Need help with which part of London

There are many neighborhoods in London that fit your requirements. What have you come up with on homeaway that looks interesting to you? You might want to also check airbnb to see what they have.
How is your mom with stairs? That may have an impact on which tube station you choose to be near. Some have lifts/escalators and some don't...here is a PDF that tells which stations have these. That might help you make a decision. Here's a different version with a map that might work too.

Are there neighborhoods in the London area that should be avoided?

are there any neighbourhoods that should be avoided?

The short answer is no.

A more nuanced answer is that some streets/estates are not be great places for tourists to stay/visit. Within London there are pockets of deprivation right next to multi-million pound homes. An example is the recent tragedy in Grenfell Tower in the borough of Chelsea & Kensington. That is an extremely wealthy borough, so if someone found a property in Kensington thinking they’d found a bargain they might be in for a shock if the accommodation turned out to be in a block of flats next to the gas works or wherever.

But compared to north American cities, where whole areas can be fraught with danger, London (and the UK as a whole) is very safe.

Because you will need at least 2 rooms, skip looking at hotels. An apartment will work out cheaper. 2 hotel rooms in London start at $350 / night although there can be good deals for Premier Inns if you book early.

For areas to look: Some people have a lot of nostalgia for certain parts of London based on books, movies, news coverage of Diana, where they have always stayed, etc. Do you have any baggage for preferred parts of London, places with familiar names or often shown in movies, or are you just looking for the most convenience?

Look close in so you are not commuting all the time. It's nice to take breaks back at home base before heading out again in the late afternoon or evening.

Looking at the last 2 sentences of your question:
"What is a good suburb with easy train/tube connections into the city? Just looking at the map on homeaway.com, its hard to pick a certain town to check."

Do you want to be in central London, a suburb on the outskirts of London, or a town outside of London?

Ramblin,
I have be told by some Brits that there are areas of London where one, especially women, should not go at night.

Still, it seems that London is nothing like Chicago.

OP, the reason you're getting so few helpful answers is that so many, many parts of our huge city would fit the bill. Better to tell us some places that you like the look of, and we'll give you feedback.

What are you looking to do in London? Any particular areas you are spending a good bit of time in? I think that may also help narrow down your search.

Thank you everyone. I'm sorry for some of the vaguness. We don't have a preferred area of the city or anything that we want to be near. We would be willing to stay anywhere, inside or outside of the city as long as it had good connections into the city for sightseeing. We have only just started talking about it but I wanted to start getting an idea on where to stay and if we were going to do a flat/house or hotel. I'm also using it to get an idea on a budget we need to start planning.

Thank you to the person who sent the link for the stations with elevators. That is one thing I am having to really take into consideration, she can't always do a lot of them and I have to remember that.

Since this is my mom and sister's first trip to the UK, I want to take them to see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Harrods, just to name a few and these are only suggestions. I also want to take my daughter to the Tower and one of the parks. I really want to see Hampton Court and the War Rooms. We would probably do a day trip to Windsor as well and my mom and sister want to see a show in the West End. We very well may only make London only half of our trip. We may head up to Manchester part of the time to visit my niece.

Emma's given some great advice, and I'll add my own opinion here. Look at the Tube map and find a place to stay that is inside the (yellow) Circle Line. Or not far outside it.

I think you'll be much better off staying in that central area than going farther out. You have two people in your party who've never seen London and the landmarks/sights you've mentioned that you want to show them, are centrally located. I suspect that as your planning progresses, you'll find that many if not all of the other places on your list to visit, are also centrally located. I'd hate to burn a lot of time each day just traveling between my hotel/apartment and the sights I'm going to see. As has already been mentioned, I like being able to go back to my hotel room during a day of sightseeing, or between the day's and evening's itinerary. The farther away it is, the harder that is.

As to rooms, you're wise to be planning ahead. You don't necessarily need to book an apartment, but it's one option. Some hotels do offer family accommodation, but sometimes you have to dig a little to get the info. For instance, a few years ago I stayed (as a solo traveler) at the Nadler Kensington, which I really liked. They have a large room that would probably accommodate your group.

Like you, I've been to London many times. I've stayed in different areas (South Kensington, Bloomsbury, Pimlico), and later this year I'll be staying just across the road from the north side of Hyde Park. Each area has its pros and cons but I've never felt unsafe walking in any of them.

The EuroCheapo website has a description of various London neighborhoods, even if you're not just looking for "cheap" accomodations: http://www.eurocheapo.com/london/hoods/

Here's another description of London neighborhoods, from TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g186338-s204/London:United-Kingdom:Neighborhoods.html

Contact Vancouver Studios in Bayswater. In addition to the 30-odd rooms in their hotel, they have a number of apartments that they rent. Bayswater is an interesting multi-cultural area with many different types of restaurants and the usual variety of grocery stores.

Sorry for the delay, went on vacation to Texas and haven't been on the internet much. Those are all great suggestions and ideas, thank you!! I'll look at them and write if I have more questions. Thankfully I just found out my sister is heading to London in September for business so she'll have a little better idea of things she wants to see when she gets back.

As a starting point, check out No 1 Mansions in Kensington (bymansley.com). They have a variety of serviced apartments from 1-4 bedrooms. I was considering a trip to London for our family of five and they seemed reasonable compared to other airbnbs and a good value versus hotels.

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