Where to stay in London
 

My wife and I will be in London for 3 days in May. We will be flying into Gatwick and leaving on the Eurostar to Paris. We want to keep lodging expenses as low as possible. We are older (celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary). I was thinking of staying somewhere near the Victoria Station. Where would be the best area to stay at? Also any hotel suggestions would be appreciated. We are not fussy, but would like an en-suite bathroom and shower.

You can stay anywhere in Central London because the transport is easy and for the most part works really well. Most anywhere will be a short-is tube or bus ride from Victoria (where some Gatwick trains go) and St Pancras (where the Eurostar leave from) stations,

Victoria is a good/convenient area w/ lots of budget accomodations nearby.

But - what is your actual budget? W/o knowing that it is hard to give recommendation - or even know whether your plans are doable. BTW - Priceline is wonderful for London.

Regarding my budget, I would like to stay under $150 a night if possible.

You are talking about £75 which is very doable for a budget hotel. There are lots of choices near Victoria station. But if it were me, I'd probably use Priceline. Check biddingfortravel.com to see what London hotels are going for.

You can usually get a nice 4 star hotel in central London for about $100 give or take plus taxes which means less than $120. It would be a nicer hotel the 2 star-ish places you'd get for £75.

I use Priceline every time I go to London, I've used it 7 or 8 times now and have never been disappointed with the hotel. The only downside besides not actually choosing the hotel is that the reservations is noncancellable and nonrefundable, I usually wait until about a month away from the trip to bid.

Regarding Priceline, should I do that now, or wait until it is closer to May?

Different people have different strategies. Some will make a cancelable reservation if they find an acceptable hotel and then start bidding PL. For London I've never done that but some like the security of having s reservation in case PL doesn't work out.

As for when to bid - you can bid far ahead - but if you do, bid low since you might get lucky and "win" a very big bargain. I'd get serious about bidding maybe 5-6 weeks ahead and not get nervous until 2 or 3 weeks out.