Hotel Review: Staying at the Strand Palace Hotel, London

Everyone agrees that London is expensive but that doesn’t stop people from visiting. Finding an affordable hotel can be a challenge especially if you don’t want to stay in a tourist class hotel. We travel to London frequently and have finally found a hotel that has all the amenities that we require while still offering a price that doesn’t give us sticker shock, The Strand Palace.

What makes us love this hotel is primarily the location. It just doesn’t get much better than this. You can walk out the front door and within two blocks you are at Covent Garden.

Simpsons in the Strand, that iconic restaurant for roast beef is across the street and five theatres are within an easy walk so that you can see as many shows as you have nights.

As a hub, the location is excellent. Buses stop in both directions very close by and cabs are always available. Yes, it is a walk to the nearest tube stop but that is a non-issue.

The staff is another plus for this hotel. They are ready and willing to help out in any way that they can. After a trans-Atlantic flight, they were able to get us our rooms at 10 a.m. so that we could sleep a little and they even arranged for us to have breakfast that morning in the restaurant. After a long night, it was wonderful to feel special.

Be sure to get a rate with the breakfast included it is a very extensive buffet and well worth eating. It kept us going for most of the day, every day. Our rate also included the carvery dinner on Sunday night and that was outstanding. We have come here previously just to have the carvery dinner. The hotel always has a variety of special rates so take your time when booking.

From an American perspective, the rooms are tight. We are used to European room sizes so we knew that getting twin beds actually gets us more room. We just had a standard room and it had a spacious bathroom. In addition to the two beds, we had a desk with a tea tray, a TV, a chair for the desk and a club chair. The room is simple but clean and comfortable. The closet was roomy and we had a luggage rack and a safe as well.

The windows in the room had shutters that blocked out all the light and since it was the dead of winter, any cold drafts as well. Wifi was also included and it was strong and I never had a problem using it.

I ordered room service one night and it was delivered in a timely manner and was delicious. The Strand Palace has two restaurants and afternoon tea is served in the lounge bar.

While this hotel is listed as 4 stars, it is a business hotel not really a luxury hotel but it has very affordable rates and an excellent location. I can’t imagine why I would want to stay anywhere else but at the Strand Palace Hotel in London when I go again.