Hotels in London for 1 night

If you locate yourself in a hotel near Paddington Station, you can enjoy a few am hours in London then take the Heathrow Express or Connect to LHR. This would minimize time traveling across London to get to Heathrow. I think there is a Hilton in Paddington Station.

I appreciate your suggestion. I will look at a London map and see the area you are speaking of. This is the kind of help I was looking for. Thank you so much.

Is there a particular reason you don't want to stay at the Hilton Trafalgar? Cost, perhaps? I spent five night there last week, and while I probably wouldn't stay there again for a multi-night stay (too little closet space and few drawers for clothes, and a little too modern for my tastes), I think it would be fine for an overnight. There is a loud disco / bar in the lobby but the sound never penetrated to our room. The location could not be better. What thing(s) did you want to see early Tuesday morning? Given how little time you'll have, you'll probably want to be near it (them).

The Paddington Hilton is actually connected to the station by a footbridge.... and it's about £ 100 cheaper per night than the one at Trafalgar.

We've stayed at the Paddington Hilton. Very nice for a modern "chain" hotel. Given that you will need to be at Heathrow around 12:00-12:30, you need to be on the Tube by 11:00 ish or on the Heathrow Express by 11:45. Landing at Gatwick at 6:40 will put you at Victoria Station around 8:00-8:30. You really don't have alot of time to see much. If the Trafalgar is close to what you want to see, stay there. I'm not sure staying at Paddington would really help as you'd have to spend time on the tube during early morning rush hour to get to any sites, then quickly rush back to check out and head to the airport. Won't be alot better at Trafalgar, but you might be able to step outside and just look around without using the tube at 7:00am. An alternative might be to head to Windsor and spend the night there. Then the next morning use a car service to get to Heathrow after doing a bit of sightseeing in Windsor. You'd have to get to Vitoria from Gatwick, then to Paddinton, then catch train to Windsor, or pre-book a car service from Gatwick to Windsor (no idea of cost for this).

Since Gatwick train goes to Victoria Station and I would like to walk in the morning to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, I have decided to stay in the Victoria Station area. I am using Rick Steves 2006 guide. Almost every hotel listed in the 2006 guide for the area is not there now or not available. Do you have suggestions for hotels in that area? Thank you again for your help. I know we won't have much time, but I want to see these special places before leaving.

I've stayed in 2 hotels in the area you want: 1. It's high priced, but The Goring is really nice and a 5 minute walk from Victoria Station. From there it's about a 10" walk to the front of Buckingham Palace.
"thegoring.com" 2. For a very low rate (for London), the Sanctuary House is quite comfortable, and from the entrance you can look down the street and see Westminster Abbey (5" walk). It has reduced rates on weekends. "fullerhotels.com" You'd want to take a cab from the station for the short ride to this hotel. St. James Park is the nearest tube.

I have decided to take Tim's recommendation and stay at The Sanctuary House. It also received raved reviews on TripAdvisor.
This is 1st time that I have posted to the Graffiti Wall. Thank you all so much.

If that hotel is not available, check out the Victoria Thistle (now the Gosvenor). It is inside Victoria station and only about a 10 min. brisk walk from the palace.