Priceline Hotel: 5* hotel in The City and London Bridge zone?

[rageisman]

Priceline now lists a 5 star option in that zone, but the hotel list at the beginning of the forum only lists 4 star hotels. Does anyone have an opinion on what hotel or hotels might be 5 stars in that zone.

Thanks,

Ray

[rageisman]

Priceline now gives you a 5 star option for the zone "The City and London Bridge". Your hotel list for that area of London only lists 4* and lower. Does anyone have any idea what hotel or hotels the 5* would be? Thanks.

[thereuare]

Grange St.Paul's Hotel and the Grange City Hotel would be at least two possibilities, but there could be others as well.

Do you have dates for an upcoming trip?

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[rageisman]

Yes. We are arriving Wednesday night April 18 and returning Monday April 23. We usually stay in the Mayfair zone, but my daughter has moved to the area of London Bridge, so I was contemplating that as a possible area to stay also. I have not started to bid yet, as it seems like a little too far in advance, but I'll probably start putting in some lowball bids soon. We've received the Intercontintal and the Marriott Park Lane in the past, with the help of your board. You provide a great service.

[vanpoodle]

I had looked it up last week and the Grange St Paul's is what I came up with based on PL's retail site. I've stayed at Grange hotels before and they vary considerably. The Grange Holborn was rated 5* in a few places, that was a bit generous but it was a nice hotel (it had an incredibly beautiful pool in the basement). Having been happy there I booked the Grange Strathmore on hotels.com (this was back in the days when PL was not available to Canadians) and it was awful. It was only rated 4* to begin with but we ended up in the basement in a murphy bed with a mattress than was only about 2" thick. Fortunately they took note of our demands for a better room and moved us to the Grange Fitzrovia which was fine. Sorry about this digression, I guess the point is that Grange hotels seem to vary widely and it's hard to tell if the PL 5* rating is fair or not!

[rageisman]

Thank you for the information. I think we'll try to stay in the Mayfair area where we are used to the surroundings.

[thereuare]

What is your maximum bid and minimum star rating for the Mayfair zone?

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[rageisman]

The minimum star rating is 5 stars. I don't have a firm maximum price right now. In the past we've gotten rooms in that zone for $160 to $190. Our stay there will be a little longer than past trips, so we are still deciding if we want to do the priceline thing and risk getting a room that we don't like for the entire stay. On past visits we have stayed in London for 2 or 3 nights, then moved on. On this trip we will be in London for the whole vacation. I will probably start bidding in the near future for around $160 and see what happens, as we still have 1 1/2 months. Thanks again for your service, and we will use your PRICELINE link.

[vanpoodle]

I've found I like splitting my stays into two when I'm in London. I've had trips where I've tried bidding all 8 nights or whatever in one go and had no luck getting a good deal, but done better by splitting it off and gotten the weekend nights for less than $85 (for 4* mind you -- things might be different for 5*). It also means that I might get to check out different hotels and different zones as I really like exploring when I'm in London. Perhaps that might minimize the risk of being in a hotel you dislike for the whole trip?