I think a lot of the people complaining about the cost are blissfully unaware of the cost of a hotel stay in London. Even so-called 'budget' hotels can be very expensive. To give an example, I've paid £185 for a berth from London to Dundee on 21 May—and yes, I'm not all that happy that it's much more than I used to pay for a shared berth. But looking at the Travelodge website for a room that night, it's quoting £199 for a room at Covent Garden, Euston, King's Cross, Southwark, Tower Bridge... then add £55 (standard) or £106 (first) for a single on the 1000 from King's Cross in the morning.
I'm not 'blissfully unaware' at all as I've actually used both options, if I'm travelling by air and taking late night or early morning flights then it's much more convenient and a lot cheaper to stay at hotels near the airports. Last year my return flights from Inverness and five day car hire for an Astra sized car were £140 and then I paid £40 a night at both sides in a Travelodge for a total cost of £220 and that was flying late down (actually after the sleeper left) and flying back up early morning so I didn't lose time compared to the sleeper either.
I find the opposite of what you've said, I can usually get flights and hotels late on for cheap whereas the only way to get cheap train fares is to book months in advance and be flexible about dates. In the case above it was all last minute booking and for the second hotel night I booked it online ten minutes before going there as other plans had fallen through, aside from most of the train prices being crazy (the sleeper was at best 50% more expensive and that's including the car hire on the air fares) I couldn't get my bike on any of the trains either.
I've just checked some dates on the new sleeper and it looks like without the car hire it's going to be around triple the prices of a plane and travelodges which may not be the greatest out there but they're a lot more comfortable than sleeping on a train. I would actually like to use the sleeper but it's hard to swallow paying a massive premium for it when it's worse then alternative. Last time I took the sleeper I had to go the seated approach at a hefty £150 return but I justified it to myself that it would be more convenient than staying in hotels and boy was that an expensive mistake, it was bad enough it was thoroughly unpleasant but knowing I'd paid more for that than a quick and convenient flight took the biscuit. I was really hoping they'd be able to offer a better option for solo travelers between a seat and a cabin as that's partially what makes the cost so high for me but sadly not.
I don't get this 'hotel on wheels' concept when most people are really just using it to sleep, I could understand if the train travelled a significant portion of the day but when it's leaving late at night and arriving first thing in the morning it doesn't make much sense. I would like to use the sleeper but I can't justify paying hundreds more for it when it's quicker and cheaper to use flights and a hotel where I'll also sleep a lot better. I do want to try the new sleeper but I think when it comes down to it I'm not going to waste a few hundred quid on it.
