Family of 6 - cheap London accommodation?

Cripes

Hi folks

With our 4 kids, aged between 10-16, we quite fancy a week in London this summer. We're really struggling to find cheaper accommodation, and even camping is pricey as we're not Caravan Club members.

Ideally we'd like basic bricks and mortar accommodation, two singles rooms and a double - close to main transport routes into the centre.

Any suggestions most welcome!

jackyann

Have you looked at the YHA? http://www.yha.org.uk
I've not used the London one, but had good family holidays 2 adults + 4 kids) elsewhere with them.
I have friends who use the travelodge cheap deals, but you have to be very flexible to be able to do that
I have heard about getting very short lets on flats ( a friend did this years ago for a week) but don't know any details.

McKneff

What about looking at 2 family rooms at Travelodge,

Pretty basic, but if youre on holiday, all yu need are beds for sleeping and a kettle for when you get up.

p00hsticks

Try looking for student halls of residence ? These are sometimes available and cheap over the summer. I've just googled and found this website - there may well be others (Imperial College is another I think rent out rooms)

http://www.londonuniversityrooms.co.uk/?gclid=CNTmjbP09LQCFe7MtAodwisA3Q

Cripes

Thanks for the suggestions - there were a few ideas that I hadn't thought of.

We're quite flexible on dates but it'll still be during school holidays.

flea72

If looking for cheap, then I assume you also want cooking facilities as having to eat out will really add to costs.

As a family of 5 we Have tried the Travelodge holiday and what we saved in accommodation costs, we lost in eating out (even by using cheap places like supermarkets and wetherspoons)

Have also looked at youth hostels and unis, but again for a family your size, is about £100pn for yha and £30pppn for unis. you wouldn't be above to share rooms in a uni either as most are now single rooms, double at max. The cc site at crystal palace is the best located campsite for London, but again still works out at about £40pn. But travel costs into the city will bump up the price

A tube travelcard for your family will cost £150 for the week too (need passport photos but if bought at rail station rather than tube, you get the Bogof attraction entry) A bus pass will cost a bit less, but travel times are considerably longer than tube

I'm doubting you could rent an apartment for under £150pn anywhere inside zone 6. But I suppose to some people that is still cheap. Maybe give an idea of your. Budget and what prices you have found so far. It may be cheaper still to stay an hour commute away by train and get a family and friends railcard and travel in every day

Cripes

flea72 wrote: »

If looking for cheap, then I assume you also want cooking facilities as having to eat out will really add to costs.

Thanks for the detailed reply - I think you've covered all the bases

Our budget for accommodation is around £500 - as you say, once you add food and transport costs it gets very pricey.

The only cheap option is the Crystal Palace campsite, but we were hoping for a deal on very basic accommodation that would get us 3 bedrooms for our budget. I've been on the university accommodation and YHA sites and it's coming out at £150 a night, which is just silly!

The other option is to stay well outside London on a good rail link - any suggestions?

flea72

Cripes wrote: »

Thanks for the detailed reply - I think you've covered all the bases

The other option is to stay well outside London on a good rail link - any suggestions?

It would depend on where you were travelling from home, on which side of London to suggest. Or you could choose an area where you could do other things rather than go into the city every day

Ie, Southend. Spend a few days on beach/amusements and a few days in London. Would cost about £50 for train, including London travelcard (using friends/family railcard) Or it's commutable to somewhere like Stratford or Newbury park tube stations. Under £5 to park for day, then just get travelcards

susancs

You could maybe look at staying at a Travelodge on the outskirts of London with good travel links and book two family rooms. Children aged 10 and under travel free on all buses and tubes and you can get a daily travelcard for each child aged 11-16.

TL London Park Royal has family rooms for £25 per night for the July/Aug school holiday dates and it is about 10 minute walk to the tube station from there. There are some good rates on more central locations end of July, August such as Southwark at £39 per night per room, Covent Garden £41 per night per room. However I note that if you just do a low price date search it just brings up double rooms, however if you go to the top and amend the search to 2 rooms and 1 adult and 2 children in each room it shows up the family rooms. You may have to use this to check your dates and prices and add each night to your basket one at a time (best to do this anyway as to block book the system charges the most expensive rate for all nights, even if some cheaper). It might be worth considering booking the buffet breakfast (if the TL has a cafe) as two children per paying adult eat breakfast free and then you could get some items from a nearby supermarket on route to have lunch on the go and then have a bigger evening meal. I would also bring refillable water bottles with you as it does get hot on the buses and tubes in the peak summer season.

PasturesNew

Using the given information, I chucked Crystal Palace and dates of 20-27 July into this site and it gave some results: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/s/Crystal-Palace--London--United-Kingdom?checkin=20-07-2013&checkout=27-07-2013&guests=6&room_types[]=Entire+home%2Fapt&price_max=121

Link broke .... https://www.airbnb.co.uk/s/Crystal-Palace--London--United-Kingdom?checkin=20-07-2013&checkout=27-07-2013&guests=6 - so I cut it down, you need to filter for "entire home" on the left.

p00hsticks

Cripes wrote: »

Our budget for accommodation is around £500 - as you say, once you add food and transport costs it gets very pricey.

The only cheap option is the Crystal Palace campsite, but we were hoping for a deal on very basic accommodation that would get us 3 bedrooms for our budget. I've been on the university accommodation and YHA sites and it's coming out at £150 a night, which is just silly!

Have you also ruled out McKneffs suggestions of Travelodges ? the London Central Waterloo one is currently showing at £37 a night for the period 14/07 to 23/08 - so if you could manage with two family rooms that would nearly be within your budget, (2 x £37 X 7 = £514)

And it's central - within a mile of most tourist sites - so transport costs shoudl be minimal once you're there.

http://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/421/London-Central-Waterloo-hotel