New Years Eve- Westminster London

Goodfellla

Hi, Money saving experts.

I am in desperate need of some help. My girlfriend has hinted that she has always wanted to go to London for New Years Eve to see the fireworks celebrations as its something she's wanted to to do since she was a child.

As a surprise I thought I would book this up for this year and treat her. we have been together for 5 years and I am also going to propose to her as the clock strikes 12 and the fireworks go off but obviously she doesnt know about this. :happyhear

I am struggling to find a nice 4 or 5 star hotel around westminster (preferably within walking distance to big ben) that fits within my budget range.

I had originally budgeted myself for £200 for 2 nights stay from 30th December 08 until the 1st jan 09. I know this is'nt a great budget but I have blown the majority of my savings on the ring.

I have tried in vain to find a romantic hotel with nice reviews for £200 but found this near on impossible. I have upped my budget now to £300 for 2 nights but this is the most I can afford really as I also have to take spending money in London into consideration.

I am worried that If I dont find a hotel I will have to postpone my proposal as i want it to be special and not just run of the mill but at same time I would be devestated if I had to postpone and I'm sure her parents would be too. (yes I did the honourable thing and asked her dad first)

I would be so eternally grateful for any help that I can get from you MSE's. I have read post after post looking for money saving ways but I am still struggling and this is the first time I have ever tried to book a hotel as she always does it.


Please Please Please can anyone help me?


Thank you for taking the time to read this post.


Desperate and Lovestruck


Bob

whu

Welcome to the site - not sure how much it costs but have a look at the London County Hall (Marriott) in Westminster

Goodfellla

Hi and Thank you for the suggestion I will try that right away


Looks absolutely beautiful but is coming in at £756.70

MancBrel

I often stay in Westminster (both work and pleasure). If you want a decent hotel then I would recomend the City Inn on John Islip Street. It's within 5-10 minutes walk of Parliament (which is why I started staying here). Rack rates can be high, but they do some very good weekend deals, which may be available over the holiday period.

Also worthy of note is Dolphin House Apartments in Pimlico. They are about a 15-20 minute stroll away from Big Ben. I recently booked through Laterooms (for a studio weekend deal at about £80 a night including breakfast), and was upgraded to a 1 bedroomed apartment. Bargain. In the past I have paid about £115 for a studio (direct). It's nice.

Goodfellla

MancBrel wrote: »

I often stay in Westminster (both work and pleasure). If you want a decent hotel then I would recomend the City Inn on John Islip Street. It's within 5-10 minutes walk of Parliament (which is why I started staying here). Rack rates can be high, but they do some very good weekend deals, which may be available over the holiday period.

Also worthy of note is Dolphin House Apartments in Pimlico. They are about a 15-20 minute stroll away from Big Ben. I recently booked through Laterooms (for a studio weekend deal at about £80 a night including breakfast), and was upgraded to a 1 bedroomed apartment. Bargain. In the past I have paid about £115 for a studio (direct). It's nice.

Hi ManBrel,


I thought that about the offers too but all hotels seem to have xmas offers but no NYE offers or any that do have offers are linked in with some kind of Black Tie Ball which I dont want. I have looked at Dolphin House, they seem nice but are at top end of my budget and City Inn which I have stayed at in Birmingham and loved it would have been perfect but they are quoting near £350.00 seems like I am doomed

justmarried06

Have you tried any of the top secret hotels on lastminute.com? Sometimes they come through with amazing hotels at much lower costs than usual

JM x

sarah_elton

Is there any chance you can stay one night? Come down on New Year's Eve and travel back on the 1st? Your budget could buy one nice night and that's all you need. Your proposal idea sounds really lovely (just have a contingency plan for rain - golf umbrella or somewhere indoors to get down on your knee) - hope you find a way to work it out.

EDIT: I just searched on laterooms.co.uk (best website for hotels!) for Westminster, and found the Grange Rochester - 4* and has good user reviews on there. It's in Victoria, but that's not too far away. If you look on the hotel's site:

http://www.grangehotels.com/Hotels-London/Grange-Rochester-Hotel/Grange-Rochester-Hotel.aspx

I found two nights from the 31st at £185, or £240 for an executive room (didn't read carefully enough to see what the difference was). If you phone them up to book and say you're proposing you might be able to get a free glass of champagne or something. Another good point - it doesn't show availability for a one night stay on the 31st - I expect they're not taking one night bookings so hopefully you won't have too many p*ssed up noisy people who are just in town for the party for the night. (I'm in London that night too and never done it before - sounds fun!)

If that doesn't appeal, try searching Westminster on laterooms.com- it's a good site.

schrojen

I dont wanna disappoint you but its hard on any day to find a 4-5 star hotel thats nice in London for 100 a night, nevermind NY eve. My suggestion would maybe be stay further out with a tube connection like Greenwich maybe
here are some links with suggestions
http://www.laterooms.com/en/hotel-reservations/146653_hyde-park-suites-queensway.aspx
http://www.laterooms.com/en/hotel-reservations/73196_best-western-mornington-hotel-london.aspx
http://www.laterooms.com/en/hotel-reservations/83675_ramada-hotel-suites-london-docklands-london.aspx
the Ramada looks a good bet, on Kayak you can get it for 89p/n
If all else fails stay in Club Quarters St Pauls, very good location, average hotel
http://www.easytobook.com/hoteldetails.php?utm_medium=vertical&affid=808&hotel_id=28437&utm_campaign=en&utm_source=kayaklisting&departure=02-01-2009&lang=en&persons=2&currency=GBP&utm_content=etb3&room_id=17130&arrival=31-12-2008&utm_term=london&rooms=1
http://www.hotel.info/Booking.aspx?h_chp=92&h_departure=02%2f01%2f2009&lng=EN&h_arrival=31%2f12%2f2008&h_sar=1&han=2282551&h_chpn=-1&h_nri=1&h_persons=2&h_step=4&st_rpos=1&h_sfi=1&h_hmid=85987&h_rooms=1

So a lot of options, have a great time

morg_monster

I think you should just stay for one night - aside from £, she will want to get back home and tell everyone ASAP! Also I presume you've both got the 2nd booked off work?! My BF proposed to me in Paris and it was wonderful but we couldn't wait to get home and tell everyone face to face!

aside from that, as others have said, even £300 for one night doesn't go as far as a 4 or 5 star hotel on NYE. think you will need to either cut the star rating or go a bit further out from central. personally I'd go with the latter.

One option might be to widen the search out to marylebone/baker street area or Bloomsbury. tubes run all night on NYE so getting there won't be a problem, and bloomsbury is easily walkable anyway. EG the melia white house hotel is near regents park, certainly looks very very nice from the outside, deluxe doubles for £76.50 per person for new years eve on superbreak.com. you might even be able to stay a second night for the same or cheaper and go walk in regent's park and visit london zoo or something the next day.

in Bloomsbury, try the great russell hotel, from £77 to £100 per person for a double room (again on superbreak). its a huge hotel very grand and has just been refurbished. easily walk-, bus- or tube-able from westminster, LOADS of touristy things around, and tons of nice restaurants too.

other things to think about:
if you do stay for 1 night, see if you can get late check out.
book a restaurant in advance for NYE too.
logistics of proposing at midnight - it will be VERY loud and probably VERY crowded - you won't be able to get down on one knee!

L-train

Tripadvisor.com is another good site for finding hotels. I don't know of any hotels in Westminster that would fit your budget (as others have said, you'll struggle to find a decent hotel in London for £100 a night). I can personally recommend a few London hotels, but they might stretch your budget:

Apex City of London hotel in Tower Hill seems to be £336 for 31/12 - 2/1. I've stayed there a couple of times, and it's clean and modern and quiet.

Melia White House near Great Portland Street was just above the £300 mark for those two nights I think (have closed the window now!). This is quite close to Regents Park.

Park City Hotel in Kensington was under £300 on some sites. Rooms weren't huge, but it was clean and quiet.

If you search on trip advisor you can see reviews from other travellers, and there's also a feature that enables you to search on several websites for the best price.

louise3965

I walked by this last week, its just been done out and it does look lovely. Its just off covent garden http://sas.parkinn.com/RAD/Reservations/MakeResEntrance.jsp?startDate=20081231&fromRedirect=true&numberChildren=0&iata=45339675&a_month_year=200812&language=en&numberAdults=2&hotelCode=lonpb&country=GB&ref=/RAD/Reservations/MakeResEntrance.jsp&a_date=31&endDate=20090102&d_date=02&city=London&d_month_year=200901