48 replies to this topic

[Ras 74]

To everyone that needs accommodation at the event 1-5th of June!

I have been in contact with several hotels near Windsor. Even had contact with different booking services.
The problems is as follows:
1. We have to pay for our staying all together when booking (I do not have that kind of money to pay in advance).
-Neither am I gonna collect money from everyone that will come to make this arrangement in advance.
2. No hotel (even if they have plenty of rooms still) can meet with our requirements for rooms.
-This means we would have to split into smaller rooms in several occations.
3. Several hotels is not close enough for us, and we would need to be transported long distances.

Here are some ideas:
1. If someone living in England feels that they can help me out with this task, please feel free to help me out here!!
2. We go together with who we can think of sharing rooms with, and book our own accommodations.
-In this way we will all be able to stay close to each other in Windsor, but in a few different hotels.
-We could be able to write in here what hotel we are staying, and as many as possible can join the same one.

I am really sorry for all this, but I feel like I completley dropped the ball on this matter, and it feels like time is
running like an electric mixer.

Please come with some ideas ASAP so we can fix this matter.

[Bonaparte]

Ras, can you give an overview of the hotels which you contacted already and for each a view on room availability and distance to the park? This info will be needed in order to avoid doing this investigation twice.

Isn't there a LEGOLand hotel in Windsor like there is in Billund?

[Ras 74]

Bonaparte, on 16 March 2011 - 10:24 AM, said:

Isn't there a LEGOLand hotel in Windsor like there is in Billund?

I called LEGOLAND to get help from them, and they could. But for some reason the girl I was talking to had different options
and said they had a hotel that was located pretty far away, and was a 4 star hotel.

Bonaparte, on 16 March 2011 - 10:24 AM, said:

Ras, can you give an overview of the hotels which you contacted already and for each a view on room availability and distance to the park? This info will be needed in order to avoid doing this investigation twice.

My suggestion is that we devide ourself to different hotels, and that everyone will book their own hotelroom.
First since most of them want the full payment in advance. I have checked of all the bigger hotels in the area
and they have hard to meet with our demands. For example having 4 adults in one room and that is close.
Then we can be much closer or in London but then be far off from the park.
I can not really list the once I have been in contact with.
Here is a link to some hotels through LEGOLAND hotels.
But they all want money directley when you book the rooms.
When looking through the hotels they list there, I have been in contact with several of them.

[Bonaparte]

Maybe we can all spread over a number of 'bed and breakfasts' that are very close to each other in Windsor.

Here's a list I found when surfing around: http://www.bedandbre.../to-Windsor.htm

None of them can take us all, but they are in the same area I think.

That's one option I can think of.

[Pandora]

There is not a hotel on site for Legoland Windsor.  Looking around the cheapest and closest is probably the Holiday Inn in Slough, but it's in Slough which is not renowned for being a fun place to be.  (I might be wrong)

Alternatively, as Bonaparte has suggested, there are lots of "Bed and Breakfast"s and I think even hostels.
I found this handy website which may help as it covers all different types of accommodation in the area.

If you're planning to meet up in the evenings then Windsor town centre would probably be best for pubs/bars/restaurants, and there should be enough places around for everyone to find a place to stay nearby, but the hotels will tend to be a little more expensive.  Plus, if you're interested in it, the Castle's in the middle of the town.  

Legoland's a bit out of town so wherever you stay, you'll probably also need to think about transport (British public transport is notoriously unreliable) however, it sounds as though some people have cars.

Maybe a consensus view of whereabouts you all want to be and then book one's own accommodation accordingly?

Hope this helps.

[Trent]

Have you tried Royal Holloway?  It's part of University of London, but it's only 5 miles away from Windsor.

It might be worth giving them a call and seeing what they can do - they do all sorts of conference booking, so you might get a decent group offer, and then you could all stay together.

Edited by Trent, 16 March 2011 - 08:39 PM.

[Ras 74]

Personaly I am for that we go with BnB´s in Windsor so we all are some what gathered.
I will call Royal Holloway to see what they can do for us. That place looks promissing.
But still I guess that we will still need to book it some what individualy.

I´ll be back after lunch with some information form that place.

[Bonaparte]

Ras 74, on 17 March 2011 - 08:21 AM, said:

I´ll be back after lunch with some information form that place.

That's a long lunch you are having  

[Sir Norman Ray]

Bonaparte, on 18 March 2011 - 01:31 PM, said:

That's a long lunch you are having

I want his lunch breaks. Trust me, in my job, a day long lunch is needed...

Anyway, if needed, I don't mind paying up front. Or going for my own hotel.

-Sir Norman "Loves the travellodge adverts" Ray.

[Holodoc]

Ouch!
That's some serious problem we're facing.
If we have to split up in B&B's I will have to join without my son... talking about evening activities...


But talking about money, I don't mind paying in advance, too.

[Peppermint_M]

I'll wait around for you lot to decide on a location. Then I can book close so that I won't be too far from the fun  

[Aredhel]

Hm, that sounds very difficult...
I guess the hotel/Bed and Breakfast we went to 5 years ago is too small for us all right? I cannot remember exactly where it was but not that far to the park. ...

What I have seen until now is all about 5 or 8 miles away :-S

How many people come with the car and ferry?? Maybe then those some miles are really doable...

-Dana

[Holodoc]

Waiting for our event admin's reply I go and try to convince my son to visit Legoland Germany later this summer with the whole family instead of participating in our event.

That would make just 1 bed for me then instead of 1+1 (but a lot more time to spend with you).
So the accomodation isn't really a problem for me any more.

[Bonaparte]

Aredhel, on 20 March 2011 - 07:44 PM, said:

Hm, that sounds very difficult...
I guess the hotel/Bed and Breakfast we went to 5 years ago is too small for us all right? I cannot remember exactly where it was but not that far to the park. ...

What I have seen until now is all about 5 or 8 miles away :-S

How many people come with the car and ferry?? Maybe then those some miles are really doable...

-Dana

Holodoc, on 20 March 2011 - 10:27 PM, said:

Waiting for our event admin's reply I go and try to convince my son to visit Legoland Germany later this summer with the whole family instead of participating in our event.

That would make just 1 bed for me then instead of 1+1 (but a lot more time to spend with you).
So the accomodation isn't really a problem for me any more.

If this comes down to us having to rent something ourselves (let's wait with that conclusion till Ras reports back) them maybe we can still group ourselves as much as possible and stay in 3 or 4 bed and breakfast hotels. Raassssss, where are you?

[Aredhel]

Bonaparte, on 20 March 2011 - 11:09 PM, said:

If this comes down to us having to rent something ourselves (let's wait with that conclusion till Ras reports back) them maybe we can still group ourselves as much as possible and stay in 3 or 4 bed and breakfast hotels. Raassssss, where are you?

Yes, that would be a nice idea then. And as I will drive back with the doc it would be better to be in the same hotel or B&B...
All very complicated.

[snefroe]

well actually, i was also thinking about the b&b we had a few years back. i seem to remember that it was quite big. Still, my guess is it's already been contacted...

there is a bus to the park from Windsor Castle, i believe

[Ras 74]

I am starting to have a breakdown due to this whole thing by now!

Some personal insight:
Latley I have taken on to many tasks, and this is the only thing I really need help with at the moment.
I feel that this is a HUGE stress for me at the moment with the hotel. Yesterday I couldn´t sleep and the last thought that
went through my head was, I will have to cancel my trip to Windsor due to a lot of things happening right now.
When I woke up this morning, I felt a lot better, and this idé was gone. But it doesn´t mean it is still not lurking there.

I didn´t get back after my lunch the other day because there was no lunch finally, just more job.
And after that it has been even more job!! This weekend I had a gazillion things to do due to a Swebrick event this weekend
amoung other things.

When asking for help, I thought I was gonna get some help. Preferably from someone living in England/UK that knows more about locations, public transports and so on. I ask again, is there someone that can help me out?
The thing that needs to be done is to check for hotels or B&B places where we can stay that is located as close as possible
and preferably in Windsor. Don´t mind the order of the rooms set up in the other thread, just the amount of persons.
Then my guess is that we all have to book our own rooms in the hotels that we get the names for.

My first idea was that I could fix that I got one big booking so that no one would have needed to do a thing on their own.
Pretty much as was done last year in Billund, and the year before that in Günzburg with help of Holodoc (thanks for that again).
But this was not possible for the places I have had contact with, so now all work was done for nothing!

The place we stayed at the first time would have been really sweet to stay at. Snefroe, it looks bigger than it is.
They only got a few rooms, and that time, we had them all. They are pre-booked since long, so that is out the window. Sadly.

So once again, can I please have some help with this matter?

[Superkalle]

I propose the following

We try to find a hotel, youth-hostel or similar were everyone can stay and that have a place (conference room, gathering room) were we can have day or evening activites like in Billund. For me this is worth so much to be able to meet in the morning for breakfast, talk about stuff, meet up in the afternoon, building together etc - just like we did in Billund. So I vote for NOT spreading us out all out in various bed & breadfasts in the country side.

Now, a simiple solution would off course to book us in one of the larger hotels near Windsor. OK, it may not e walking distance to Legoland, actually it may be several miles from Legoland, but such is life. Also, a yout hostel would be super, but I'm not sure about availability at this stage.

Naturally, a hotel room is not cheap, and it's not as cozy as a smaller place, but I prefere us together rather then anything else.

What I've done is the following

1) I called the tourist information and asked. http://www.windsor.g...ite/contact-us. Now, they wanted 5 pounds to do a hotel search, so I decided to search myself (point 3 below).
2) Called YTH (youth hostels) call center. They are doing a search for us now and will get back within 24 hours. The closest one is about 20 miles away though. Price is about 20 pounds per person per night.
3) searching for hotels. I'm here at the moment: http://www.windsor.g...modation/hotels

OK, update:
Called Royal Holloway University of London - 24 rooms available, 25 pounds to 50 pounds per nite - however, no social space available for evening activites. Placed in mostly a resedential area in Surrey. Pretty far from Legoland. Doesn't sound so promisigin.

Have to go now, perhaps someone can take it from here....

[Bonaparte]

Superkalle, on 22 March 2011 - 01:36 PM, said:

1) I called the tourist information and asked. http://www.windsor.g...ite/contact-us. Now, they wanted 5 pounds to do a hotel search, so I decided to search myself (point 3 below).

I'd be happy to refund you. Can you have them do the search for an affordable hotel or B&B where we can all stay?

[Superkalle]

Bonaparte, on 22 March 2011 - 02:17 PM, said:

I'd be happy to refund you. Can you have them do the search for an affordable hotel or B&B where we can all stay?

Sure, I can do that.

Regarding B&B - the likelihood of finding one now that can host us all is probably very slim - and if we do find B&B we will be spread across the countryside - at least that's my guess

But, let us pay 5 pounds and see what happens. I'll get back here soon then.....

[Bonaparte]

Great, thanks!

There is one Youth Hotel nearby and I called them a few days ago but they are fully booked. I guess hotels is not a problem, but they have to be affordable (I've seen some crazy prices).

[Superkalle]

Bonaparte, on 22 March 2011 - 02:37 PM, said:

Great, thanks!

There is one Youth Hotel nearby and I called them a few days ago but they are fully booked. I guess hotels is not a problem, but they have to be affordable (I've seen some crazy prices).

Search is now initiated. Reply estimated tomorrow.

I've given this criteria:

1) Arrive: 2nd june. Leave 5th june.
2) Guests - mix of single adults and families with children.
3) Must be able to host all of us (calculated based on 25 people). If we cannot be in the same hotel, there must be walking distance between hotels
4) Distance to Legoland - not super important as long as we can take a bus (like shuttlebus) there
5) Type of accomodation (B&B, Hotel, Youth hostel etc) - not important at this momement
6) Availability to socialise/conference room (where we can be in the evening, have contests etc) - important
7) Price - I've said that we should be on the lower end of the scale.

Speaking of price  - what is affordable BTW, i.e how much per person per night in a shared room for 4 (as an example)?

[Superkalle]

OK, update:

We have three alternatives in the initial search and based on the fact that we want to stay together, and have a room for socialising:

1. Sunningdale Park - a hotel and conference centre about 10 minutes drive south from Legoland can offer twin rooms for £65 per night and single rooms for £55 per night. This includes breakfast. Dinner at an extra cost of £15 per person. They are able to offer a private room in the evening free of charge. They only have 8 twin rooms available each night, so the rest would need to be singles.
http://maps.google.s...7EcG__gbz9oCyCQ

2. Holiday In T5 at the airport about 8 miles from Legoland can do twin rooms for £65 including breakfast. They do not have a private room available but can section off part of the restaurant for us.
http://maps.google.s...OJNyd_AaEtZjUAg


3. Lastly Copthorne in Slough/Windsor - a four star hotel with leisure facilities, about 10 minutes drive from Legoland can offer twin rooms for £85 (including breakfast). A private room would be available at a cost of £120 (Thursday)  £175 (Friday).
http://maps.google.s...875598490180401


So, these are the first three options. What do you think? Personally, I'm not sure about the cozy factor, but I'm not sure how important that is, and how high demands we can have taken the short

Also, the booking place I was in contact with can offer Legoland tickets at £25 each.

[Bonaparte]

Superkalle, on 22 March 2011 - 05:51 PM, said:

OK, update:

We have three alternatives in the initial search and based on the fact that we want to stay together, and have a room for socialising:

1. Sunningdale Park - a hotel and conference centre about 10 minutes drive south from Legoland can offer twin rooms for £65 per night and single rooms for £55 per night. This includes breakfast. Dinner at an extra cost of £15 per person. They are able to offer a private room in the evening free of charge. They only have 8 twin rooms available each night, so the rest would need to be singles.
http://maps.google.s...7EcG__gbz9oCyCQ

This one seems perfect!

8x twin rooms available = 16 persons

Let's see what we need:

Single room: -> no problem
Legostein 1-5

Single room: -> no problem
Sir Norman Ray 1-5

3 beds room: -> 3 persons for twin room
CopMike 1-5
KimT 1-5
Ras 74 1-5

3 beds room: -> another 3 persons for twin room (so 6 in total now)
Christian 1-5
Pretzel 2-5
Quarryman 1-5

4 beds room: -> What kind of room do you prefer for your family?
Superkalle + 3 2-5

4 beds room: -> another 4 persons for twin room (so 10 in total now)
Bonaparte 31-5
Captain Green Hair 31-5
Pally +1 31-5

4 beds room: -> another 4 persons for twin room (so 14 in total now)
Aredhel 1-5
Holodoc +1 1-5
Peppermint_M 1-5

In conclusion, we need:

So 7 twin rooms, 2 single rooms and something for your family Superkalle (1 with double bed and 1 twin room)?

[KimT]

Sorry, but the only date we could get everything to add up for our daughter's baptism is on the 4th of June.

I'm out  

This is the first Event I've ever missed