Great Cheap London Hotel Finds?
 

Hello
I am looking for an affordable (and unforgettable in that good way) hotel for my first visit to London this August. I would ideally like to pay between $100-$175 (yes, USD) per night. I am only in my early twenties so I can dare to be adventurous (but not hostel adventurous). I know this question has been asked on the thread so many times, but I have yet to find anything recent in this range. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Are you looking for hotel only? Booking a flight separately? I have seen some really good deals on Gotoday.com for London. They are packages with flight and hotel. For travel in Aug. there is a 7day/6night pkg. from $699 (rt air and hotel) depending on where you depart from. Check the link
http://www.gotoday.com/UK_FGLD.ASP

Priceline is a great option. For example, I won a bid for this July for the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum, which is either a 3* or 4* hotel depending which site rates it, for a bid of $64 USD + taxes and fees per night. You could likely win a 5* hotel on Priceline with your topline budget. See http://www.betterbidding.com and http://www.biddingfortravel.com .
Priceline provides a better deal than you would get elsewhere even if you selected a private room with shared facilities.

I'll assume 175USD is 100GBP, have a look on laterooms.com - you aren't going to get "unforgettable in that good way" in central London for this price. It's cheapest to stay over a weekend, but I assume you'll be here for more than a few nights. There's no way you can extract a little more money? Also, will it be just you (i.e. a single room) or you and another person?

mayall, in London, with the current exchange rate, you're asking for a room costing between 55-95 GBP.

So, amazingly, Priceline <i>does</i> have some deals like this and you're bidding in dollars not pounds. You <i>must</i> read biddingfortravel.com or betterbidding.com before bidding to understand the process. I'd also suggest if you see people getting 4 star hotels during your time period (biddingfortravel shows winning bids people have gotten) bid 4 star. Don't be tempted to save even more money and go for 2 or 3 star.

If you don't want to try bidding, there are discount websites. BUT before committing to a reservation, make sure you understand what the cancellation policy is on the website you're using (some websites have stiff cancellation charges or NO cancellation. If you get there and hate the place you're stuck). Also, just because you're on a discount site doesn't mean you're getting a discount rate. Check before booking (you're usually given some time to committ). Someone on this board just booked a room through lastminute.com and got a rate that could have been gotten direct from the hotel and there were other websites with cheaper rates for the same place (like laterooms). Websites to check in addition to lastminute and laterooms are londontown.com, opodo.com, eurocheapo.com, travelzoo.com

As to specific hotels, the Ramada Jarvis Marylebone might fit your description, but read the reviews on tripadvisor (check tripadvisor for reviews before booking anything). A b &amp; b to check is St. Margaret's.

I recently downloaded sidestep.com. You can search for hotels through them but you can also check the best price for a place if you find it on another website. Doing a quick search for arbitrary dates in August, it had a bunch of places. The first one listed was the Blakemore which gets some decent reviews on tripadvisor.

HI
Use the little search box above and type in &lt;Arosfa hotel&gt;. I stayed there, on my own, this past January. It's a B&amp;B really, no elevator, no a/c.
Safe and convenient location, proprietors are not chummy but helpful and kind. Place is very clean, and even has a little old-fashioned charm.
Cooked breakfast provided every morning.
My single was very small and my private bathroom even more so; it would still be within your budget to get a double room. Same small bathroom, but room a little bigger (I saw them).

I have a long file on London; if you'd like to see it, email me at
[email protected]

I had great success with Priceline, and I agree with the others that it is a MUST to read the websites--I used biddingfortravel.com. We got a room at Millenium Bailey's for $89, and couldn't have been more pleased. The key is deciding which areas to bid on, and I also wouldn't go below a 4 star. We did the same thing in Hong Kong and got the Kowloon Sheraton for $89. Good luck