Hotel/Apartment stays in central London, 5 nights mid June

My suggestion is to use VRBO and put in your dates and requirements. Many places are already taken and almost all of them will be over $200 night, but you might find something. Get started ASAP.

As you're considering suggestions $200 will put you at about £150.

I think that budget will be difficult in order to find a place where you will be happy. London is expensive. We stayed at Hotel 63 near Paddington station in September 2023. A dorm like room with a claustrophobic bathroom. Not comfortable for more than a couple nights. Pricing back then was @ $180 USD per night. If there are high temperatures a room with A/C would be very helpful. However in the older hotels, A/C sometimes doesn’t work very well. Premium Inns seem to be recommended a lot. You may want to research past forums.

I doubt very much if you will be able to get an apartment in a central location for less than $200 night. Maybe double that.

I would start looking for hotels. Premier Inns are very reasonably priced and you can find them all over London, although I'm not even sure you could find a PI room in June for £150/night. Although I just did a dummy booking for mid-June for 5 nights at the Premier Inn Paddington Basin, which is very central, and did find rooms that were around $200/night. I also checked the Premier Inn Victoria, and they also had rooms for a little over $200/night during that same time period. So it would pay to check the various Premier Inn locations. I've stayed at them before, and they are very clean and very comfortable. I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.

I suspect those PI rates are for non-refundable rooms. Perhaps Sheila is OK with that; I am not, and I found the "flexible" rates (cancellable until the day of arrival) to be quite a lot higher. The amount of the up-charge seemed to vary somewhat, but it was often 30% or more. I was looking at dates at the beginning of May and the beginning of June.

The air-conditioning question is key. How much of a risk-taker are you? London isn't usually very hot--but it can happen.

London weather--June 2024 < not too bad

London weather--June 2023 < really pretty awful without a/c

In June I'd want air conditioning, which is available at most if not all London Premier Inns, but not at some budget-level hotels. If you want to be sure of a/c and aren't ready to commit to a non-cancellable reservation, your best option may be a Premier Inn somewhat outside the center. You can go to premierinn.com, enter London and your dates, then filter the list by price. Your $200 US budget equates to 158 GBP per night. The list will show you the distance from central London for each hotel. Folks here can probably comment on the locations ending up on your short list. You'll need to click through to the listing for a hotel to find the refundable rate, if that's what you want.

Saturday is often--but not always--the most expensive night of the week. If you have some date flexibility, you may save some money by not being in London that night.

Premier Inn. Earl's Court (Kensington) location is usually pretty cheap. I would recommend it.

A more realistic budget for an single bedroom apartment in central London would be £300+ a night. The suggestion of a Premier Inn is a good one - and I think at that budget you just have to accept a small room.

I guess we should increase our budget! Any suggestions for a room for 2 June 17-22 in a nice area with ac, for about $300-$350?

See my post above- £300+ is a more realistic budget, so more like USD380.

Have you looked at the Premier Inns? Do you really need an apartment?

Premier Inns are good.

Check out any of the Resident Hotels. If you do, become a Member to get up to 15% off.

I suspect those PI rates are for non-refundable rooms.

Nope, they were for the middle ones; cancellable within 28 days before the visit and you pay now. But the flex rates for the Paddington Basin PI (which is the tab I still have open) weren't that bad; only £199.2, which converts to around $250 at this time.

Sheila, I would also recommend The Resident hotels that Frank mentioned above. They will be more expensive than Premier Inns but nicer; and as Frank mentioned, you get 15% off if you become a member, which is free. They do not serve breakfast, but do provide you with a discount coupon to use at a nearby restaurant, and they have a happy hour for guests even evening in the hotel. I'm staying at The Resident Victoria for 10 nights in late March/early April with two of my grandkids.

They often have sales, too; with the caveat that the sales usually apply to non-refundable stays. That's how I got such a great deal. I don't mind as I have good travel insurance that will cover the hotel stay if anything goes wrong, so it is something to consider.