clownfishmd

Anyone have opinion on Metropole vs Canopy London City vs Hilton Euston vs Double Tree West End vs double tree Tower of London? Looking at a point redemption for 5 nights in June, tourist focused. Have a good redemption booked on Canopy, but seems like location isn't very preferable, besides being close to Tower of London. I'd say location is important in that we want easy access to tube, but don't mind a 15-20min tube right to get places. We appreciate a good exec lounge, and a room that is comfortable, but doesn't need to be exceptionally fancy.

MP001

Among those mentioned i would choose Metropole. Easy access to few tube lines and if you fly into Heathrow you can easily take a train to Paddington station which is near Metropole. Lounge is decent. Rooms okay. Second choice DT tower of London.

notakeenflyer

Haven't stayed at all of those, but here's my $0.02 on each;
Metropole - *Massive* hotel by comparison. Was there pre-COVID and lounge had reasonable spread of hot canapes and drinks including spirits, but was generally pretty full. 2 years of status extensions probably won't have helped that. Some nice modern rooms, and some slightly dated (others may recall which tower is better, I don't!) It's a bit out of the way for walking to places, but Circle/Hammersmith/District/Bakerloo lines are all available from Edgware Road < 5 minutes away. Paddington is a 10 minute walk or 3 minute tube ride for Heathrow Express, and from 24th May Crossrail (Elizabeth Line) opens which is a new rail line. There will be interchanges at Paddington and Liverpool Street to swap between the central section and the outer reaches for a couple of years, but it would be a good fast option for Paddington to the City or Canary Wharf. Map here - https://content.tfl.gov.uk/elizabeth...fully-open.pdf
Doubletree West End - Very average, had a bad stay with a very uncomfortable, noisy bed and got a big shrug of the shoulders and nothing more when I complained (as a Diamond). Location is pretty good
Doubletree Tower of London - Stayed a couple of times post-COVID - Impressive lobby, nice modern rooms, some good tower view rooms, great location for city (and Tower, obviously), bit further from West End, etc. Average lounge offering (lager or red wine, IIRC) and a couple of canape options. Decent breakfast, Central/District line from Tower Hill < 2 minutes away

corporate-wage-slave

I would agree and if the OP has breakfast included via status, then overwhelmingly so.

DT West End is best placed, but there is no lounge, the building is an old Victorian structure which has been refitted many times. I don't think it's a bad hotel. Euston has no lounge, and in some ways has the Canopy issue of being slightly off centre. It was refitted a few years ago though. Canopy is the newest of the list, though the Metropole has had a mega million dollar refit during the pandemic. The Canopy is not actually a bad choice, particularly if you go around historic areas like Shoreditch, Hoxton, Columbia Road, Brick Lane. So I wouldn't say there is a wrong choice here, all these hotels have some plus points. They are all comfortable without being fancy like the Conrad, though the common areas of the Metropole probably does come under the "fancy" category just because it was recently refitted. DT Tower - I've only had 4 stays there in the last 2 years. It's a former Mint hotel like the Westminster one, reasonably modern and decent size roooms. The immediate area is quiet, but it's well located. I'm not sure they have reopened their lounge, which in any case wasn't that good.

The one Hilton with a lounge which may fall into this price point is Hilton Isllington, though again a bit out of centre.

chrism20

Agree with what most of the others have said but will also say Euston is a fairly solid hotel in a decent location and was refurbed about 4 years ago but it’s nothing special. No lounge and standard elite recognition if that.

id stay again but it wouldn’t be my first choice.

est-gratuite

London hotel rates have gone through the roof.

Hilton Bankside always above 200 GBP per night
Conrad always above 300 GBP per night.
No central London (zone 1) hotel under 180 GBP per night, except maybe on a Sunday evening.

Even the Heathrow hotels start at 80 GBP per night.

diamond club freeloader

You've had lots of advice in replies so far - and you'll have realised that there is no perfect solution to your puzzle!

Having had a recent stay at Canopy I'll say that I really liked it. Very smart hotel with a good breakfast offering and they are keen to please guests with status. I think it is a better hotel than all of the others you are considering - assuming that you are not hooked on a lounge. Location is always about personal preference, but the City Fringe location has a lot to offer within walking distance - and there are pleasant areas to walk around - both north and south of the river.

Both of the doubletrees are a bit tired - DT Tower of London is the better of the two and the executive rooms are refreshed but the EL is not stellar.
I am not a fan of Metropole on account of its enormity - and that you'd be taking the tube to go anywhere worth visiting.

So, with the Lounge caveat, if your Canopy booking is a good deal, think hard before giving it up!

brp

We have just returned from our 4-night stay at the Park Lane, so I'm back to share some comments.

I would consider this hotel to be a solid "OK." Not great, didn't completely suck.

we had two consecutive reservations hooked: 3 nights on certificates, one on points that I changed to a certificate when another came4 in. Agent was not able to formally merge it properly without risk of losing room. so I confirmed in advance via email and chat that these were linked so that we would not have room issues. Confirmed a couple of times while there. More on this later.

No suite available, although the agent did try an upsell at check-in to a Grosvenor suite for GBP 280/night. We passed. Deluxe King room with a sideways view of Hyde Park,.Nice enough.

Our first day we went for a walk and returned at about 19:20 to be told that service in the Executive Lounge (relocated to the restaurant) terminated at 19:00. Well, it seems that canapes do, but drinks go until 20:00. was not told that and went upstairs for drink and food. Not thrilled, but OK.

Overall, the lounge-in-restaurant was nice. Breakfast was typical buffet. some snacks at noon and more at14:00 (-16:00) as afternoon tea. Evening canapes 17:00-19:00, drinks 17:00-20:00. This was the usual fare for UK lounges. Medium-quality brands, but not bad. Service (coffee, primarily) was slow at times.

As for the rooms, sure enough, on the last day but one the key stopped working, despite multiple assurances and they had to reset it. We discovered at the room, of course.

On our last day, flight was 17:15, so we had a morning stroll to Bankside and looked about. They took us into the lounge to look around, I very much liked the feel, so it will likely be on the list for a future stay. since the main event for this trip was at Royal Albert Hall, Park Lane was a good location. But I can see why Bankside gets high marks here.

Cheers.

nicholasashaw

Any idea why ? I'm looking for one night mid week in two weeks times and average price is over £300 a night for an average Hilton. Feels like prices have doubled.

residentx

London is bustling, especially this summer. People have moved out of London during the pandemic and are spending one/two/three nights in hotels instead of getting back to the commute, tourists are back and leisure travel is huge again.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

Also the first week of June will be a 4 day weekend ( Platinum Jubillee weekend) but london is booming

Regards

TBS

pauleeepaul

Bankside is a good hotel in a meh location.

teemuflyer

It depends what you enjoy. I personally like the South Bank quite a bit. More residential in many ways, which means good local pubs, the Borough Market is nearby and getting across the Thames is not really much of a stretch for those who enjoy walking. Each to their own, of course.

wizla

It’s true London is live currently, I have my first gig since covid at the jazz cafe mid June , I’m in the Hilton Islington but it’s definitely twice the price I normally paid pre covid.
A couple of days later I’m back for my annual Thames walk, Hilton Canary Wharf is again twice the price.

jzafar

Thanks for sharing your recent experience brp! I like to try different properties every time I go to London. It was a hard decision between Park Lane and Trafalgar St. James but I ended up going with Trafalgar since the overall recent reviews seemed better. Plus I kept reading how tired the rooms were. Any comments on that?