In this guide
An aparthotel is a hotel where the room has a kitchen. Whether that 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 and Cheval put a washer-dryer in every unit, and so do a few specific Locke and Native addresses — most others use a shared laundry room instead. Kitchens vary just as much — some come with a dishwasher, others just a hob and a microwave — so check the room grade. Cheval and the Cove properties do proper separate bedrooms; most of the rest are studios, where a family of four shares one room.
Three picks: Native Fulham Broadwayad (Zone 2, laundry in the building) · Native Banksidead (washer-dryer in the apartment, own gym) · Native Mayfairad (full kitchen, mews near Bond Street).
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:
- 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 well outside Zone 1 |
| Wilde | 2 | Studios | Staycity’s central, smarter sister brand |
Locke is the one to pick if you want a lobby with life in it. 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. Leman Locke and Bermonds Locke both fit the same kit: a hob, a fridge and a microwave (a microwave-grill at Bermonds) rather than a full cooker, with a kettle and basic cookware but no dishwasher. Buckle Street Studios, the cheaper site next door to Leman, keeps to a smaller kitchenette again. Bermonds Locke is the only one of the three with a washer-dryer built in; Buckle Street Studios has a shared laundry room instead, £5 to wash and £5 to dry.
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. Both also come with a full kitchen, a washer-dryer and a 24-hour gym as standard — Gloucester Park adds secure underground parking and a twelve-person private cinema room, while Three Quays has neither.
The living area at Cheval Three Quays.
A bedroom at Cheval Gloucester Park.
Supercity is the one to know for a long stay, on the washer-dryer that comes with every suite — though Cheval matches it, and so do Bermonds Locke and two of Native’s addresses. Over two weeks that is the difference between doing laundry in your room and hunting for a launderette. The kitchen itself depends on the room grade: Supercity’s cheapest Studio Suites get a kitchen/dining area rather than a full kitchen, which only arrives from the One Bedroom Suite up.
By area, and by how you get there
Where each aparthotel is, by operator
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Central, and priced like it. Wilde Covent Garden is on Adam Street between the Strand and the river, three minutes from the piazza — its studios run to a full kitchen, with a hob, a dishwasher, a fridge and Smeg kettle and toaster. Native Mayfairad is on a mews off Grosvenor Square, under ten minutes from Bond Street and the Elizabeth line; the kitchen comes as standard here too, though there’s no gym on-site — the nearest is a short, paid walk away. Both are as central as this format gets in London.
A studio at Wilde Covent Garden.
The bathroom at Native Mayfair.
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. Cove’s Cannon Street studios are kitchenettes rather than full kitchens, with a shared laundry room and a 24-hour front desk; there’s no on-site parking, though there’s a public car park close by. King’s Wardrobe is the one Native address in this guide with its own restaurant downstairs — Counter, a café-bar-and-courtyard — and its own paid parking below the building, which none of the other Native sites here offer.
A studio at Cove Cannon Street.
The kitchenette at Native King’s Wardrobe.
A bedroom at The Chronicle.
East, on the Elizabeth line. Leman Lockead 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. Buckle Street’s kitchenettes are smaller again than Leman Locke’s next door, and some of its cheapest Hotel Rooms have no kitchen at all; it has no gym of its own either, sharing Leman’s, sixty seconds away. Cove Landmark Pinnacle’s Studio Apartments keep to a kitchenette too, but its larger one-bedroom apartments get a full kitchen, and guests staying a week or more can ask for the 56th-floor gym on top of the building.
A studio at Leman Locke.
A room at Buckle Street Studios.
A studio at Cove Landmark Pinnacle.
South of the river. Native Banksidead is on a lane behind the Globe, five minutes from Tate Modern — and it’s the one Native address in this guide with its own gym, a sixth-floor fitness suite with Peloton bikes, plus a washer-dryer built into the apartment rather than a shared laundry room. Bermonds Lockead is on Tower Bridge Road, with the same in-room washer-dryer as Native Bankside. Staycity has Greenwich High Road, a minute from the station and eight from the Cutty Sark, with a hob, fridge-freezer, microwave and dishwasher in every apartment, and a limited amount of secure on-site parking if you book it ahead of arrival.
The bathroom at Native Bankside.
A studio at Bermonds Locke.
A bedroom at Staycity Greenwich High Road.
Outer, and cheaper. Staycity Deptford Bridge is on the DLR one stop from Greenwich, and has the same dishwasher-equipped kitchen as Greenwich High Road in every apartment, plus a fitness room its sister site doesn’t have. Native Fulham Broadwayad is Zone 2 on the District line, ten minutes from Stamford Bridge, with laundry facilities and self-service luggage lockers in the building. 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. Its studios share the same kitchen/dining layout as the Chronicle’s, and guests get access to a private residents’ garden.
A bedroom at Staycity Deptford Bridge.
A studio at Native Fulham.
A studio at Templeton Place.
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, and the best budget hotels in London lists the rooms at £150 a night or less.
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. In-room and on-site facilities for the sixteen properties covered in detail above were checked against each operator’s own site on 13 September 2026. Nightly rates are not quoted here: 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 a residential tower on the Isle of Dogs, 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, under ten minutes from Bond Street and its Elizabeth line platforms - a kitchen in the middle of Mayfair, which is close to unheard of.
No.5 Maddox Street
££££Serviced apartmentEvery unit is a whole apartment with a kitchen - the smallest 27 sq m, the largest a three-bed of 79 sq m with outdoor space - on a quiet side street a minute off Regent Street, which is a rare thing to book in Mayfair for either two nights or two months.
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, about seven minutes' walk from the Elizabeth line and the Heathrow Express.
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 a microwave rather than a full cooker. A dishwasher is the exception — Staycity and Wilde both fit one as standard, most others don't say either way — and a washing machine only comes with specific properties, not the format as a whole. 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 and Cheval put a washer-dryer in every unit, and so do specific addresses elsewhere: Bermonds Locke, and Native's Bankside and King's Wardrobe sites, all have one in the apartment. Buckle Street Studios, both Cove addresses and Staycity charge for a shared laundry room instead — Locke's is £5 to wash and £5 to dry — so it varies within a brand as much as between brands, and the specific address is what to check.
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.
