Hotwire Hotel: 4.5* London (The City-Financial District) Crowne Plaza

Any advice appreciated. Looking for a 4* hotel 12/26/08 to 1/1/09, close to the city or tube.

I've seen London Islington Hilton as low as $80 and the Bloomsburg Marble Arch Novotel St. Pancras as low as $75.

Trying to avoid Kensington area after reading very bad reviews of the Hilton Olympia 4*, specifically musty moldy smells which disagree with me.

my zones

X. Islington

A. Bloomsburg Marble Arch

B. Regents

C. Westminster

D. Mayfair/Soho

E. The City

F. Notting Hill

So far, I've bid (using the Betterbidding PRICELINE link) up to $85 for zones A+B+C+E+F+X without luck.

Should I wait a day, or try to add more zones and increase my price?

I thought this was the low season (past Christmas).

Thanks,

Joe Hotel

We've spent the past three (or four???) years in London between Christmas and NY and found hotels easy to come by at low prices. I would keep trying for the $85-100 range.

We got Millenium Gloucester (South Kensington) two years ago for $80, Hilton Olympia in April of this year for around $75. The Hilton was no 4 star hotel, but it wasn't awful, either, and I did not have any mildew problem in my room. However, the shower is a joke if you are over 5'4"! We also got Harrinton Hall (also South Kensington, now an NH Hotel) for about $100 one year right after Christmas.

We did book Sofitel St. James through Hotwire instead of Priceline for this year Dec 27th because we needed to guarantee a room for three. Even so, it was well priced at $186 for a 5* in a superb location. Good reviews, too.

A friend was just in London over the summer and used Priceline. Ended up at the Copthorne Tara and said she was happy with the hotel and price.

Good luck.

Thank you kindly (viel Dank!) for your reply. I really appreciate the information!!

We had three nights at the Hilton Olympia in April and had no complaints. We also stayed at the Copthorne Tara, which was fine but definitely not in the same league as the Hilton. With some patience, though, you should be able to get something in the zones you are looking for. The only night I wonder about is the 31st, which might be tough to get (I may be wrong on this, mind you). You might consider bidding all the nights but that one to see whether a room comes up for you. Hotwire sometimes comes up with very good London deals too and is worth checking.

I just did a quick check for your dates on HOTWIRE and a few decent hotels came up in the $126 + range. There was also a 5 star in Mayfair for $196, which would be a steal. So, there is inventory out there and hopefully it will come down to the price that you want to pay.

I think 12/31 is the problem as you stated. Prices jump on that day if I price with HOTWIRE for single days. Thanks for the advice!!

Is SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID an option?

Thanks to all who replied.

I ended up booking through Hotwire (and I should have used the Betterbidding HOTWIRE links but in my haste to do so, I forgot!)

I ended up at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza for $129 in the City - Financial District.

I got the Crowne Plaza London - The City for US$129 for these 6 nights. 12/26/08 checkin, 1/1/09 checkout

Amenities:

Fitness Center

Restaurant(s)

Business Center

High-speed Internet Access

After researching each of the 6 individual nights and finding that this same (apparent) hotel was priced at $132,143,143,179,179,and 179, I then

priced it for 6 complete nights, and found that it was $129 per night! I jumped on it, so much so that I forgot to use

the Betterbidding HOTWIRE Link!

The night of 12/31/08 was the most concerning as hotel availability (at least through Hotwire) seemed to dry up that night. Another reason I was

glad to book this room for 6 nights, to avoid a split stay. I imagine there will be a lot of revelry downtown that night, so I am going bring some

earplugs!

IMPORTANT ITEM - please note that if you go through the booking process for Hotwire, before you actually confirrm the booking,

that you can see the Tripadvisor score for the hotel. In this case it was 4.5 out of 5 stars, which precisely matched the Crowne Plaza's rating

on Tripadvisor. Of course, the Tripadvisor ratings change daily, so that's not something you can compile a database for, but it is one more piece

of information.

CROWNE PLAZA LONDON-THE CITY

NEW BRIDGE STREET 19

London, EC4V 6BD

United Kingdom

011-44-870-400-9190

Hotel rate per night: $129.00

Nights: 6

Rooms: 1

Subtotal: $774.00

Tax recovery charges & fees: $149.84

Total price: $923.84

Congratualtions on your success and thank you for sharing the details of your purchase with the board!

Glad to hear you found something which works well for your needs and you're happy with the results.

Please try to remember to use our PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your future purchases.

Enjoy your stay.

:) I got the surprise of my life the other day. Hotwire downgraded the Crowne Plaza London City to 3.5 stars after I stayed there a few weeks ago, and proceeded to credit me with the entire $923 that I spent on this trip in "HotDollars"! The HotDollars are for real. I just booked another hotel with the credit on my account.

Here is the text of their email message.

Dear [xxxxxxxxx],

We are contacting you about your recent stay at CROWNE PLAZA LONDON-THE CITY, Hotwire Itinerary Number [nnnnnnnn].

We periodically review our representation of our hotel partners' star rating. After doing so for this hotel, we have decided to adjust the star rating to 3.5 stars. While we are confident in the quality of all our hotel partners, the new rating more accurately reflects the service level, accommodations and facilities of this property.

As such, we would like to offer you the total amount paid for your hotel reservation in HotDollars, for a future Hotwire reservation.... etc

Sincerely,

Hotwire Customer Care

Excellent customer service... and a nice, unexpected, bonus!

Thanks for letting us know of the downgrade, we've updated the Hotwire Hotel List with the new star rating for this property.