London Premier Inn? Centrally located but best deal?

London is a large city and many of the attractions are spread out.

Think of the Underground (the Tube) as your friend. With daily caps or Travelcards, it isn't very expensive. It can whisk you from one end of the city to the other in a matter of minutes. Most places you want to visit will be in either Zone 1 or Zone 2 and for five days using either daily capping or buying a week travel card will be about the same. (The current daily cap on the Tube is £8.10 or about $10. )

If you look for a property anywhere in the center of London--say within zone 1--it will be walking distance to some things and tube trips to others.

On the other hand, the closer you are to the center, the more expensive it will be.

I will leave it to others to give their favorite locations.

If there are two or more of you, I would definitely recommend a Premier Inn over a Hub. You may say now that you don't mind small, but Hub rooms are TINY. I love them when traveling alone but would never want to stay in one with another human being.

I would start by setting a budget you’re happy with and then see what’s available. There are good restaurants in many London locations so you don’t need to be super central. Personally, I like the Southwark or Southwark Tate Modern locations. Both near the Tube, Southbank and lots of restaurant options. Price is reasonable.

You can stay super central, ie West End, but you’ll pay more. I do enjoy staying in that location if I’m going to the theatre or shopping as it’s so convenient but I usually don’t splurge for it.

Pricing is dynamic so it’s tricky to say which is the best value, but for central but slightly out of tourist hotspots, I agree with Helen re Southwark or maybe look at Holborn or Blackfriars, or the one near Bank/Monument.

A bit further out, but in a nice area and handy for tubes and buses, Earls Court PI is worth a look.

But you’ll have to plug in your dates on the PI website and see the pricing then check back here with some ideas.

Hub rooms are really small and I wouldn’t want t to share a standard room there. Also the beds are quite high off the ground and it always feels like a bit of a jump to get into them. And there’s no kettle in the rooms.

I'm staying at the Premier Inn County Hall in South Bank for my upcoming spring trip to England, but looked at a number of PIs before deciding on that one. This thread I started from August has a long discussion about Premier Inns in London that you might find helpful in making your decision. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/requesting-opinions-of-certain-premier-inns-in-london

County Hall or Waterloo (they are just a few blocks apart) have easy access to multiple transport options and restaurants. Westminster is just a walk across the bridge.

I've stayed at quite a few PIs in Great Britain, including two in London, the County Hall and Holborn locations. County Hall is usually less expensive, and locations farther east will normally be cheaper than either of those two. Rates really can vary by date, and Saturday nights are likely to be a lot more expensive just about everywhere. Go to the PI website and plug in your actual dates to see what looks most viable to you, then come back here and ask for opinions.

Your particular selection of tourist sights will affect which PI locations are most convenient for you. On my most recent trip I planned a deep dive into the British Museum, so I chose the Holborn PI. That worked very well for me, but I could have stayed elsewhere for less money and would have done so if I hadn't anticipated making so many trips to the British Museum.

I believe the Hub rooms are set up so that one person has to crawl over the other to get into bed. That would be a hard "No" for me.

The PI Hub larger rooms do have a bed that you can walk right around but they’re still very small and it’s pretty difficult for 2 people to get ready at the same time. I’d say they’re fine for 1-2 nights max.

What might help the discussion is telling us where you are arriving into and leaving out of London. Fore example, where you to be coming from Europe on the Eurostar and leaving from LHR or LGW airports then the King's Cross/St Pancras area would make a lot of sense. You could walk to one of 3 Premier Inns from St Pancras and take the tube to LHR or the train to LGW from the same place. So very little humping your bags around and lots of transport links to get around town and restaurants close by.
Other PIs might have similar advantages from other arrival/departure points.

In March of 2019 I stayed in the Hub on Goodge street for 12 days. I was solo but opted for the slightly larger room with the bed you can walk around. It was a comfortable room, their lobby had free tea and coffee but no kettle in the room. I bought a kettle, 1 liter and cheap but worked fine, for 8£ at a shop called Argos that was close by. I just left it when I checked out. The biggest issue was the windows do not open and if you are a person who loves a window open at night you need to think about that. It was a trade off I made for the definitely cheaper price vs the Premier Inn since I was going to be in London so many days.

I was walking distance to British Library and British Museum and other things too but the metro/tube is so great you can get around so easily that you almost always feel like you have a great location no matter where you end up.

Thank you everyone!!! I'm going to do my research tonight based on your suggestions.
THANKS!

Currently staying at the PI in Earls Court and can share some pros/cons...

Pros:
Love the neighborhood - the hotel's placement keeps it very quiet.
Short walk to the tube and the station has step-free access from the Piccadilly line.
Daytime reception staff is very good.
Bed is relatively comfortable.
Room is decently cleaned.
WiFi is decent (but FaceTime cuts out a fair amount at times).
Self Operated Launderette very near the hotel.

Cons:
Part of the hotel involves two elevators and a skyway to get to the rooms. There is no shortcut.
Room is worn and shabby feeling.
I'm in a double room and there are no drawers, no suitcase rack or other sort of storage solutions.
No safe in the room.
Evening staff is lacking.
If you want your room cleaned, you let the desk know before noon that day. You cannot let them know the night before and the front desk is always busy in the morning.

The lack of drawers is standard in PIs, in my experience, and I don't remember a suitcase rack, either. I've been lucky enough not to encounter a shabby PI.

Thank you once again for all the responses.
It seems that premiere inn as well as most of the hotels Are on dynamic pricing.

I thought six months ahead would give us a good price, but you really need to book longer than that for good summer rates. The PI rates were way way higher than all of the research I did on this forum because we didn’t book enough in advance.
So…. If you are going to book a hotel in London, do it as soon as you know you were going to London.

Have you looked at Travelodge?

Dear OP. I would check the rates every so often. I have had the rates go down for Premier Inn before. Not saying that it is going to happen in today's climate, but it doesn't cost anything to check once in awhile. In the spirit of this I just checked my reservation in Southampton for May. The price has gone up a total of 4 pounds for 4 nights (really 2 rooms, 2 nights). That is pretty reasonable considering I made my reservation last fall.

I think you are correct. The London Market is in demand and June is high season, especially with the Olympics so close.

We decided Hotel 63 AKA 63 Bayswater, also suggested on this forum.
The PI were much more money, and we decided against the hubs based on people saying it was too small and they were right.
I’ve used Rick Steves travel forums for dozens of trips, and I’m so thankful for our community

63 has been my go to for decades. Trust that breakfast is still included in the price. Then again after Covid lockdown things might have changed.
If they have, then nearby Shelia’s Cafe is worth checking out. Hopefully it weathered the lockdown and remains in business.

Good pub grub at the nearby Mitre.

Also the tiny and popular Tudkin flavors or Malaysia is worth a reservation.

Pub grub at the Victoria Paddington is also stellar. Lovely pub and patrons.

Be sure to have a coffee at the Italian Gardens cafe at Lancaster Gate entrance to Hyde Park.

Have a pleasant visit.

Booking far in advance doesn’t necessarily get you the best price at PI. They don’t know all the events that will be happening in London very far ahead so don’t want to sell the rooms too cheap when demand could surge.