Westminster Hotel

[carabou1]

Has anyone stayed at the Athena Hotel. What attracted us was the free parking since we will be renting a car.

Any information will be helpful.

[Globaliser]

Although I don't know anything about this particular hotel, you should be aware of the fact that Londoners wouldn't regard it as being anywhere near Westminster. The hotel is [url="http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=526948&Y=181263&A=Y&Z=1"]situated here on this map[/url], but you have to click right 6 times and down 4 times to move the map to show the [url="http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=530268&Y=179545&A=Y&Z=1"]Houses of Parliament[/url].

Are you renting a car to do trips out of London? Unless you have special parking arrangements, I wouldn't recommend driving in central London just for sightseeing. Parking meters in central London are mostly priced at £4 per hour. Most of us who live here keep bags full of £1 coins (ie several tens of pounds worth of change) in our cars just for the occasions when we have to park at a meter.

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Jewel of the Seas 1-3 May 2004 - see [url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?q=Y&s=927093444&a=tpc&m=904107102&f=069097554"]my review here[/url], and [url="http://community.webshots.com/album/140741580OdzpCX"]my photos here[/url].

[carabou1]

Thank you for the information.

We will be using the car for touring England and will leave it parked at the hotel for the 3 days we are in London and use local transportation.

I am not that familiar with London. Is this a good location and is it a fairly safe area?

Thank you again.

[Globaliser]

As a location, it's reasonably central, although towards the western fringes of what most would describe as the city centre. It's still within Zone 1 for the Tube, but it might just take you an extra 15-20 minutes to get "home" from town when compared to hotels in more recognised "tourist" locations.

This is by no means a dangerous area, safety-wise. But it wouldn't be fair to fail to warn you that Sussex Gardens has from time to time been a favourite pick-up place for prostitutes working on the street. IIRC, this is now much less of a problem here than it used to be - the trade moves on from location to location, as it always does - so you should be OK. In any case, this was never a true problem with crime; the main risk if you're a visitor is simply that it might offend.

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Jewel of the Seas 1-3 May 2004 - see [url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?q=Y&s=927093444&a=tpc&m=904107102&f=069097554"]my review here[/url], and [url="http://community.webshots.com/album/140741580OdzpCX"]my photos here[/url].

[carabou1]

Globaliser,

We have decided not to stay at the Athena hotel since reading your post and also a bad review on tripadvisor.com.

I believe the area was fine but a quest had their room robbed and from the review, the manager was not helpful.

We have decided to stay at the Country Inn and Suites in South Kensington.

Thank you for your help.

[Globaliser]

[quote name='carabou1']We have decided to stay at the Country Inn and Suites in South Kensington.[/QUOTE]You will have no trouble with this area - and this hotel looks like it's within easy walking distance of a number of good restaurants around Gloucester Road tube (east along the Cromwell Road), and there are lots of facilities just a little bit further away on Kensington High Street (walk north - it's the next big road in that direction). Hope you enjoy it!