Is there any advantage in using Londontown.com over Priceline? I don't want to use any of the bidding websites, because bidding is too complicated for me. But Londontown.com seems to have several nice deals on good London hotels. I stayed in a flat on my last visit, and found that rather lonely. Next time around, I'd like a hotel room. Does Londontown.com require full payment, or just a deposit?

I think the advantage is that it isn't a bidding website. It's just a hotel booking site, that's all, so you know what you are getting and where.

I used it and was very satisfied and got a great hotel at quite a good rate (in comparison to list price). I think the website states the terms, it has to, but as I recall, I didn't pay anything in advance at all. I know it didn't require prepayment in full as I won't do that.

if you take a look at www.biddingfortravel.com and www.betterbidding.com and see some of the winning bids, you may change your mind.

it is not difficult to bid standardly.

in fact, try to see if anyone has won a bid for similar dates to yours and copy what they did.

just be sure to know which areas you prefer to stay in and i would only bid 4 stars, as other levels seem dubious to me almost anywhere.

you may be lucky.

and if you aren´t after a few days.. then go to londontown.com.

we won teh copthorne tara on piriceline fro $90/night plus tax (ended up being $110) but that was a very expensive time.. others have paid less.

that hotel did have a 99gbp rate with breakfast on their website, though, but we still saved 50%. so we were happy.

The other important thing with Priceline is to study the zone map and see if you will be happy with any location within the select zone. The list of hotels on the bidding sites is a historical one, and you could always get a different hotel. London is one of the easiest and best cities to bid on Priceline, in my opinion. But much does depend on how particular you are, and of course there is no possibility of a refund, unless you have insurance that will cover certain situations.

Just remember that some of Priceline's "star ratings" have been questioned by numerous folks in the past, including on biddingfortravel. But that aside, if you are careful about your bidding strategy you probably won't be disappointed.

The advantage to Londontown is you know exactly what you are getting and you pay nothing until you get to the establishment and you can cancel if you need to.

If your heart is set on a vary particular hotel you may be fortunate enough to actually get it with Priceline but just because a particular hotel hasn't come up on Priceline doen't mean it won;t come up for you.

And remember, the inclusiveness of those lists of winning bids is totally dependent on people taking the time to list them.

I use Londontown almost every time we visit London..at least once a year. I like to know just what I'm paying for.

You do have to give them a CC number but you are not charged and cancellations are easy.

We've never been disappointed.. I do know you might get a better price on priceline but to me it is not worth it!

Priceline will be cheaper - Londontown may make you feel more "secure" since you will know the hotel ahead of time.

One thing to note if you do use PL -- the hotels/zones mentioned on biddingfortravel are quite out of date. PL has re-drawn a few of the zones, so where BFT places some hotels are not where they are on PL. Be sure to study the PL zone maps before bidding.

Thank you all for your replies. Travel does take so much research, doesn't it. I'll keep both websites in mind next time I visit London.