Got a great deal on my flight to London thanks to Google Flights ($1459 for a family of 4)! Next task was finding a hotel. Now, I normally use Hotels.com for my accommodation needs (I think I'm probably the only person who doesn't like using AirBNB). All the trips we have booked over the years, this one was probably the hardest. First off, London is expensive. If you're going to find a half-way decent place to stay, you're going to pay a pretty penny. I like the Marriott brand, which is who I usually try to pick, however, the ones I looked at didn't have any WiFi in the room. Only Free Wifi in the lobby. Boo that! On the day I was going to book one, Marlin Waterloo magically popped up into my search.
When I look for hotels, I do my due diligence. I read a ton of reviews (from multiple websites), compare pricing, and look what's around. Everything seemed to look good. The price was about $175 a night. Not bad. But, what really pulled me in was that it was close to a few of our planned destinations like London Eye, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben (which unfortunately, was under renovation). I have 2 little girls (5 and 11) and they easily hoofed it over there and the surrounding areas. Speaking of surrounding areas, there are a few grocery shops within walking distance (Tesco Express, Sainsbury, and Costcutter), a Costa Coffee, a Pret-A-Manger, and a pretty decent peri-peri chicken restaurant all right downstairs. Wait, it gets even better, the Lambeth North station is only a few yards away. It makes it super easy to take the tube to get around London.
Now, as for the room, it was actually not too bad. It had a Queen bed (or maybe it was a double. I can never tell) and a sofa bed to fit all 4 of us. I gave my wife and girls the Queen bed and I slept on the sofa bed. As with most sofa beds, this one was not easy on my back. But, it did the trick. The bathroom was clean, but I'm still wondering why some hotels don't put a door in the actual shower. There is a glass there, but no glass for the back part of the shower where a door normally would be. I had this in Amsterdam, as well. Is that a European hotel thing?
Anyway, the room also had a fridge (in where they included water at no charge), a coffee maker, a safe, and of course a TV. But, the best part of any hotel is how well the blackout shade works. Put in this way, we slept until 11 or 12 most days. For a guy who wakes up at the slightest bit of light, this was awesome!
With the little, minor hiccups, I would still rate this place 5 stars. The location and price was perfect. read more