hts

Sorry--inadvertently posted this in wrong forum--really want to use Marriott points for this vaca.


We're taking our boys (8 & 9) to London/Paris this summer for the first time and would appreciate hotel recommendations.

I did a quick search of this forum and really didn't find what I'm looking for.

I booked the new St Pancreas Rennaissance & Le Parc Trocadero using points last night, but neither looks like they'll accommodate 4 to a room.

I plan to call the hotels directly (Marriott US reservations were worthless last night when I tried them), but thought I'd check here as well and tap into your vast experience.

Thanks!

SkiAdcock

There are tons of threads in this forum re: the topic (at least on the London side), so I'm a bit surprised you didn't find anything. You might want to do a search on London or London+family. I know the question of 4 to a room crops up a lot. And we just had someone recently ask for recommendations because he was bringing his 6yrold for the first time.

The consensus seems to be Marriott County Hall & Marble Arch can handle 4 to a room, and are better located for what you'd like to do compared to St. Pancras. County Hall overlooks Big Ben, London Eye, etc.

Cheers.

PWMFlyer19

I don't think County Hall will do 4, but Marble Arch will and has a pool for the boys. Check out Marriott Regents Park as well. If the number of points are an issue, check out Marriott Maida Vale (cat 6 and cheap pay rates), it has a pool for your boys and is relatively close to the tube. The location is not perfect in that it is in tube zone 2, but still a relatively quick ride into town. Some think the area it is in needs some work, but I thought it was fine.

For Paris, Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe Hotel and Renaissance Paris Le Parc Trocadero Hotel should both have family rooms available for redemption, however, they require points plus a nightly supplement (E170 for Le Parc and E90 for Arc) . They should pop up on the internet if they are available, but it may already be too late for this summer. Also, check Courtyard Paris Neuilly which will have a supplement of E60 per night.

I would also recommend not searching for X number of days in a row, I would search 1 day at a time. You may find something available for 4 out of 6 nights and make a decision to pay for the other nights or move somewhere else.

Cheers.

SkiAdcock

County Hall will accomodate 4; been mentioned in threads, which is why I mentioned it And a # of FTers have stayed there w/ their kids, including VickiSoCal whose kids are swimmers I think. CH has a pool.

Are you saying the Paris hotels have a supplement for 4 in a room or a supplement for upgrade to exec level?

Cheers.

PWMFlyer19

I guess my recent searches for County Hall have never been good. I know they have rooms with 2 doubles but the room maximum is stated as 3. If I search right now for rooms for 4 people on various dates all year round, nothing will show - even for paid rates. Do you think the room maximums have recently changed ? Or a situation where you need to call the hotel directly?

The Paris hotels have standard rooms available for just points, but they do not accommodate 4 people - they have just 1 king or 1 queen. So they make bigger rooms available for points plus a supplement.

I believe (and could be wrong) that the supplement is for an upgraded room, not necessarily for 4 people, but when you search for 4 people, this is what comes up. If I change it from 4 to 3 people, the supplement does not change. And the supplement can vary from season to season, I have seen supplments in the winter of E50 rather than E90 in the summer.

Example, at Le Parc, it is called a Family & Leisure, Junior Suite, 1 King with Sofabed. Arc de Triomphe has a similiar room with 2 doubles.

Cheers.

LKO

We stayed at Marble Arch with 2 children (not recently). I specifically booked it because it allowed 4 to a room and therefore was the cheapest option I could find in London. I think County Hall has a better location for sightseeing with children.

I'm not aware of any Marriotts in Paris that allow 4 to a room. I did stay at the Courtyard Paris Neuilly once, but it was just me and one son. Our room had 2 twin beds but they did have some type of junior suite that would accommodate 4 with an upgrade charge.

Most European hotels don't have 2 queen or double beds like we are used to in the US and there often isn't room for a rollaway. The rooms are generally a lot smaller than we are used to so having 4 in a room isn't feasible.

SkiAdcock

I think you have to call County Hall, but I'm almost positive FTers have reported 4 to a room are allowed, even though the website says 3.

Cheers.

VickiSoCal

County Hall standard award redemption rooms allow four. You have to book with 3 but I called ahead of time and they allowed 4 in the 2 double room. St Pancras standard redemption room only allows 2. Regents Park allows 4 but they seem to have recently changed their lounge policy to no 16 and unders, which is a deal breaker for us.

In Europe, I always, always call to be sure they know we will have 4 in the room and make sure they note it in the reservation to avoid unpleasant surprises on arrival.

The Coutny Hall pool is a lap pool attached to an athletic club and you will not feel very welcome if your kids are just there to screw around. My kids had their workouts specified by their coach so weren't there for fun. Once that became apparent, the atmosphere perked up and they even got some compliments on their strokes.

hts

Thanks for the responses so far--looks like the London recommendations will work out just fine--thanks!

I'm not real crazy about paying a supplement on top of the 140k points for 4 nights in Paris. I have no idea what a MR point is currently worth, but even at $100/point (which seems a bit dear to me), that's $1400 ($350/night) for 4 nights! If I can't find a decent MR property in Paris, we might be better off saving the points and just buying a room for 4 nights!

:-(

WillTravel4Food

I've got a reservation for the Paris Rive Gauche this summer. I booked the room many months ago. There may not be anything available now. I was able to reserve a Jr. Suite that will accomodate the three of us, me and two teens. There is a 100 EUR upcharge. I've seen some comments here that they might waive for a PLAT and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I had to call to get the Jr. Suite. It wasn't available online.

hts

Perhaps I'm being unreasonable, but I think the whole notion of paying any type of surcharge on top of redemption points is ludicrous.

I'm tempted to simply cancel both of our reservations, bank the points for Havaii, and find alternative accommodations.

How very frustrating.

::sad::

VickiSoCal

Are you dead set on Paris? We found MORE than enough to do in London for a week with kids that age. Don't be worried too much about the hotel. You really will be out and about doing things. We bought the six day London Pass, 7 day travel cards for the adults (kids are free when with adults) our first time there with our kids and did SO much. The Tower, Windsor, Kew Gardens, the Eye, the parks (Peter Pan playground!), boat to Greenwich, the War museum..... Hawaii is fun and we've done that with them too, but they really remember London.

hts

Thanks Vicki, but this is our boys first trip to Europe (we usually do Carib beaches and/or Orlando) and even though there's more than enough to keep us busy in London as you suggest, we thought it'd be fun to expose them to both cities and see if this sort of vaca piques their interests (and besides, we've already purchased IAD-LHR, Eurostar, and CDG-IAD tickets).

:-)

yul lite

Like a few others, we have stayed with 2 adults/2 kids at County Hall in London. I booked with 3 and then called the hotel to add a comment about there being a 4th person. There is no more impressive sight when you are a kid than being able to look out your window and see the Houses of Parliament/Big Ben/Thames River and London Eye! Many Marriotts in the UK have 2 doubles but will not allow you to book with 4. Some will not allow booking more than 2, however when you email they have no problem allowing 2 adults/2 kids. I had to do this with several Marriotts in the UK when we toured last summer. There was never an extra charge.

I have never stayed with Marriott in Paris due to the difficulty (or impossibility) of staying 4 to a room.

anotherbrian

I'm one of the ones who started an earlier thread on London (and Paris and Munich) hotels, and we got back home earlier this week.

We were two adults and a 6yo and 2.9yo and I had similar difficulties finding appropriately sized rooms.

We stayed at the Maida Vale in London on a cheap corporate rate for three nights. The room had two doubles and enough room to put a crib. The Maida Vale was a bit of a distance from the touristy areas, however it was only a ~5 minute walk to the Bakerloo line (Kilburn Park station) that hit many of the major areas (Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Charing Cross, Embankment). The kids were welcomed with coloring pencils/books/balloons, which was nice. I think we'd stay at the Maida Vale again, though that was on a corporate rate that was 1/2 to 1/3rd of the price of the Marble Arch or County Hall (and the rate also included a taxi journey which got us to St. Pancras station for our Eurostar trip to Paris).

In Paris we stayed for five nights at the Le Parc Trocadero on points + 50EUR/night and it was fantastic. The room claimed to accommodate three plus a crib, so we showed up with all four of us. Room ended up having one king bed. Kids were greeted with a very nice book to keep (find the dog hiding in the pages spanning all of the major sights), and the crib was in the room and setup on arrival (this has _never_ happened in a couple years of staying at Marriotts in the US). The staff was fantastic.

We then stayed at the Munich Renaissance, which was as outdated and hot as other threads have said, with a good breakfast. It was a ~75EUR rate though, so I won't complain much.

= = =

On a side note, big ups to the Maida Vale. In our haste to check-out we accidentally left an iPhone 3GS, a set of Shure headphones, and a pricey LED headlight in the unlocked room safe. We didn't realize we'd left them behind until two days later when my wife asked where her phone was (we'd removed the SIMs and were using them Wifi only). It took a bit of effort to (affordably) call the hotel from Paris, and the impending holidays probably didn't help (Good Friday, Easter Monday, wedding), but we've recovered the iPhone and headphones so far. I've since emailed them a picture of the headlight, and I expect it'll turn up.