In this guide
An aparthotel is a hotel where the room has a kitchen. That is the whole idea, and whether it is worth anything to you comes down to one number: how many nights you are staying.
Per night, a London studio costs about what a decent hotel room costs in the same postcode. The saving is in what you stop paying for — and for a family, breakfast alone in central London runs £60 to £80 a day.
💡 The Short Version: The format pays for itself around the third or fourth night, sooner with children. The universal trade is that nobody cleans your room daily — weekly is the standard across every operator here. Supercity puts a washer-dryer in every suite. Cheval and the Cove properties do proper separate bedrooms; most of the rest are studios, where a family of four shares one room.
The trade nobody puts on the booking page
Housekeeping is weekly, not daily. This is consistent enough across the category to treat as the defining feature rather than a quirk:
- Locke lists weekly cleaning across its London sites.
- Staycity does a full clean on day four, then every seven days, on stays of seven nights or more.
- Supercity cleans once a week, with a full change of towels and linen.
If you like a made bed and fresh towels every morning, this is the wrong format and no amount of kitchen makes up for it. If you are staying a week and would rather nobody came in at all, it is the right one.
The second trade is the layout. A great many London aparthotels are studios — one room with a bed, a sofa and a kitchen along the wall. That is comfortable for one or two and cramped for four, and the booking pages are not always clear which you are getting. Separate bedrooms exist, but they are the expensive end.
What the six operators actually differ on
| Operator | London sites | Format | The distinguishing thing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Locke | 10 | Studios, design-led | Lobbies that work as cafés and coworking; gyms at the bigger sites |
| Native | 5 | Studios and apartments | Best-placed buildings — the Globe, Carter Lane, a Mayfair mews |
| Cheval | 3 | Full apartments | One to three bedrooms, concierge, the luxury end |
| Supercity | 3 | Suites | A washer-dryer in every suite |
| Staycity | 3 | Kitchenette studios | Cheapest, and the only one properly outside Zone 1 |
| Wilde | 2 | Studios | Staycity’s central, smarter sister brand |
Locke is the one to know if the lobby matters. Their sites are built so that the ground floor is a working café and bar used by people who are not staying there, which solves the biggest problem with the format — that an apartment can be a lonely way to spend a week.
Cheval is the one to know if you need bedrooms. Three Quays sits on the river between the Tower and Tower Bridge with apartments looking at both, and Gloucester Park is eight minutes from the free South Kensington museums. Both do one- to three-bedroom layouts, which is what a family of four actually needs.
Supercity is the one to know for a long stay, purely on the washer-dryer. Over two weeks that is the difference between doing laundry in your room and hunting for a launderette.
By area, and by how you get there
Central, and priced like it. Wilde Covent Garden is on Adam Street between the Strand and the river, three minutes from the piazza. Native Mayfair is on a mews off Grosvenor Square, three minutes from Bond Street and the Elizabeth line. Both are as central as this format gets in London.
The City, which is the value trick. Cove by Locke has Moorgate and Cannon Street, Native has King’s Wardrobe on Carter Lane by St Paul’s, Supercity has The Chronicle off Fetter Lane, and Cheval has Three Quays on the river. The Square Mile empties at weekends, so Saturday is often the cheapest night of the week — the reverse of everywhere else in London, and worth checking before you book a Friday.
East, on the Elizabeth line. Leman Locke and Buckle Street Studios are both a couple of minutes from Whitechapel, which puts Bond Street about twelve minutes away without a change. Locke London Canary Wharf and Cove Landmark Pinnacle are on the Elizabeth line too, with Heathrow under an hour direct.
South of the river. Native Bankside is on a lane behind the Globe, five minutes from Tate Modern. Bermonds Locke is on Tower Bridge Road. Staycity has Greenwich High Road, a minute from the station and eight from the Cutty Sark.
Genuinely outer, and genuinely cheaper. Staycity Deptford Bridge is on the DLR one stop from Greenwich. Native Fulham Broadway is Zone 2 on the District line, ten minutes from Stamford Bridge. Templeton Place sits on an Earl’s Court garden square where the District and Piccadilly both stop — Heathrow without a change, South Kensington in four minutes, and the cheapest Supercity address in London.
When it is worth it, and when it is not
Book an aparthotel if you are staying four nights or more; you are travelling with children and dreading the breakfast bill; you want to do laundry mid-trip; you are working from London for a week and need a desk and a kettle at odd hours; or you simply want to be able to make a cup of tea without getting dressed.
Book a hotel instead if the stay is one or two nights, you want daily housekeeping, or you want a restaurant downstairs and room service at eleven. On a short trip the kitchen is dead weight you have paid for.
On the family question specifically: check whether you are booking a studio or an apartment. A studio sleeping four means four people in one room, and the difference in comfort over a week is enormous. Cheval, the Cove properties and some Native units do separate bedrooms; most of the rest do not.
One thing that catches people: several of these buildings are residential, with actual residents. Cove Landmark Pinnacle is partway up a residential tower and the front desk is a concierge rather than a reception. That is quieter and less hotel-like, which is either what you wanted or a surprise.
Twenty-six properties, with addresses and coordinates checked on 7 September 2026. Housekeeping policies are from each operator’s own site on the same date. Nightly rates are not quoted here because the ones on file have not been sampled properly — see our capsule hotels guide for why a single night’s price is worth so little.
Book an aparthotel
Cheapest first. Nightly rates are not shown because the ones on file have not been sampled properly - open a listing for a live price.Links marked ad are affiliate links. If you book through one we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects what goes on this list.
Staycity Aparthotels Dalston
££AparthotelAccessible roomsKitchens and washing machines on Kingsland High Street, in the middle of Dalston's bar and music strip rather than a business district.
Wilde Aparthotels Covent Garden
£££AparthotelAccessible roomsA kitchen and a washing machine in the middle of the West End, which removes the single biggest cost of a London family trip - eating out three times a day.
Locke at Broken Wharf
£££AparthotelAccessible roomsFull kitchens and a washing machine, directly opposite Tate Modern across the Millennium Bridge - the format that makes a week in London affordable with children.
Bermonds Locke
££AparthotelAccessible roomsStudios with kitchenettes on Tower Bridge Road, ten minutes' walk from Bermondsey Street's restaurants and fifteen from Tower Bridge itself.
Buckle Street Studios by Locke
££AparthotelAccessible roomsLocke's smaller, cheaper Aldgate address - compact studios rather than one-beds, on a quiet side street two minutes from Whitechapel's Elizabeth line platforms.
Cheval Gloucester Park
£££AparthotelAccessible roomsTwo minutes from Gloucester Road station and about eight from the three free South Kensington museums, which makes it the obvious base for a family doing them properly over several days.
Cheval Phoenix House
££££AparthotelAccessible roomsOne street back from Sloane Square, which puts the King's Road, Belgravia and the Royal Court all within a few minutes' walk.
Cheval Three Quays
££££AparthotelAccessible roomsDirectly on the river between the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, with apartments that look straight at both - the view is what you are paying for and it is the best of any aparthotel in London.
Cove by Locke Cannon Street
££AparthotelAccessible roomsFive minutes from St Paul's and the Millennium Bridge, with Cannon Street and Mansion House stations either side and the free City viewpoints all walkable.
Cove by Locke Landmark Pinnacle
££AparthotelAccessible roomsApartments partway up one of Europe's tallest residential towers, with the river on one side and the Wharf on the other - the views are the point and they are genuinely hard to match at this price.
Cove by Locke Moorgate
££AparthotelAccessible roomsApartments on Moorgate itself, a minute from the station's Elizabeth line platforms and ten minutes' walk from both Liverpool Street and the Barbican.
Ember Locke Kensington
££AparthotelAccessible roomsThe most designed of the group - a deliberately seventies palette - on Cromwell Road between Earl's Court and Gloucester Road, which puts the three free South Kensington museums within a walk.
Leman Locke
££AparthotelAccessible roomsThe one that started the format in London: studios with a proper kitchen, a lobby that works as a workspace by day and a bar by night, five minutes from Aldgate East and the Elizabeth line at Whitechapel.
Locke London Canary Wharf
££AparthotelAccessible roomsAparthotel living inside Canary Wharf, on the Elizabeth line and the Jubilee, which puts Bond Street about fifteen minutes away and Heathrow under an hour without changing.
Native Bankside
£££AparthotelAccessible roomsOn a lane behind Shakespeare's Globe, five minutes from Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge, with Borough Market a ten-minute walk east - the best-placed aparthotel on the South Bank.
Native Fulham Broadway
££AparthotelAccessible roomsZone 2 on the District line, five minutes from Fulham Broadway station and ten from Stamford Bridge - the practical choice for a Chelsea home game or a longer stay at west London prices.
Native Hyde Park
££AparthotelAccessible roomsA converted terrace between Paddington and Hyde Park, which puts the Elizabeth line and the Heathrow Express about six minutes away on foot.
Native King's Wardrobe
£££AparthotelAccessible roomsA courtyard building on Carter Lane, about ninety seconds from St Paul's, on the site of the medieval wardrobe that stored the king's robes until the Great Fire took it.
Native Mayfair
££££AparthotelAccessible roomsOn a mews off Grosvenor Square, three minutes from Bond Street and its Elizabeth line platforms - a kitchen in the middle of Mayfair, which is close to unheard of.
SACO Holborn
££AparthotelAccessible roomsOn Lamb's Conduit Street, which is the best short shopping street in Bloomsbury, with the British Museum ten minutes one way and Covent Garden fifteen the other.
Staycity Aparthotels London Deptford Bridge
££AparthotelAccessible roomsOn the DLR at Deptford Bridge, one stop from Greenwich and about twenty minutes to Bank - the cheapest apartment stay in this part of south-east London.
Staycity Aparthotels London Greenwich High Road
££AparthotelAccessible roomsA minute from Greenwich rail and DLR, and about eight from the Cutty Sark, the market and the park gates - a kitchen within walking distance of the Observatory.
Templeton Place by Supercity Aparthotels
££AparthotelAccessible roomsA garden-square address two minutes from Earl's Court station, where the District and Piccadilly lines both stop - Heathrow without a change, and South Kensington in four minutes.
The Chronicle by Supercity Aparthotels
£££AparthotelAccessible roomsOn a side street between Chancery Lane and Fleet Street, five minutes from Farringdon for the Elizabeth line and ten from Covent Garden on foot.
The Rosebery by Supercity Aparthotels
£££AparthotelAccessible roomsOn the Clerkenwell edge of Islington, ten minutes from Farringdon and its Elizabeth line platforms, with Exmouth Market's restaurants at the end of the road.
Wilde Aparthotels London Paddington
££AparthotelAccessible roomsOn the canal basin behind the station, two minutes from the Elizabeth line and the Heathrow Express - the shortest walk to a train of any aparthotel here.
Common questions
What is an aparthotel?
A hotel where the room has a kitchen. You book by the night like a hotel, there is a front desk and someone changes the sheets, but the unit has a hob, a fridge and usually a dishwasher, and often a washing machine. It sits between a hotel room and a rented flat: more service than an Airbnb, more space and self-sufficiency than a hotel.
Are aparthotels cheaper than hotels in London?
Not per night — a studio usually costs about the same as a decent hotel room in the same postcode. The saving is in what you stop paying for: breakfast for a family of four in central London is £60 to £80 a day, and an aparthotel kitchen removes most of that. The format pays for itself somewhere around the third or fourth night, and earlier if there are children.
Do aparthotels clean your room?
Weekly, not daily, and that is the format's defining trade. Locke lists weekly cleaning across its London sites. Staycity does a full clean on day four and every seven days after that, for stays of seven nights or more. Supercity cleans once a week with a full change of towels and linen. If you want your bed made every morning, book a hotel.
Which London aparthotels have a washing machine?
Supercity puts a washer-dryer in every suite, which is the clearest reason to pick them over the others for a long stay. Most other operators run a laundry room rather than in-unit machines — worth checking on the specific property, because it varies within brands as well as between them.
Are aparthotels good for families?
Usually yes, but check the layout before booking. Many London aparthotels are studios, which means everyone sleeps in one room — fine for a couple, less so for four. Cheval and the Cove properties do one- to three-bedroom apartments with proper separate rooms, which is what most families actually want and is priced accordingly.
What is the difference between an aparthotel and a serviced apartment?
Increasingly nothing, and the same operator will use both words. In practice a serviced apartment leans longer-stay and more residential — a concierge rather than a reception, full kitchens, sometimes a building where people actually live. An aparthotel leans shorter-stay and more hotel-like, with a lobby and a bar. Cheval and the Cove sites are the first kind; Locke and Staycity the second.
Is an aparthotel better than an Airbnb in London?
For most trips, yes, and the reasons are boring ones: a front desk, a company that has to answer the phone, published cleaning standards, and no chance of the booking evaporating a week out. You give up the character of a real flat and, sometimes, the price. Aparthotels are also unambiguously legal, which short lets in London are not always.
