Hi again to all who have responded to Peggy's question. It seems that the biggest problem I'm having is finding a nice hotel with a reasonable price. The main culprit (for those of us travelling to London from the USA) is the terribly LOW dollar. I look on the websites and see the price of the room in British Pounds and it looks reasonable but by the time I make the exchange rate and add in the VAT it starts to get out of my comfort zone. I stayed at Harrington Hall Oct. of 2002 for an average of about $120.00 per night and this past May at the Flemings Mayfair for about $165.00. BUT, I've been considering a room in January at the Beaufort Hotel (which should be the low season)and it may be as much as $232.00 per night. Even the once reasonable rooms at Harrington Hall are not far off that mark. London is my favorite place in the world to visit but I may have to do without food and stick to just "window shopping" while I'm there. I've really researched all of the hotel websites but as I said - the value of the dollar is one of the main problems. One suggestion in searching all of the hotel websites is to put hotels+London in your browser and you get tons of websites. By the way, in case "Tulips" happens to read this reply - I would appreciate a review of your stay at the Millennium Knightsbridge. Thanks

Linda, the last time I stayed there was about 2 years ago, but my mother stayed there two weeks ago, and was very pleased with the hotel. She had a better than average room, and really enjoyed her stay. I have stayed at the Beaufort Hotel too; very nice, small hotel. I paid 110 pounds including VAT and breakfast. This was through laterooms.com, in May this year. The hotel has a 'living room' reception on the ground floor, with complimentary drinks and tea for residents.
I always stay in the area, because I know it very well. I usually go to restaurants in the area as well. I take the underground to go to theatres, taxi back. True that there are not many nightclubs in the area, but I find the whole nightlife in London a bit tricky; many places require membership, or charge extortionate prices for non-members. I lived in London for about 9 years, so know my way around.

By the way, my mom payed 160 pounds at the Millenium, but had a large room. I know the rates can be as low as 99 there too sometimes.

I think the problem is that London hotels are EXPENSIVE! Compared to most parts of the UK, they're just plain high--and that's okay.

Because I need two rooms and I'm far from rich, I'm not willing to pay the prices I'm seeing for central London. At first I resisted, but now I'm resolved to try bidding for rooms on Priceline--it seems to be the only way to get a halfway decent room for close to $100, and I'm trying to stay $90-$100 per room. I've printed the list of hotels usually won (biddingfortravel.com), and I've looked at what I'm likely to get in my price range in Westminster/Victoria and Soho/Mayfair, even Bloomsbury/Marble Arch and I'm comfortable with the most likely 4* options. I just don't see any other way to stay in an acceptable place in my price range in central London.

Well Tulips I see that I can get a standard room at the Millennium Knightsbridge for 99 BP or a nice room at the Beaufort for 135 BP. Knowing what you do about both hotels would it be worth my paying the extra $$ to stay at the Beaufort or go for Mill.Knightsbridge? Harrington Hall has a rate of 96 BP for a standard room. I've stayed there before and was very satisfied and liked the area so that is always a consideration. I just usually like to try a new hotel each time I go - but maybe with the dollar being down I should just stick to what I know.

It all depends on what you like in a hotel; the Millenium is large and fairly standard, the Beaufort is a small boutique hotel. You can't go wrong with either one IMO, but if you are watching your budget, I would personally go for the cheaper room (and spend what you save in Harvey Nichols). I really like being right on Sloane Street. Haven't stayed in Harrington Hall, but know the location, and that is good too.