Priceline Hotel: 4* London (Regents Park - Baker Street - Camden Market) Melia White House

[reschs23]

Hello everyone! First post here; already found a lot of great tips! Needs two rooms for 4 adults and 4 small children (ages 5-10).

 

Looking at two 4* rooms in London, 8-11 MAR 2015. Tried bidding up to $80 in Kensington, Notting Hill, Westminster, Knightbridge, Mayfair,and Bloomsbury with no luck.

 

PRICELINE EXPRESS shows two 4* rooms for $99. Looking for help identify the hotel name. Tripadvisor did not provide any matches I could see. 

 

1)  4 Star Hotel Notting Hill - Paddington Station Area

 

Amenities: Free  internet, Restaurant

Guest rating 8+

Price: $99

 

2) 4 Star Hotel Kensington - Earl's Court Area

 

Amenities: Restaurant, Fitness center, Business center

Guest rating 7+

Price: $99

 

Also, the room option for Paddington showed $99 for double bed and $138 for double bed and twin bed. Does this mean the $99 is just one bed? I read the PL FAQs and know the PL rooms are guaranteed for only double occupancy but many have posted that the PL hotels can often accommodate up to four most times.

 

Thanks in advance for the help!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Also, the room option for Paddington showed $99 for double bed and $138 for double bed and twin bed. Does this mean the $99 is just one bed?

Yes.

...but many have posted that the PL hotels can often accommodate up to four most times.

I don't think most times is the proper verbage to use here... all that is guaranteed with PRICELINE is double occupancy, after that it is at the discretion of the hotel, and this can certainly be an issue in many locations, Europe included. In a family friendly area such as Orlando there are a high percentage of rooms with two beds... but in other instances, in large cities such as NYC, Chicago (and in Europe) smaller rooms are the norm and rooms with two beds are often considered an upgrade and cost more than standard rooms.

For example, in your example above of the Paddington room... see how the room with two beds (a double and a twin, costs more than the room with just one bed)? As well, although hotel standard is that a double bed can accommodate two people, many find it to be a bit too close for comfort, and a twin bed even more so (in fact twin beds are very rare and almost non-existent in the US)

So are you willing to take the risk that the room(s) you receive only have one bed and the hotel may not be able, or willing, to upgrade you to a room with two beds? (and if they are able/willing, there may be an additional charge to do so). If this is not an acceptable risk, HOTWIRE may still be an option as they allow you to search for up to quad occupancy and ensures sleeping accommodations for everyone you include in your search.

Let us know your thoughts/questions on the above and we'll take it from there.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[reschs23]

thank you for the feedback. Notting Hill is out. Checked Kensington 4* PLE on the hotel list and it showed Best Western. Did not like the reviews so that is out.

 

Found 4* PLE Regents Park - Baker Street - Camden Market  for $125 night.

 

Amenities:

Free internet

Fitness center

Business center

Restaurant

Rating: 8+

 

Hotel list shows it is the Holiday Inn Camden Lock. Great reviews and there are family room available (options even states 1 DOUBLE AND 2 TWIN BEDS - NONSMOKING CLASSIC ROOM)

 

Q1: Is the hotel list accurate? How certain can I be that this 4* PLE deal will be the Holiday Inn Camden?

 

Q2: Same zone, PLE 3* for $79 night.

Amenities: Free internet, business center, Guest Rating 7+

Any idea what hotel this is?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[thereuare]

I'm not as confident as you of the 4* being the Holiday Inn Camden Lock... my guess for this one would be the Melia White House.

... for the 3* i'm not seeing any bed choice listed, are you willing to accept the risk(s) outlined above? Also, not sure if you've ever traveled to London or not, but the star ratings in Europe are a bit more generous then their US counterparts, so a 3* in London may be more equivalent to a 2*/2.5* hotel in the States. Is this, and the risk of one bed (which is a risk any all star levels, but may increase at the lower star levels), acceptable?

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[reschs23]

thanks. Would LOVE the Melia House! Holiday Inn is nice as well so we're leaning towards this 4* PLE deal.

 

Other only  option were were looking at:

 

4 Star Hotel in The City - Tower Bridge - St. Pauls Cathedral Area for $112/night

 

Amenities:

Condo

Free Internet

bed choice available (two double beds for $134)

guest rating 7+

 

3½ Star Hotel in Bloomsbury - Marble Arch - Kings Cross Station & British Museum Area for $93/night

--Free internet

--Rating 7+

--Bed choice (two double beds for $109)

 

Any idea what hotel these? Can't imagine there are too many condos in the City? Has option for two double beds which

gives me piece of mind for the family.

 

Thanks!

[thereuare]

Can't imagine there are too many condos in the City?

Actually the condos can be quite difficult to guess as many are small independent properties that may not have much of a footprint on the internet, so can often be difficult to even find online even if you did know the name of the property.

I don't have a guess for the 4* property but for the 3.5* my guess would be the Nottingham Place Hotel or Studios2Let. (although for this 3.5* i'm not seeing any two bedded room options... only 'double bed options, nothing indicating two beds in the room)

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

Let us know what you decide and how it goes.

[reschs23]

WOW! We got the Melia White house just like you thought! This is excellent! Here are the details:

 

Deal type: Express Deal
Room price: $126.00 /night
Number of rooms: 2 rooms
Number of nights: 3 nights
Room subtotal: $756.00
Taxes & fees: $187.26
Total charged today: $943.26
Total charged: $943.26
Paid in full
Savings: You saved 35%*

 

Retail price was $1600 USD!

 

Question: Room type is 1 DOUBLE AND 2 TWIN BEDS - NONSMOKING CLASSIC ROOM

 

Looking on the Melia website, this looks like a Family Room. Do you agree? I don't see any other options on their website for this number of beds. 

 

Should I contact the property and confirm the rooms we would like?

 

Priceline fine print says it will accommodate up to 2 adults per room but then clearly states that each room has a double and 2 twin beds.

 

Thank you SOOO much for your help! Will continue to use and contribute to this awesome forum!!!!!   :D  :D  :D

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you received the hotel guessed and that you're pleased with the results.

If you'd like you can try calling/emailing the hotel to confirm the room type assigned and the room configuration.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board.

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

Enjoy your stay.

[reschs23]

Thanks but I just called the hotel and have a problem. They insist what I booked is a "Classic" room which is either one king bed OR two twin beds.

 

However, the PLE booking specifically states "1 DOUBLE AND 2 TWIN BEDS - NONSMOKING CLASSIC ROOM"

 

The property said the classic room is only for up to two people and that I would have to pay an extra $100 USD PER night PER room to upgrade to a Family Room.

 

So basically $600 more for  family rooms! I am calling Priceline to complain and demand a refund because this is not what the booking stated. 

 

What do you recommend is the best approach when calling? Thanks!

[AaronJB]

I'd call Price.line and tell them what has happened and see if they can contact the hotel and work something out on your behalf.

 

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[thereuare]

I would tell PRICELINE that you purchased the rooms to ensure that you would have separate beds, which you assumed to be the case based upon the '1 DOUBLE AND 2 TWIN BEDS' (which i assume should have been or) and that the room assigned doesn't meet your needs.

Good luck!

[reschs23]

Thank you! I just called PL and explained the issue. They called the hotel then called me back and offered a refund. The room type should have stated DOUBLE OR TWIN BEDS, not AND.

 

So now, back to the search! Going to use Hotwire as they guarantee Quad occupancy. 

 

Looking at this property. Any ideas? Hoping it will be the Holiday Inn Camden. 

 

Hotwire 4* Regents Park - Baker Street - Camden Market area $141 night

Fitness center

Biz Center

Smoke free

Internet access

Restaurant

 

Hotwire 95% recommended

TA = 4.5 of 5 

 

Thanks!

[thereuare]

Glad to see PRICELINE handled the issue promptly and professionally.

As the topic title of this thread already reflects your previous purchase (even though canceled) please start a NEW TOPIC for your replacement stay and we will assist you there. (in your new thread please also confirm how many rooms/adults/children you're searching for)

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

Thanks.

[reschs23]

will do. thanks!

[thereuare]

Please keep all posts for the same stay in the same thread. Once you win a hotel, use the 'ADD REPLY and REPORT WIN' button on the lower right corner of the page to edit the topic title to reflect your win and to provide the details of your purchase. This helps keep the board better organized by reducing the number of unresolved threads that don't have any follow-up or conclusion.

The above will take over 30 minutes to research and unfortunately i have not had such a large block of time available in order to research the offers above.