London’s newest design hotel opens and boy is it affordable!

It has been just under a month since London’s brand new design hotel, Aloft London Excel, hosted guests for its official launch party. Following the launch of W London earlier this year, Starwood Hotels & Resorts welcomed a crowd of over 300 guests who were able to enjoy signature cocktails created specifically for the opening event by Aloft mixologists. The night continued with an unexpected stunt by London’s premier free-running club, 3RUN, outside of the hotel, before the evening got even more special with an amazing performance by “Turning Up the Spotlight” music contest winners Fastlane Candies. Afterwards, a live graphic design battle was staged between some of London’s coolest graphic designers.

Located in the heart of London’s Docklands, Aloft London Excel is the first Aloft hotel to open in the UK and the second Aloft hotel to open in Europe. Created to shake up the staid mid-market hotel sector by delivering urban-influenced design at an affordable price.

Aloft London Excel features 252 loft-like guest rooms, a buzzing w xyz bar, a grab-and-go food offering and industrial design elements throughout. Prices start at £120 plus VAT per room per night.

The hotel launched with a digital art battle by street artists from Cut & Paste and Secret Wars. Artists went head to head to create a piece of art inspired by a theme of ‘Innovation in East London.’ The winner, Sam Bevington, had his piece of artwork projected onto the side of the hotel building. This was the first time Cut & Paste has ever collaborated with Secret Wars in an event curated by creative art network, Monorex.

Renowned East London promoters Urban Nerds provided the music, with Urban Knights, Rattus Rattus & Klose One and Sophie Lloyd taking to the decks. Parkour performers 3RUN took over the space with a unique visual performance whilst guests sipped on exclusive cocktails at the w xyz bar, created by cutting-edge mixologist Ruth Ball of Alchemist Dreams.

Michael Wale, Senior Vice President, Starwood Hotels & Resorts said, “We are delighted to be launching the Aloft London Excel tonight with a showcase of the UK’s very best emerging talent. Aloft London brings urban-inspired, affordable accommodation to London’s hotel scene and provides an exciting new option for today’s culture conscious independent travellers.”

A ski lodge in the centre of London?!?! – find out more with another superb competition!

If you were ‘lucky’ enough to experience the snow, or lack of it in the Alps last year, you will know it was a bit of a washout, unless you fancied skiing in June, when very unseasonally they had a massive dump of the white stuff!? So because we cant rely on the snow in the Alps, one of our very ingenious hotel partners have come up with an amazing idea… bring the spirit of the Alps to London! And boy have they managed to do this!

The Montague on the Gardens Hotel – by far one of the nicest hotels in London (just check Trip Advisor if you don’t believe me!) has created it’s very own Ski Lodge! How cool is that? And to help you get into the Christmas Spirit (there is that C word again) they have created 11 different flavoured Vodka’s to see everyone through to Boxing Day. The thing is, they need a little help creating the final 12th Christmas Vodka flavour, so they have come to you – the loyal readers of the London Hotel Experts for help!

Not only that, but the creator of the winning flavour will be invited to The Montague on the Gardens for an overnightstay for 2 with breakfast! That is a pretty good prize on its own I hear you say, but the lucky winner will receive a personal Ski Pass for 2 to experience the Montague Lodge Winter Wonderland to take Afternoon Tea AND you will get to take home (or drink there and then!) a bottle of the Vodka you created! I am so excited writing this it is untrue! Oooh, and, your flavour will be on sale in the last 2 weeks of December to the public!

All of their current flavours have a Christmas twist. For example, Cinnamon, Candy Cane and Spiced Apple so get your thinking caps on and be creative! They will be able to make pretty much anything, but try and keep in the realms of reality with your thinking.

All you need to do to enter is to let us know your ideal flavour on The London Hotel Experts facebook page (link here) before the 06th November and will will announce the winner soon after. Please check out the T&Cs below, but on top of that please note that the prize can be taken up to the 31st March 2012, however if it is taken after the 31st December 2011, the Ski Passes will be substituted for something of equal value and the Festival Afternoon Tea will be substituted with a Montague Afternoon Tea – still very yummy!

Lastly, if you cant wait to win this prize, you can always stay at the hotel and experience the Winter Wonderland by booking with lastminute.com here!

Terms and conditions can be found here! http://www.thelondonhotelexperts.com/terms-conditions/

Dare I say the word Christmas??? Win a superb shopping break!

Yes Yes, saying the ‘C’ word even though there is still 67 days until that Jolly Old Man comes to visit us isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but the competition we have for you this week does deserve the mention – I promise!

This month, we have teamed up with our very good friends at the London Marriott West India Quay Hotel and John Lewis at the superb new Westfield shopping centre at Stratford to bring you a wonderful prize that will come in very handy so close to Christmas!

So, what can you lucky, lucky people win this week? Firstly, how about an overnight stay at the 5 star London Marriott West India Quay with breakfast for 2 people. This would be an amazing prize on its own! Located just across from Canary Wharf in West India Quay, the hotel benefits from superb transport links via the Docklands Light Railway or the Jubilee Line into central London, whist also enjoying the proximity all of the bars and restaurants at West India Quay. You will also enjoy all the services and amenities that a 5 star hotel of this nature provides to you !

You can relax in beautiful, stylish bedrooms but they have also been smartly designed with work areas, high-speed Internet and lap top safe for those of you that can’t leave the office behind!  To revive the body and soul, there’s a state-of-the-art fitness suite. And for a relaxing dinner or lunch, Curve Restaurant & Bar tempts with fresh seafood and great steaks, situated amidst the largest al fresco dining in the area.

But alas, on top of winning a stay here, you will also be whisked via executive transportation to Westfield Shopping Centre where the lucky couple will be able to go to John Lewis to meet one of their Fashion Advisor’s for a one hour fashion recommendation with champagne and nibbles!

All you have to do to win this amazing prize is go onto The London Hotel Experts facebook page – link HERE – andanswer the following question as creatively as possible.

Fashion is my passion and Marriott is my delight because…….

Dont forget the T & Cs either!

Location, Location, Location – Win, Win, Win!!!

We all know that whatever you do, whenever you do it, location is what is important – you want to be at the heart of everything… have you guessed where this is going yet?? Well, this is exactly what the London Marriott Hotel Maida Vale has – not only is it a beautiful property, with all the amenities that anyone could possibly want, but it is literally in the heart of everything.

But, we hear some of you ask, it isn’t in Oxford Street or Trafalgar Square or Covent Garden? However, this is what makes its location even better – it is just a hop, skip and a jump away from all the central London sights, but it is also means that it is so much easier to get to loads of other superb London attractions and days out!

Being only 5 minutes from the closest tube right on the Bakerloo Line and an even shorter stroll to the closest London Overground train station means that you can get to amazing places like Lords Cricket Ground, Westfield shopping centre, Wembley Stadium, Little Venice and even Heathrow in no time at all. All of this would be amazing on its own, but don’t forget that the hotel  is already set in the trendy area of Maide Vale with cool bars and restaurants – you cant go wrong.

Now, this may have your taste buds suitably moistened, but we wouldn’t blame you for not wanting to go out of thehotel if you stayed there. It has a state of the art leisure centre – one of the largest hotel leisure clubs in London to be precise, a funky bar and a beautiful restaurant specializing in stone baked Pizzas that you can watch being prepared in their wonderful open theatre restaurant. But to be fair, we wouldn’t blame you for not wanting to leave your room! Modern rooms, with flat screen televisions, high speed internet access and of course, those wonderful Marriott beds, we would probably just stay in there!

Now of course, we don’t tell you all of this for fun, we are also offering you the chance to stay in this beautiful property in our newest competition. All you need to do to enter is follow the link below and answer the following question on The London Hotel Experts facebook page!

Competition will close at 5pm on Thursday with the winner announced on the following Monday.

Good luck as always

This week’s question to win a nights stay (valid for a year) including breakfast is…

The London Marriott Hotel Maida Vale is a stone’s throw away from the world famous Abbey Road renowned for being home to literally hundreds of the most popular musicians and bands of all time.  What is your favourite band and why?

Dont forget the T&Cs!

Before entering to win the prize, you must read the Terms and Conditions governing this competition.  When you enter the competition, you will be deemed to have accepted and agreed to these Terms and Conditions