Has anyone been to these London hotel Gateway Hotel or Shaftesbury Premier London Paddington? Or know any others for May9-14 twin less than $800 total for 5 nights?

16fletch, I don't know anything about those hotels, but I use tripadvisor.com for reviews - been very reliable.

You might also try "London hotels" in this board's search bar.

A hotel search method I use is go to venere.com, narrow your list to the price you want & average to higher review ratings. Take those names to tripadvisor.com. (I don't find the venere.com reviews thorough enough.) Use the internet search engine to find the hotel websites; contact them for price, availability & pertinent info (such as, low floor guarantee or elevator, breakfast provided, bedding size, maid service, front desk times, etc.

Hope someone from this board can help you with your specific hotels.

Good luck & have a great trip.

Thanks. I have done all that and more. I have been on many lastminute sights, orbits, etc. I am even trying a theater/hotel package but I think it's too much money. Got a great deal on the Paddington one I mentioned but it got some bad reviews and Gateway doesn't have a website!

If you mean the Gateway hotel in Clapham - not an area I'd stay in. It is south of Clapham Common and nowhere near central London.

The Shaftsbury Paddington is much closer in -- but it is in Paddington - not the nicest nor most convenient part of central London.

What rates are you being quoted? You may do a lot better money and location-wise if you use Priceline.

Or try www.lastminute.com. I got the Paddington Hilton through there for £63prpn, early June last year, booking 2-3 weeks ahead, and was very pleased with it. I do find Paddington quite convenient as it's fairly central and handy for several tube lines.

we stayed at the Country Inn Suites in kensington
found it excellent ( especially after roughing it in greece)
not too far from gloucester rd station ( we had wheelie bags and managed even though initially we set off in the wrong direction !)
we walked to harrods from there and then to hyde park - bit of a hike but we love walking