Finding a place to stay in London when travelling is difficult and more than often expensive. The City Marque London apartment was a nice surprise though. Here’s my review….
Over the course of a year I tend to go to about five to 10 travel conferences all around Europe. From ITB Berlin, TBEX Europe and Traverse to WTM London and Travel Massive events I am constantly networking.
It’s a great way to meet new people in the industry, build relationships and explore different cities all in one. I LOVE IT! I am a networking addict.
But that also means I need to find a place to stay for all of these events.
And it’s not easy.
You always need to keep in mind the location of the conference, location of the late night networking parties and where the other people are staying as you don’t want to be in a taxi on your own (not very budget friendly in all places) or having to walk by yourself everywhere when all your friends are in a different hostel/hotel/apartment.
I used to stay in hostels for budget reasons but last year for WTM London I had the opportunity to group with a few other bloggers and get an apartment in London. And oh what an apartment it was!
City Marque London Apartments
It makes a massive difference to stay in an apartment compared to a hostel. MASSIVE! Just look at this view:
Wouldn’t mind having my coffee every morning with this view from the @CityMarque apartment. Feeling spoiled pic.twitter.com/BicL1oCjNV
— uktravelroom (@uktravelroom) November 4, 2014
Coming back from Excel after a full day of walking from stand to stand, pitching and networking you need a chilled, quiet place to pull yourself together and do some work. Which in a hostel is sometimes impossible. City Marque’s apartments were perfect for that. And we ended up staying in two due to availability.
First apartment: Clerkenwell 2 Bedroom 2 Bathroom Deluxe Apartment – Bliss!
Barbican or Farringdon are the nearest tube stations about 10 minutes walking distance.
Its location is quite easy to get to from Euston and doesn’t take more than 40 minutes to get to Excel London which for me it was perfect. This allowed for easy movement throughout London on the tube and it’s located in quite a safe area. Rooms were huge, beds amazing and the pillows made me feel in heaven.
You can have a look yourself at their video of the apartment if you don’t believe me.
Second apartment: The Thames View Apartment: This one was pretty special
Modern, chic and very centrally located with fabulous transport, dining and entertainment options nearby. Felt like a diva. Location was a bit trickier being in Vauxhall. But it’s less than 50 metres from Vauxhall Underground Station and the building has excellent transport links to Victoria, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, Westminster and Oxford Street.
You can check the Thames View Apartments walk and tell me if you wouldn’t stay there. I would seriously recommend this as an alternative to a hotel stay. It’s fully equipped with a cooker, fridge, freezer, flat screen TV, telephone, free WiFi internet and even an iPod Dock. Plus it had a dishwashers and washing machine.
Wish I was getting home to this @CityMarque ap rather than my house right now My room looks devastated by a hurricane pic.twitter.com/YiiSgsqQQI — uktravelroom (@uktravelroom) November 6, 2014
We had an issue with the check in in the second apartment – they take security very seriously. It was close to 10 pm and we had no way of getting into the apartment. I thought this was it. But fortunately they do have a nonstop customer service. Really! I tweeted them and then got through to an advisor who solved our problem in minutes.
So would I stay with them again? DEFINITELY!
PS: this post was written due to a partnership with City Marque. They offered the accommodation in these two apartments but my view on them wasn’t influenced by it. I truly freaking loved them. Seriously relaxing and luxurious located perfectly for WTM London. A girl can’t ask for more.
