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London's Royal Horseguards is Reopening on the Cheap

Where: 2 Whitehall Court, London, United Kingdom, SW1A 2EJ

Normally when a hotel gets refurbished to the tune of £16 million in London, they try to make their money back by ramping up the price. Not so The Royal Horseguards, on the bank of the Thames. To celebrate its total overhaul, it’s flogging rooms for £129 including breakfast (a saving of over £200 on the rackrate). The offer’s valid March 31, just mention code MMM33.

And once you’re there, keep an eye on your fellow guests – the hotel claims it’s “known for its use by the Secret Service”, as they colonised the eighth floor during the Second World War.

While we can’t guarantee that your guys hang out there still, we do know that it’s just a block from 10 Downing Street, a five minute walk from the Houses of Parliament and round the back of various government buildings. So the chances of you bumping into a politician or a mandarin of some sort must be fairly high. A word of warning, though – ours aren’t as sexy as yours, so don’t expect any John Favreaus around…

Tags: London Hotels / Hotel Renovations / → All Tags

Luxury London Hotel Gets Refurb But We Want War Secrets

Where: 2 Whitehall Court, London, United Kingdom, SW1A 2EJ

Spending £16.3 million (US$26.4 million) on a refurbishment sounds like a fair bit for a 280-room hotel but the Royal Horseguards Hotel in London does seem pretty special.

It's an eighteenth century heritage-listed building and the revamp will include doing up all the rooms with modern techy stuff like free Wifi, iPod docks and plasma TVs, as well as adding a new restaurant and a new lounge.

But it's not really the refurb that gets us going at the Royal Horseguards--we're more interested in checking in to the eighth floor. Apparently it was used by the Secret Service during World War One and we're definitely keen to find some leftover war secrets.

Rates average around $420 at the moment but no word yet on if they'll rise after the renos are finished in (they promise) early 2009.

[Photo: Lesw]