we're only spending for 1 night. But it seems that Mayfair (higher point value) does not have a Lounge.

Cheers.

residentx

I work just opposite this and its still a big building site. I think June is punchy for the opening!

krypttohk

Hi,

I'm looking to use 4 free night certificates for a trip to London next week, and can't seem to decide which HIlton to use. (I'm also considering using my Marriott certificates, but I believe London is a good place to use the uncapped Hilton certificates).
I'm planning on exploring the city and doing touristy things during the morning and early afternoon, and working in the afternoon/early evening. So my priorities would be a fairly central location, a big enough room to work comfortably, and a nice view would be great.
For breakfast/food, I have an unfortunate amount of food sensitivities (thanks COVID), so a buffet style breakfast is actually preferable - I usually focus on the meats, cheeses and fruits.

From discussions above it sounds like the Biltmore would be a good property to aim for, but that post was also only asking about a few hotels. It looks like the Biltmore is completely booked on one of the nights, but I've been watching their inventory and sometimes things open up, so it's still on my potential list. The Conrad/Park Lane are completely available as of now, but I'm not sure about location and the other details. I'm not particularly attached to any of these hotels, so any suggestion at all in London would be welcome.

Thanks!

(Edit: I have Diamond status from my Amex card if that makes a difference)

corporate-wage-slave

If the certificates are best deployed at high end locations, then the Biltmore would surely be on any shortlist. The Conrad has a good breakfast option, and is well located in terms of centrality and easy access to many sites by foot and others by public transport, but the rooms don't have much of a view - that's where Park Lane always does well, but isn't as good as the Conrad for breakfast. Rooms do vary in size, some aren't so big. Given the rest of what you have said my steer would be to book the Conrad and keep an eye on the Biltmore's availability. Other options would be Bankside, which scores well on room size and the best breakfast options, but isn't as well located in terms of the traditional tourist spots. There are a number of lower spec locations which may do well, eg room size and breakfast would suggest the Metropole if you get the West Wing, Trafalgar for views + cemtrality and so on.

brp

[QUOTE=corporate-wage-slave;34006684The Conrad has a good breakfast option, and is well located in terms of centrality and easy access to many sites by foot and others by public transport, but the rooms don't have much of a view - that's where Park Lane always does well, but isn't as good as the Conrad for breakfast. [/QUOTE]

We've stayed at the Conrad and found the breakfast to be quite nice and the hotel very good. Right now we're booked at Park Lane in May. My understanding is that the restaurant is serving as the Exec Lounge and that would seem o me to provide very nice breakfast options. I'm curious as to the thought that the breakfast is not as good there.

Also, the Hyde Park location, and view potential are attractive here. But really curious as to the breakfast comment as that is actually an important meal for us. Evening lounge snacks matter as well

Cheers.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi

I found the park lane breakfast to be good ( ie pancakes) but the conrad was better ( good a la carte options which were free to diamonds ( may have changed)
conrad lounge was good but for evening canapes the park lane had a better selection and Bankside better still.

Regards
tbs

brp

Very much appreciate the comments. Given location, Park Lane will be better this trip for our needs than Bankside. Conrad is not far and would work, for this trip as well.

Given what I've read, though, Bankside is in our future.

Cheers.

krypttohk

Thanks for the help. I stayed my first night of 3 at the Biltmore last night. The 4th night did just open up, but I think I may check out Bankside for the last night. I think I got my expectations a bit high for the Biltmore/ The breakfast buffet is very small (and I made the mistake of ordering berries for my free a la carte option, as I had assumed the buffet would be more extensive). I got upgraded to a junior suite which is adequately sized and functional, but not exciting. And the view is... not inspiring. I did get a bottle of wine delivered which was nice. Nothing is bad - I just expected to be amazed, given the £400 price, and it's merely adequate. I'm honestly confused about how they can charge such high prices - is the location just that good?

corporate-wage-slave

Thanks for reporting back. For the Biltmore you are certainly paying for the location (which I think was high on your original priorities), so I would expecting a very well appointed hotel, well appointed room, a better view than you had, that would be any hotel in London, good staff levels and good staff performance, and a top of the range dining experience. Now as I think was indicated, the breakfast options at Conrad, Bankside and even the Metropole are pretty good, but more in terms of sheer size of buffet, whereas for a small hotel like the Biltmore then it's quality rather than quantity, plus service. I guess if you had tried to get an outer facing room then the view would have been of the streets around Mayfair, there again it would be a bit more noisy as a result, even if Mayfair is a quiet locality overall.

EuropeanPete

If you’re not familiar with London, I think it’s easy to under-estimate just how expensive the area of Mayfair immediately around Grosvenor Square is. You’re not just paying for being generally in the West End, but for the most prestigious 5 acres or so in the middle.

Unfortunately luxury rooms in that area and in a straight line through Knightsbridge generally start at £500+ for an entry level room.

feysul

I need to staying at LHR one night. i fly out of LHR Terminal 5 the next morning. i also have a rental car from Budget i need to return.
Where should i stay that is most convienient?

The HGI is at the opposite end,,,,far east,,,side of the airport. I just dont know how easy it is to stay out of Hilton Terminal 5...

Suggestions?

DrAJ

I'm sure this may get merged into the main Heathrow thread but before then - when is the car going back? Before the hotel or the following morning on check out? If you have the car overnight, I would lean more towards T5 Hilton or indeed the Hilton attached to T4