Qbic Hotel London City

For my stay in London, I chose Qbic Hotel London City as my accommodation for four days. I came across the hotel through booking.com and saw great rates and nice pictures of the hotel, but actually made a booking directly through the hotel’s official website. While I was not recommended to write a post about hotels for Erasmusu, I personally find that this one is truly an exceptiont and that this hotel would benefit a lot of students from over Europe that would like to go to London. I am a student myself, and I appreciate every time a fellow student give hints about where to stay, so here it goes! Sorry admin!

For a starter, the hotel is located at Aldgate East, which is also the name of the tube station, about five minutes away from the hotel. There is also a bus stop two minutes from the hotel in which will take you to more central locations in the city.

I saw the hotel rated at three-stars, but I would definitely say that this hotel is leading the pack compared to other hotels with three stars. The rooms was very nice and very modern. The room almost feels like you’re staying at the W Hotel or Aloft or other boutique hipster kind of hotels. We stayed in their simplest room, The Smart Room, which was the least expensive maybe because it has no windows in the room. Nonetheless, we had complimentary wifi connection which was very strong. In fact, the hotel has multiple wifi connection names, so wherever you are in the hotel, you can always connect to a super fast network.

If I’m not mistaken, they did not have any rooms with two beds, so my friend and I shared one bed. One king size bed. One massive, king size bed. Super comfy too. The room is simple, with cable TV, a small table with one chair (although we were two people.. ), and some hangers for our clothes. There’s also a safe box, which was very important. Do not expect for a coffee maker or kettle, or slippers and bathrobes. Since this hotel is somewhat in the budget accommodation market, they do not provide extras such as toothbrush, toothpaste or shaving kit. This isn’t a huge problem since there is a Tesco Express just across the road.

The location of the hotel was very good. As I mentioned, it’s about a five minute walk from Aldgate East Station, two minutes away from a bus stop, a minute away from a Tesco Express, and there are also countless places to eat within the five-minute radius. From the top of my head, there are Burger King, KFC, Kebab shops, a Japanese restaurant, and many convenient stores that offer drinks and snacks.

The hotel also has a restaurant/bar just next to the lobby. It looks like a very cool chill out zone, but we didn’t get the chance to try the food. I would recommend that you have your meals outside of the hotel, since hotel items tend to be more expensive.

Just one more very valuable tip for when you're in London. We did not know how the system for the tube ticket/pass works, so we went for the daily pass which was 9. 80 pounds per person. This allowed us to travel with the tube and the bus for as much as we wanted for a one-day period. Looking back now, we should've done something different. The oyster card, which is a physical hard card allows you to top up your credit as you go, and most importantly, it is a much lesser expensive option. There is a 5 pound deposit for the card, but a fellow traveler informed me that this could be given back to you once you return the card, so technically, just don't lose it. The oyster card gives a strong advantage in terms of the fare, as it reduces the cost by almost half.

If this doesn't persuade you, I should add that I work in hotels and did my degree in this very area, and I would once again strongly recommend this property! And there we have it, a great hotel in a great location just outside the center of London where all the happens go down. For bookings, you can compare prices through Agoda, booking.com and the hotel's official site!