Londoners Do Royal Wedding Favors for Visitors

And these are spectacular favors, I might add! With millions around the world jumping at the chance to enjoy the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton up close and personal, many Londoners are doing you the favor of offering their flats and homes to those who can’t find a hotel room—and if you […]

 

And these are spectacular favors, I might add! With millions around the world jumping at the chance to enjoy the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton up close and personal, many Londoners are doing you the favor of offering their flats and homes to those who can’t find a hotel room—and if you haven’t booked yet, you just might be out of luck.

Londoners Out to Gain a Few “Pounds”!

As you’d expect, there are open palms at the end of those open arms. Prepare to pay a premium for a place to stay–without the amenities you’d get at a hotel or bed-and-breakfast. I won’t be looking for London lodging for the event, but for those of you who absolutely must be there (it is, after all, not every day a British royal gets married) and have plenty of pounds (British ones!), there is a way.

FoxNews.com reports that there are some property Web sites “geared toward connecting homeowners with people looking for housing during major London events. Matthew Parker’s londonrentmyhouse.com started as such a matchmaker for the London 2012 Olympics, but expanded once inquiries about the wedding streamed in from owners looking to cash in.”

For Example…

A 27-year-old bass guitarist has a spare room (near London’s Tower Bridge) he rents for 150 pounds ($237) a week. He’s put an ad on Gumtree.com, another UK property-rental site, to let his flat for 500 pounds ($792) for the week. It’s a double room with a TV, wardrobe, chest of drawers, private bathroom and a free subway card. (You’ll need it. The flat is several miles from the expected wedding route.)

Actually, for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most of us, that’s not a bad deal. I’m still not going. I’ll just pour myself a pint of warm beer, snack on bangers and mash, put a few fairy tale wedding favors around the room for ambiance, put on some fab Beatles music, hang pictures of Simon Cowell, Winston Churchill, Amy Winehouse, et al. and watch the wedding from the best seat in the house—in front of our TV.