London hotels - staying "tonight" advice

kemlynroader

The mythical issue of last minute discounts on central London hotels. I detest the thought of having to pay £100+ for a decent room for the night but aware that you get what you pay for in the middle of London and can't stay too far out of town

Have downloaded apps recently such as "Hotel Tonight" and "Booking Now", which in theory, give details of discounts offered by hotels for staying "tonight" but in reality, prices are similar to those you can find on the likes of Trivago anyway.

Has anyone ever tried turning up to a hotel and offering a reasonable amount of money way below what the normal charge of a room is but enough for the hotel to accept a cheeky offer? (using the basis that surely they would accept a payment to avoid the room being left unoccupied overnight?

I'm aware that hotel overheads (wages/costs etc) come into this but if anyone can explain any tips/pointers or anything else useful from personal experiences, It'd be appreciated.

duchy

Have you investigated priceline and hotwire ?

kemlynroader

Yes,thanks for that, but curious to get to the bottom of the issues I've quoted in my initial message.

duchy

Basic answer is no. London occupancy rates are generally high and hotels don't want to be seen to cheapening the product so do it via third parties like the above mentioned companies when they have space.

I've never seen it in central London ever -only time I saw it was once at a very very nice hotel in Wimbledon where we were attending a wedding and about 10pm we were offered a room that was just below half the normal price.

I wouldn't say never - but I wouldn't rely on it -and the question is if (as is likely) it didn't work-what would you do instead ? Pay top rate ? Sleep in the car ? Drive out to the sticks for something cheaper.

March2012

cheapest way to travel

duchy wrote: »

Basic answer is no. London occupancy rates are generally high and hotels don't want to be seen to cheapening the product so do it via third parties like the above mentioned companies when they have space.

I've never seen it in central London ever -only time I saw it was once at a very very nice hotel in Wimbledon where we were attending a wedding and about 10pm we were offered a room that was just below half the normal price.

I wouldn't say never - but I wouldn't rely on it -and the question is if (as is likely) it didn't work-what would you do instead ? Pay top rate ? Sleep in the car ? Drive out to the sticks for something cheaper.

kemlynroader

Thanks for the advice, we actually booked via lastminute.com "Top Secret' using Google to identify which hotel it was we were going to stay at and had a fantastic time at the Radisson Blu near Canary Wharf for a fraction of the price that the comparison sites were selling the room for.

susancs

The Accor Hotel chain (Ibis, Novotel, Mecure) chain have "last minute" London weekend (Fri. Sat or Sunday nights) hotels on the Happy Monday offer (only bookable Mondya and Tuesday for that weekend), but obviously for 4 days time rather than on the day, but £60 a night for a fairly central London hotel is not bad compared to the usual rate.