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Is this London hotel the worst Best Western Rewards redemption value worldwide?

a screenshot of a map

In February 2017 I will be staying in a London hotel again. While it is true there are some real London deals after the Brexit currency slide in the UK, most upper upscale chain hotels are still running around $200 per night.

The biggest change in the London hotel scene I see now is there are actually viable hotel options in London for under $100 per night in chain brands like Best Western, Wyndham and IHG.

Worst Best Western Redemption Value in the World?

I simply have to share this London Best Western hotel rate I found that simultaneously is the lowest room rate I have seen for a chain hotel in London for quite some time, while also being in the Best Western Rewards hotel loyalty program’s top redemption tier for a reward night at 36,000 points per night.

Is this London hotel the worst Best Western Rewards redemption value worldwide?

Best Western London Peckham Hotel $44.26 USD / 36 GBP

Feb 5-7, 2016

Best Western London Peckham 36GBP

The most interesting aspect of this cheap Best Western London Peckham hotel from a loyalty viewpoint is a reward night price at 36,000 points per night. That is the highest category hotel reward in BWR. Best Western London Peckham is one of only three London hotels at that top reward category.

Best Western London Peckham 36K

36,000 points saves $44.26 for a redemption value = $1.23 per 1,000 points.

I challenge you to find a worse redemption value out there among 4,000 Best Western Hotels worldwide.

What is the deal with Peckham?

There are 1,371 TripAdvisor reviews of Best Western London Peckham. The hotel currently ranks 3 of 5 circles and #594 of 1,080 London hotels. Recent reviews are mostly positive and describe a good location on Peckham Road for a 30 minute bus ride to Big Ben, Palace of Westminster and London Eye. There is also an Overground train station nearby.

A quick wikipedia search indicates Peckham demographics is a majority black populated neighborhood. My ‘whitey white’ wife is a bit intimidated by the thought of simultaneously staying in South London and in a South London black neighborhood. My childhood had me living in some majority black neighborhoods and that does not freak me out as long as the area is not violent.

Last time I was truly out of my depth in a neighborhood was Elizabeth, New Jersey in 2007 when my walk from the Starwood Four Points hotel to a grocery store seemed like a good opportunity to be shot. I encountered some scary guys on the streets. That SPG category 1 hotel at the time is no longer in the Starwood Hotels system.

I’ll ease Kelley into the non-Westminster London hotel scene a little more gently. She enjoyed Camden Town and I think she will like Tower Hamlets street shopping in East London which is my hotel stay leaning for a 2-day stay on our way to Amsterdam next winter. Holiday Inn Commercial Road is about $100 per night.

But for myself as a solo traveler, I sure like the idea of a chain hotel room in London under $50 where I can earn points. One of my favorite tourist activities is simply walking around checking out neighborhoods and people who live there. I am trying to use my many London transits on trips to Europe to check out different areas of the city.

So Londoners, give me the locals’ scoop. Is Peckham a place to check out or avoid?

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6 Comments

  • Leo November 2, 2016

    There is no underground station in Peckham….or anywhere near it I’m afraid. You’d have to make do with the Overground. Peckham’s okay but I wouldn’t go there on my holidays….

  • dave November 2, 2016

    Wow, what a coincidence!

    My friends and I stayed here during our winter Euro trip 2011 before the acquisition by BW when it was the Peckham Lodge.

    Now a little background info, I’m asian from the East Bay area in Norcal and pretty much grew up in in and around the citys of oakland, richmond, and berkeley. so needless to say Im very familar with “black neighborhoods”.

    Peckham on the other hand, at least the area where the hotels is, is quite different than any hoods you would see in the US. Never did we feel like we weren’t safe. Yes, the majority of the population in Peckham is black, how ever it felt more like a packed and slightly under developing chinese neighborhood in a large city except with blacks, if that makes sense … The General interactions were very friendly.

    like @Leo said^ no underground transport, but there is a bus route that will take you to Piccadilly Circus area in about 20 mins about 2 blocks away.

    While its definately nothing to go out of the way to check out. I felt the area was definately not remotely as scary as any hood in the US.

  • Emma November 3, 2016

    Wow, this is all pretty misinformed.

    Peckham is now pretty trendy, and like another commenter has said, is nothing like certain “black neighbourhoods” (as you put it) in the US. And the ethnic make-up of an area is not necessarily related to how safe you would be there. There are some great bars and restaurants in Peckham, and house prices have increased astronomically over the last few years.

    On the other hand, if there is one place I would not want to walk around on my own (especially at night), it would be Tower Hamlets…

    I think your wife definitely needs to get out more!

  • Ric Garrido November 3, 2016

    @Leo – I saw on Google Maps that Peckham is a straight bus ride into Westminster.

    @Emma – Thanks for the information. I am interested hearing there is something trending about Peckham.

    My wife is a school teacher and works in a multicultural environment. I don’t mean to imply she is racist or doesn’t get around different ethnic and racial groups. It was a personal joke that does not translate well over the internet. You can tell she is a white woman from a distance. Whereas, I am always taken aback when some people in Europe ask me if I am Middle Eastern.

    That being said, we have stayed in hotels in areas of the USA and Caribbean with so much racial tension they felt like a powder keg ready to blow. Some of those places we visited did have major riots within months after we were there.

    As Dave mentions, there are some scary areas in USA cities with a high degree of ethnic and racial tension. One of the most depressing aspects of our USA society is we have become far more segregated in the past 40 years after a couple decades of actively working to integrate communities and schools.

    As far as being misinformed, in my quick search of Peckham on the web, most of the news stories I initially found were about gangs and drugs in Peckham and a riot there in 2011.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-2011-riots-what-happened-what-now-2337267.html

    But I also liked reading the reaction to a March 2016 Russian RT article stating there are ‘no-go’ areas in London like Brixton and Peckham:

    After local news website Brixton Blog picked up on the article, one reader said: “This is such a load of rubbish. There isn’t anywhere in London I wouldn’t walk.”
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russian-state-media-claim-london-has-no-go-ethnic-ghettos-like-brussels-molenbeek-in-wake-of-attacks-a6955481.html

    Only safety problem I have ever experienced in UK were encounters with drunk whites in pubs.

    @Dave – That is the kind of comparison I wanted to hear.

    I have been in hotels in the USA where I was told not to walk around the neighborhood. I was even told by a receptionist one time that I really did not want to stay at the hotel. I asked for a room key to check the place out for myself and it was like a Mad Max drug gang hotel around the central courtyard.

    A place like the InterContinental San Francisco is a luxury hotel by the city convention center that was built on the edge of one of the most violent areas in San Francisco. I used to advise people to be sure to leave the hotel and walk toward Third Street and not Sixth Street. I have not been there in a few years to see how much the area has changed with gentrification of the downtown SoMa area.

    My main objective for asking about Peckham neighborhood is to know if it is an area that I should consider for an opportunity to stay in London on a $50 hotel night. I would probably not go to the hotel to stay as a London vacation destination, but I often need to transfer between London airports for a flight to or from the USA and some place in Europe.

    I sure like the idea of spending $50 for a hotel and hanging out in the city for a day before I transfer to another airport for my flight. Best Western Peckham is only 3 miles from lots of the big city sights like London Eye, Palace of Westminster, Big Ben. I don’t mind a 30 minute bus ride to save $150 on a hotel room.

  • JP November 6, 2016

    I don’t know about the hotel itself but you will be absolutely fine in Peckham. As mentioned by another reader the area is quite trendy now – especially nearby Bellenden Road and Rye Lane which are both worth a look . South London Gallery is a very short walk away and the nearby area of Camberwell has some great pubs and places to eat.

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