London has a reputation for expensive hotel accommodation with very few cheap and budget hotels. OK then what is cheap. For the purposes of this article, let’s define cheap as less than US$100 per night (60 British pounds in local currency) for a standard double room with all taxes paid.

Most of the hotel accommodation in this segment are called “bed and breakfast” hotels. This can be misleading to the unsuspecting. No, it’s not a cozy family-run guest house with attentive personal hosts, traditional English breakfasts and home-cooked offerings, commonly available outside of London. The vast majority are small hotels with 20-50 rooms, staffed by very low wage immigrants with very simple rooms, rarely lifts and ‘continental breakfasts’. That is not to say that these establishments should be avoided, but there are plenty of poor quality.

The main cheap hotel districts in London are Bayswater, Victoria and Kings Cross. Here you will see many of these bed and breakfast hotels together in groups. A double or twin room with bathroom and breakfast in these areas costs around 70-100 $US.

Kings Cross has a bad reputation, it used to be notorious for drugs, crime and prostitution. All of that is largely behind us now and it is a district on the up, the whole area is being rejuvenated and Eurostar Trains will terminate at Kings Cross station in 2007. The bed and breakfast hotels are around a garden square just opposite King’s Cross station. Kings Cross is no more than a mile from the West End, London’s central entertainment area, and there is plenty of public transport on your doorstep.
Bayswater is on the northern edge of Hyde Park, London’s largest, and within a mile are Oxford Street, Kensington Palace and Paddington Station (terminus of the Heathrow Express airport link). Cost conscious traveler Bayswater High Street (Queensway) is home to a wide variety of restaurants and budget shops, everyday supermarkets, laundromats etc.

Victoria is very central, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye are all within walking distance. Budget hotels are located south of the train station and stretch from the bus stations to the Pimlico subway. The area is nice and safe.

Room rates are highly variable. In the dead of winter, rooms can be discounted as low as US$50, but keep in mind that these tend to be the poorest quality hotels. Most hotels will also do less discount on weekends.

Some of the best bed and breakfasts include the Montana Excel and Howard Winchester hotels in Kings Cross, the Central Hotel in Victoria, and the Blakemore and Annur hotels in Bayswater. Some of these may advertise themselves as three-star hotels; be careful in fine print as you may notice the words ‘self-assessment’.