At 4 to 6 people, the question genuinely changes. A single hotel room isn’t on the table any more, whatever the listing claims. Your real choices become: rent a whole apartment or house, book a hostel’s larger private room for the group, book several capsules so everyone has their own lockable space, or simply split across two or three standard hotel rooms. Each solves the group size differently, and the right one depends more on whether your group wants to be together in one space or would rather have separate rooms than on price alone.
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Where groups of friends tend to stay
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4 locations available on the map.
Renting a whole apartment
A full apartment or house is the obvious appeal for a group this size: everyone together, a kitchen, a living room to actually hang out in rather than six people in a hotel room. The genuine, repeated risk is specific to larger-occupancy listings: families and groups needing space for 5 or more report Airbnb hosts cancelling confirmed bookings close to the date, apparently because the listing was only ever comfortably configured for 4 and a larger group pushes past what the host wants to honour at the booked price.
Aparthotel chains with multiple London locations (Citadines, Adagio, Marlin) come up as the practical workaround, since they’re built around multi-bed apartment units rather than one individual’s property, so the same cancellation risk doesn’t apply the same way.
A hostel group room
For a group happy to share space rather than each wanting full privacy, a hostel’s larger private room is usually the cheapest reliable option per person. This is different from booking dorm beds individually: you book one room for the whole group, with your own door.
YHA London Central, near Euston, and Palmers Lodge Swiss Cottage, a converted Victorian building further out towards north-west London, both have genuine private rooms alongside their dorms. Ask specifically about larger group rooms (sometimes listed as quad or six-bed) when booking for 4 to 6, since exact configurations and availability vary and aren’t always shown by default in a search.
Check availability: YHA London Central on Booking.com (opens in a new tab) · Palmers Lodge Swiss Cottage on Booking.com (opens in a new tab)
Capsules: one each
Zedwell Piccadilly Circus solves a group of any size the same way it solves 3 friends: book one capsule per person rather than searching for a room that fits everyone. Each person gets a private, lockable capsule with a bed, in a shared building with communal bathrooms, at a genuinely central location seconds from the Underground. It scales cleanly from 4 to 6 people without the booking getting any harder, since you’re not hunting for one room, you’re just booking more of the same thing.
It won’t suit a group that specifically wants to share one space in the evening rather than retreat to separate capsules, and the no-window, compact-footprint trade-off applies the same way it does for smaller groups.
Check availability: Zedwell Piccadilly Circus on Booking.com (opens in a new tab)
Splitting into hotel rooms
Booking two or three standard hotel rooms is the most expensive option per person, but it’s also the simplest to guarantee and gives you full hotel service, breakfast included, no cancellation risk tied to an individual host’s plans changing. Premier Inn London Southwark (Southwark Station) is a reliable, well-reviewed branch for this: book multiple rooms at the same branch and you’re effectively based together anyway, just with a wall between pairs rather than everyone in one space.
Check availability: Premier Inn London Southwark on Hotels.com (opens in a new tab)
Comparing the options
| Option | Typical cost per person | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole apartment (Airbnb, or an aparthotel chain) | Mid | Space, a kitchen, being together | Cancellation risk on larger private listings |
| Hostel group room | Low | Best value, groups happy to share a room | Confirm exact room size and configuration |
| Capsules, one each | Low to mid | Full individual privacy, ultra-central | No shared evening space, no windows |
| 2-3 standard hotel rooms | Mid to high | Full hotel service, no cancellation risk | Most expensive option per person |
Common questions
Is it hard to find an Airbnb for 5 or 6 people in London?
Do London hostels have rooms for 6 people?
Is it cheaper to book one apartment or split into hotel rooms?
What's the safest way to book accommodation for a group of friends?
Our methodology
We research these guides from real traveller discussions in London travel communities, cross-checked and written up with AI assistance. The cancellation pattern for larger-occupancy private listings specifically comes from independent reports about groups of 5, which generalises directly to friend groups of the same size. Read exactly how we research these guides, including how we filter out self-promotion, and how to tell us if we’ve got something wrong.
Sources and checks
- Read our guide to comparing London accommodation types for a fuller breakdown of hotels, hostels, Airbnb and aparthotels.
- Read our guide to best areas to stay in London for named hotel picks by neighbourhood.
Information checked on 22 September 2026. Room configurations, group sizes and prices change between properties and seasons. Confirm current details directly with the property before paying a non-refundable rate.