Express By Holiday Inn London Park Royal

The Holiday Inn Express London Park Royal is exactly as described by the many other positive reviews here. We found this hotel on this site and are so glad we did. The hotel is very convenient to North Acton Metro Stop, which made it super easy coming from Heathrow to get on the metro and walk up the hill (small hill) to the Holiday Inn for an easy and pleasant check-in. We stayed in a Double Room with Sleeper Sofa and it was perfect. It was clean, had enough size for the 2 of us, and worked well. There are tons of reviews to get the full story below, but I'll just throw out the quick pros and cons and summarize afterwards.

Pros)

- Super easy access to the Tube (Metro)

- Clean room with everything we needed

- Price

- Nearby amenities - Little grocery store nearby for snacks (Tesco Express or something), little Indian deli with good paninis, pub with decent fish and chips and good beer (The Castle I think, get the Honey Dew beer)

- Included breakfast

- Easy access to the airport since both are on the west side of London

- For the tube, it is on Zones 3 and 2, which is perfect. Cheaper Tube ride from Heathrow and standard Zones 1-2 fares for the rest. So nice.

Cons)

- You are about 15-20 minutes outside of London on the Tube, so it is more difficult to come home for lunch or anything like that if you want.

- Calling out using international phone cards is really expensive. Best way is to call your family back home from a pay phone. Give them the hotel number plus room number and have them call you. Most places can call the UK for less than $0.10/minute with no connection fee.

- Lack of TV channel choices. This was kind of annoying at night. Another 3 or 4 channels would have really helped.

Overall: If you have plenty of cash, then staying right in the heart of London would be nice. But at over 2x the cost, there is no way it is worth it to me. As a value traveler who still likes to stay in decent places, this was perfect. We sacrificed 20 minutes of morning and evening metro riding to save well over $100/day. I'd easily stay here again.

Our annual Christmas and New Years vacation was spent in London this year. I was unsure how easy transportation would be as my vacation package specified my hotel Holiday Inn Express was not city centered. The price was irresistible, so I went ahead and booked the trip. I travel with my daughters ages 12 and 16, which is a little scary going into a city for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised to find so many friendly people that were willing to show me the easiest ways to travel including taking the underground from the airport directly to the hotel. The underground stopped literally steps away from my hotel. I purchased a week pass and we were able to wander the city on our own time. Although this is a top city to visit, you wouldn't be able to tell by what little money I needed to spend.

The hotel was very neat and clean. The staff was very friendly and breakfast was served daily. The most impressive was the location. Do not be afraid to be away from city center, transportation is right outside the lobby doors.