London Hotels on the cheap

Looking for a decent budget hotel a month out during the busiest tourist season may be asking a lot. What is your budget? If its really low, you might look at hostels, which nowadays have private rooms. But even they may be booked up. Have you checked what's available thru booking.com?

Come on, give us a break. We are not mind readers. What is the budget???? Remember London is either the 1st or 2nd most expensive city in the world. An adult hotel ???? All hotels are adult hotels. Would you settle for a one hour train ride to downtown London?

Have you looked at Premier Inns, the budget travelers best friend?

First off, you didn't say what your budget is, that can cover a lot of territory. Since you are a few months late for anything that might be in Rick's book I would suggest going to a site like Booking.com and plug in a price range and see what pops there. Two things I like about Booking.com are 1) they solicit ratings from people who have stayed at the locations and; 2) they have a map function that lets you see a whole raft of locations at once. Since Aug. 11 is effectively the day after tomorrow, I recommend that you act immediately. Hope this has been some help.

Hi,

I suggest the B&Bs in Kings Cross on Argyle Street, eg, the Central Hotel, the Fairway Hotel, the Waldonia, London is one the most expensive cities or capitals in Europe as regards to accommodations. Keep in mind the more amenities you require, the more you pay.

I stay in the Kings Cross area....easy, convenient, direct train link to Gatwick by walking over St Pancras, likewise with the EuroStar to Paris, and by Tube to LHR.

If you want to go cheaper, stay in YHA hostel or in an university dorm. The St Pancras YHA Hostel is located opposite of the station.

Chuck, what do you mean by "adult hotel" which would be different from a normal hotel?

I myself would not risk a non-air-conditioned place in London in August. You might opt to do so if your budget is painfully tight. Most budgrt options in London don't have a/c.

The Premier Inn suggestion was a good one. There are many in London, often with a/c. They usually don't show up on booking.com, so you'll need to go to the company website. I must warn you that it has been really flaky in the past, changing your arrival date mid-way through the process. You must watch that very carefully and possibly change it back to what you want more than once. I think PI has a smartphone app that may work better. Despite the problematic website, the hotels seem well-run. If you find a few possibiities, come back here to ask about the locations. There's not-central and then there's too-far-out.

Make sure to read reviews on TripAdvisor and Booking.com - some of the budget hotels in London are horrible. Having stayed in one myself as a novice traveler I now do my research!!!

I recently posted a review of the Luna and Simone Hotel in the Hotel and Restaurant Review section. We thought it was about as reasonably priced as any we would consider.

Perhaps the OP seeks to distinguish an “adult hotel” from a youth hostel? Good luck and safe travels.

Premier Inn Waterloo offers a room for 655 pounds for your dates. I’d grab it. Good location, near the river, walk to Westminster, 3 tube lines nearby. I stayed at this hotel in April and was pleased.

Have you considered Airbnb? I had reservations about using it, but my mom and I were on a tight budget and we ended up really liking it. You can talk to the hosts ahead of time to know who you are staying with. The rooms we stayed in were definitely nicer than what we would have stayed in if we stayed in budget hotels.

Update. Looks like the OP has edited the post. Now it reads:

we are two people travelling to london and want an adult hotel, as
opposed to a youth hostel from August 11-16 that will not break our
budget. any suggestions? We dont mind a shared bathroom or quirky
features, but just want privacy. The best place would be around $60
a night and close to cool things to see, the Victoria And Albert
Museum and Kensington.

That budget is £47 a night. I don't know how close you can get to Kensington at that price. Sounds more like London hostel rates than hotel rates. Or, at least any non-fleabag London hotel. I confess: I've read reviews on TripAdvisor of some of London's worst-reviewed budget hotels. It's the stuff of nightmares. I'd prefer a clean hostel to any of those.

Unless you at least double that budget, or look at hostels, I don't know where you'll end up in London. There are rooms in university housing that are rented to tourists; have you looked at any of those?

A room rate of 47 pounds near the center of London, is unrealistically low. Even double that amount will not find much that is suitable in the areas requested. Your have to be realistic about where and when you are going. If you are willing to spend an hour or so on the train in and out of London you might find something closer to your budget. But even in the US, $60/night rooms in major cities is very hard to find.

thanks guys! we have updated the post to reflect budgetary concerns. But any suggestions welcome!

Hi,

No longer can you get a single for 47 GBP, that was the price I got 10 years ago in the B&Bs in Kings Cross.

If you're there in August, expect your double to be ca 100 GBP. in a B&B without AC. B&Bs have 2 common features...no elevator and no AC, aside from the narrow staircase.

So the budget has been updated again to $80, which is £63 - still absolutely bargain basement or hostel rate in London.

OP, it’s probably simpler if you update the information via new posts, so we can keep track of what’s changed, rather than constantly editing your original post. At least that would make more sense to me.

What have your searches brought up? Given that you know your budget and the area you want to be in, have you done a search on booking.com yet? Because I have to say, I’m struggling with these criteria.

A question: what has been the result of your own search for London lodgings? I ran a search on TripAdvisor for London hotels for two people, one room, check in August 11, check out August 16, at $80 or less. Came up with several results, some of which didn't look too bad at first glance. Perhaps you could try that and then ask for opinions on the ones you find most appropriate.

Also, in London (and the UK generally), rooms are charged at a per person rate. That's a bit different that I'm used to seeing here in the US. So it's important to be sure you've cited the correct number of people when you search for accommodation.

Also, although TripAdvisor let me search for rooms using dollars, I'm not being snarky when I urge you to start thinking in terms of pounds (£) in respect to your London trip. I use the handy currency conversion tool at xe.com, and there are handy phone apps for that purpose as well.

Sorry, I think you need to rethink your budget or be prepared to be miles out of central London and commute in, which will be costly and take time.

I have just done a search on Booking.com for late availability for tonight (Sunday is usually the cheapest night of the week) and the few things anywhere close to your budget have scores that are lower than I would be prepared to accept. Most private rooms in hostels are more than your budget in August.

LSE let their university beds in the summer holidays, but most of these are about double your budget.

Premier Inns are not likely to fall within your budget unless you had booked them about a year ago, but some of their more fringe locations maybe cheaper, such as Wandsworth or Chiswick.

For that budget, which is similar to what mine was, I’d absolutely go Airbnb. What you will find for that budget is far nicer than hotels or hostels will be at that price.

Here's a really helpful website about staying in dorms for the summer in London: http://www.reidsguides.com/t_h/t_h_university.html (scroll down to "University dorms for travelers in London") - this may be promising. I'd much rather stay in a dorm than many of the budget hotels out there!!

chuck just started a new, almost identical, thread asking the same question.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/london-hotels-99cccdd4-33dd-486b-9e4d-20aa42c21408

Sometimes I've had good luck with the Accor family of hotels, and I see the Ibis Budget London Whitechapel-Brick Lane for $421 USD for that date range. Reviews indicate the rooms are tiny and minimalist, but it seems decent enough and, like many Ibis properties, actually has air conditioning in a price band where it's not always common.