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The Langham London Wants To Take You On A Magical Mystery Tour

Where: 1C Portland Place, London, United Kingdom, W1B 1JA

Marylebone High Street

High tech isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when we think of the Langham London, so we’re pretty impressed by the latest venture coming from the concierge desk of the grand dame: MP3 walking tours of the neighboring areas.

The Langham is bang in the middle of Fitzrovia and Marylebone (the latter is more interesting, being one of London’s few remaining “villages”), and the hotel has constructed two walking tours to be played on MP3 players that are given out at the concierge desk.

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Royal Wedding Hotels / London Hotels / Royal Hotels / Park Plaza Hotels / → All Tags

London's Park Plaza Hotels Are Dangling a Free Night for Royal Wedding Guests

Where: London, United Kingdom

Whilst most other London hotels are upping their rates for the Royal Wedding, Park Plaza Hotels are bucking the trend by ffering guests a free night on April 29th, the wedding night. And we thought Camp Royale was cheap!

There is a sort of pre-nup to sign however. Guests must stay (and pay) for four nights to qualify for the free night. But with room rates from £89 per night it's not that bad a value.

There are six Park Plaza Hotels in London but the Royal Package is only available at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, the Park Plaza County Hall and the Park Plaza Riverbank. All of which are situated only ten minutes away from the Royal Parade route and close to the tourist attractions of Big Ben, Westminster and the London Eye. (That's a view from one of the suites at the Westminster Bridge hotel where regular rooms start at £109.00 a night.)

To book your stay, head over to the Park Plaza website and quote the promotion code of “Royal” when booking.

Hotel Delays / Hotel Openings / Glasgow Hotels / Hotel Indigo / → All Tags

Hotel Indigo Glasgow May Not Be Picking Up The Phone As Scheduled On Monday

Where: 75 Waterloo Street, Glasgow, United Kingdom, G2 7DA

Ruh roh, are we looking at another delayed hotel opening? This time it’s the turn of the Hotel Indigo Glasgow, which was scheduled to open on Monday. Only problem is, that although the website states that the opening date is on track, it isn’t showing any availability until the following Monday, 25 April.

It does, however, have a note saying that for reservations before 2 May, you're meant to call them. So, to give them the benefit of the doubt, we gave them a call today (during office hours - at 3pm Glasgow time no less) and found the phone ringing, ringing... and going straight to voicemail. Not answering the phone at 3pm? That doesn't sound like a hotel opening in three days time.

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Has The Corinthia Been Sneakily Delayed Again?

Where: Whitehall Place, London, United Kingdom

Maybe all those sketchy connections to Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi are starting to catch up with the forthcoming Corinthia Hotel in London.

First the Corinthia started taking bookings for April 2nd but when we checked online they were no rooms available until April 16th. Being the detectives that we are, we called up the hotel only to be told it was opening April 2nd but they were indeed full until the 16th.

April 2nd passed and guess what? The hotel didn’t open. Next the hotel announced it would "fully open" April 16th and now it seems that it has been sneakily delayed yet again. Unless it is fully booked through April 27th but give the hotel's track history of “fully booked”, we doubt it. (Yes, our heads are spinning too.)

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Snapshot / Hotel TVs / London Hotels / Royal Wedding Hotels / → All Tags

This is One Secret The Bentley London Should Keep To Themselves

The Bentley London Hotel calls itself one of the city's "best kept secrets" but these TVs in their guestrooms should probably remain hidden.

Even though the hotel's website shows flat-screens in their rooms, it seems a few of these clunkers have stayed on. For a luxury hotel, you'd think they be on the up and up with the latest in TV technology. Why even the budget Tune Hotel in Westminster has flat-screens.

Not surprisingly, the hotel is part of the Waldorf-Astoria Collection, whose hotels aren't always "with it" amenity-wise or technology-wise, especially in their flagship hotel in New York. We rather like the rest of the opulently styled rooms with their luxe bedding, chandeliers and silk-covered walls and drapes but still, those TVs should remain out of sight.

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London Hotels / Hotel Renovations / Hotel News / Guoman Hotels / → All Tags

First The Airports, Now The Train Stations, The Grosvenor Victoria Gets A Refurb

Where: 101 Buckingham Palace Road, Victoria, London, United Kingdom, SW1W 0SJ

Last week we announced the arrival of a new Hilton at Heathrow airport so it's only right that the Railway Stations get some decent hotels. The latest station hotel to get a face lift is the Grosvenor Victoria (formerly the Thistle Victoria) which will be upgraded to a four-star deluxe hotel once the £18 million works are complete this November.

The hotel will join Guoman Hotels who have six other London hotels including The Royal Horseguards Hotel and The Cumberland. The hotel is situated in a listed building, let's just hope they don't make the same mistake as St Pancras Renaissance and skimp on the sound proofing.

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Inside the Ginormous Amarillo Suite at The May Fair London

Where: Stratton Street, London, United Kingdom, W1A 2AN

As you read this, London's iconic May Fair Hotel is working to add more suites to their already impressive little collection of them. Why? Well, because it's The May Fair, but also because the hotel has such loyal guests—and deep-pocketed ones—that their suites are frequently booked up for weeks at a time. And wouldn't it be a pity, had you the cash, to be denied a suite stay at The May Fair? Yes. Yes, it would.

We dropped by the hotel recently on one such busy day, and although the famously fuchsia Schiaparelli suite was occupied, we could peek around in its twin, the Amarillo Suite.

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London Hotels / Mint Hotels / Hotel News / Green Hotels / Hotel Gardens / → All Tags

The Mint Hotel Tower Of London Gets Minty Fresh with Their Living Wall

Where: 20 Pepys Street, London, United Kingdom, EC3N 4AF

It's only been open for three months but the Mint Hotel Tower of London is keeping things fresh with the addition of one of those cool, eco living walls. And not just any living wall the "the tallest live green wall on a building in Europe".

The wall was unveiled last month and contains 40 species of plants which make up the whooping 184,000 plants that cover 1,025 square meters of the hotels exterior. We wonder what the Athenaeum Hotel will have to say about it as up until now they were the only London hotel to have a living wall. And let's face it the Mint's living wall dwarfs their one which has only 12,000 plants.

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Royal Wedding Hotels / Hotel Alternatives / Prince William / Kate Middleton / → All Tags

More From the Royal Wedding Ripoffs Department

While hotels around the world go package mad for the Royal Wedding, Londoners are also trying to cash in on the nuptials by advertising their spare rooms, sofa beds and houses on sites such as gumtree, Airbnb and rent my house.

Even estate agents are listing rentals for that week whilst home owners jet off abroad on their holidays.

But if you’re thinking these alternatives will be cheaper than a hotel, think again. Some of them are charging a hefty price with one double room in a flatshare listed for £2,400 per week! For a room with shared bathroom? Royal Rip Off!

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Inside a Standard Room at the Yotel in Terminal 4, London-Heathrow Airport

Where: Terminal 4, London-Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom

Hmm. It just so happens that today is the day we're reviewing our stay at the original Yotel, the 40-"cabin" Yotel Heathrow Airport, located right inside Terminal 4 at London's largest airport. It is also coincidentally the day that the Yotel company is moving full speed ahead with publicizing its newest property, a 669-room whopper in Midtown New York City, due to open in June. Therefore this is the perfect time to reflect on Yotel and what exactly they offer.

Last week we zipped into London on a last-minute trip, and caught one of the daytime stays at the Yotel Terminal 4. Yotels, based on the Japanese capsule hotel concept, are self-contained mini-hotel rooms, each with a flatscreen TV, ensuite bathroom and free WiFi. We were fortunate enough to experience the smallest of the Yotel cabins, the 75-square foot #5. It was...interesting.

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Hotel Celebrations / Hotel Anniversary / London Hotels / Dorchester Collection / → All Tags

The Dorchester Celebrates 80 Years of Celebrity Meltdowns...With Trees?

Where: Park Lane, London, United Kingdom, W1K 1QA

The Dorchester Hotel, home to many a celebrity breakdown, is having a birthday, and not just any birthday--an 80th birthday. Congrats! They've outlived Liz Taylor and Michael Jackson! (even though he was banned from the hotel.)

But yet instead of hosting some crazy party filled with all the crazy celebs who've had crazy times at the hotel, The Dorchester is doing something rather, well, sane, to mark the occasion.

On April 18, the hotel will be planting 15 Future Great Trees throughout the city. It's not very rock’n’roll but at least it’s eco friendly. The idea is that these trees will become London landmarks like the tree which has grown outside The Dorchester for many years. A special cocktail is also in the making and a selection of suites will be refurbed to mark this joyous occasion.

We wish the Dorchester nothing but the best in the next 80 years...the best of celebrity meltdowns that is.

Hotel Restaurants / Soho House / Soho House Hotels / London Hotels / → All Tags

If You Can't Stay at Shoreditch House, You Can At Least Eat Pizza There

Where: 56 Shoreditch High Street, London, United Kingdom

Yesterday we took you on a full tour of our room in the hotel portion of East London's private members' club, Shoreditch House, and even though the 26 rooms are very affordable at an average of 95-110 GBP per night, they aren't always available. This is an understandably popular place, but definitely still worth checking out if you're in the area...and particularly if you've got a massive craving for pizza in a lively atmosphere, surrounded by some of the coolest (and those who think they are the coolest) people in town.

It's called Pizza East, and it sits not inside Shoreditch House, but on the corner. It's still within the old Tea Warehouse building and part of the Soho House group, but separate enough from the private members' club that you don't need to drop keywords or cash to make it in the door.

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