Priceline Hotel: 4* London (Bloomsbury-Marble Arch) Thistle Marble Arch

[Tuuli]

What would be a suitable bid for 4* and/or 5* in Mayfair-Soho area? We are a 38 yr daughter/68 yr mother, my mother did inherit some money lately and want to treat me with a trip to London. I would like to find us a very nice hotel for a reasonable price.

Also, any idea how easy it would be to get a twin bed instead of double if booked via Priceline or do they just give the lowest level room available without asking preferences?

[Chris26WI]

Just contact the hotel after you got it in Priceline and tell them your bedding configuration wish.. no guarantee for that, but I might assume good chances.

[blindman]

Have you seen the Maps section of this board?

If you scroll to the Mayfair hotels reported on this board it shows recent wins.

As a rough guide 5* tends to be $160 (+taxes) whilst 4* can be as low as $75 (+taxes)

All depends on the rates of the hotels on your dates.

Tripadvisor is a good place to get reviews as well as the Hotel reviews here.

Priceline only guarantees double occupancy, it's down to the hotel on check-in to give you either one double or two singles.

At the 4\5 star rating I've usually found the staff to be very accomodating and friendly and will do their best to help.

23rd April is the London Marathon so occupancy may be a problem, though not as bad as the 22nd hopefully.

Are you running it :)

[WillTravel]

Strangely, the few cases I've read of problems getting two twin beds were in Mayfair, with 5* hotels. Even these were solvable by paying an upcharge.

In general, two twin beds seems to be the standard for London hotel rooms, or at least it's been so for me.

What I've done is look at the list of hotels in the zone, visit their sites, and then check out what sorts of rooms they are offering with what sorts of beds. If you see that the hotel is offering double rooms for the same price as twins, then you're very likely to be able to request a twin. On the other hand, if the hotel charges a premium for such rooms, and it's a Priceline possibility, you might want to skip that zone.

When you check in, in the unlikely event that the front desk says no twin rooms are available, offer to come back later (this works for a morning or afternoon check in) when more rooms are cleaned.

[Tuuli]

Thanks for info about Marathon, I know prices depend on dates, holidays and this kind of big events. We weren't sure if this is high or low season pricewise. Fortunately we are flexible with our travel dates.

[Tuuli]

Tried Priceline for the first time.

Bid $ 50 5* Soho-Mayfair rejected

Bid $ 55 4* Soho-Mayfair rejected

Bid $60 4* Mayfair - Soho and added Bloomsbury - Marble Arch - accepted

Check-In Date: Sunday, April 23, 2006

Check-Out Date: Friday, April 28, 2006

Hotel Name: Thistle Marble Arch

Bryanston Street

Marble Arch

London, United Kingdom

44 20 7629 8040

Your Offer Price: $60.00

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 5

I am pretty happy with this deal and so is my mother who is paying this mother-daughter trip :)

Your Offer Price: $60.00

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 5

Subtotal: $300.00

Taxes & Service Fees:

$63.43

Total Charges: $363.43