Planning trip to London in Sept. Our short list for lower-priced hotels includes George, Orchard, Montana and Kensington International. Since these are missing from Rant/Rave list, appreciate any pointers about these locations, or suggestions for others where a double with bath is in the 60-80 pound range. Tnx!

Unfortunately I do not have any input on the hotels you mentioned, but check out www.londontown.com if you are interested in expanding your list within your budget. It was referred to me via some posts on this site and I have found many hotels in this range in the month of September. I suspect as time gets closer prices will decrease more...good luck.

I stayed at the Strand Palace last week. This is a very central hotel in the heart of theatreland, just around the corner from Covent Garden and within walking distance of all the major sights so no wasting time on tubes. I booked with hotels.com and paid paid £61 single - I think a double was about £80. Well worth it.

Without knowing your exact dates, I tried www.londontown.com for 5 days beginning Sept. 17. I came up with several deals on doubles rooms at these 3* and 4* hotels:

Thistle Euston - 66 BPS
Thistle Hyde Park, Thistle Victoria and Selfridge - all for 82 BPS

We used londontown.com last year and got a great deal on a 4* hotel. Their service is free and you pay the hotel directly when you check out. Just be sure to check the cancellation policy. Ours was within 48 hrs of arrival thru the londontown.com website.

I vote with bettyk, londontown.com has good deals. Ditto for the site lastminute.com. Travel Inn County Hall is well located next to the London Eye and an easy walk to Westminister Bridge, tube stations, Waterloo. Always priced between 74 and 79 GBP. A bit on the character free side (think La Quinta) but very reliable.

Beachcomber, My daughter and I stayed at the Montana in March. I always prefer to stay within that two block area and seem to have managed to hit half a dozen hotels. It is by far the most basic, but also the most inexpensive. It was clean and adequate. And the manager, who seemed to always be working, was very nice and very helpful.

While we should all be very grateful for sites like LondonTown which let us book hotels at cheap rates, let's not get carried away. If you read the small print, a moderatly priced hotel of 80GBP is not so moderate at all at a 100.- after the VAT is added - excluding breakfast of course. If one is willing to spend a 100 pounds, there are enough 3* and 4* hotels which one can book directly and be charged a 100 incl. tax & breakfast.

I have on disc Fodors readers comments on fairly cheap hotels in Victoria and on the Strand, which I can e-mail to you if you ask me

Welcome to London

[email protected]

You might also try www.londonnights.com.

I find their prices to be about the best and they do include VAT and breakfast. check under special offers

Hi
We have just booked the Novotel London Euston - they have a special deal via Superbreak at 79 gbp (127.14 dollars)-for w/c 19 Aug 03. Not sure if the offer extends to September but you might want to check it out www.superbreak.com
Have a great time - we certainly intend to!

If the Thistle Euston is only 66 pounds for a double and there are no hidden costs, I would say that is a good choice. It is across the street from one tube stop on the District line and 1 1/2 block from another tube stop on another line. While not exactly in the middle of things, it was very convenient. Our room was small but well kept with a nice bathroom. Think small roomed Holiday Inn. Breakfast was brought to our room each morning. I've stayed at worse places in London for more money! At 66 pounds, it is a very good deal. Their website is www.thistle.co.uk

Eli, Before we get carried away and dismiss Londontown.com out of hand, it does in fact have a small number of hotels which with vat still qualify for the 60-80 GBP budget. Lastminute.com has a multitude of 3* places in that range. All prices are vat inclusive and many include breakfast.

i'm a regular user of priceline - and www.biddingfortravel.com has been a great help in bidding. i just got 6 nights at Thistle Charing Cross for under $80 (not pounds, dollars!) and a friend got one of the Hiltons for $100. Check it out.

triple ditto to Terry's suggestion of Priceline, I got a fine 4* hotel in their Kensington/whatever district for $85 per night, regular price at least $200. I am a big proponent of a bargain 4 star versus a 3 star at its regular price.

I just came back from London last Sunday. We stayed at the Comfort Inn in a twin room ensuite on Belgrave Rd. just 1/2 block from Victoria Station. The location couldn't have been better for what we wanted to do. The Comfort Inn was very clean and the staff was very helpful. The rate they gave us was GBP 55 which according to them was down from their usual rate of GBP 80. They offered a complimentary continental breakfast in a very clean dining area. It consisted of hardcooked eggs, toast, yogurt (which is so good over there), cold cereal, coffee, tea. We were very pleased. Also, there were vacancy signs at most of the hotels and B&Bs up and down Belgrave Street, Hugh Street and Ebury St. - and everywhere we walked. We were walk-ins at the Comfort Inn. I think that's why the rate was so good.
We decided to move out to Gatwick Airport the day before we left because the flight was to leave so early. We stayed at the Traveler's Inn at Gatwick for the great price of GBP 49.95. It was a very large, clean room with a double bed and and a single bed, ensuite, no breakfast - and just a 5 minute walk from the airport. 49.95 is the advertised rate for all rooms at that hotel per night. The van took us over there the day we checked in for a fee of 2 GBP per person. We walked the path back to the airport on the day we flew pushing a trolley that someone had left outside the hotel. Hope this helps someone who plans to go over soon.