# London budget hotel



## Judy

I'm looking for a budget hotel very close to a tube station on the  Piccadilly Line, maybe Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square Tube Station or Covent Garden Station.  I've checked every US travel site that I can think of, plus tubehotels.com and londontown.com with no luck.  Everything seems to be out of my price range.

We have a 21 hour layover (2 PM to 11 AM) flying into and out of Heathrow and would like to take in a show in London, then spend the night in a hotel that would be convenient to the direct tube line to Heathrow.  I found a good-enough-sounding hotel for 80 GBP including VAT near Paddington, but that isn't really where we want to be and the direct line from Paddington to Heathrow (The Heathrow Express) costs 3 1/2 times what the tube costs.  Taking the tube from Paddington to Heathrow with changes, during rush-hour, with time pressure to catch a flight might not be the best idea.

So what do you all think?  Is it possible to find a budget hotel near Leicester Square tube station or should I keep what I have in Paddington?


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## LAX Mom

I used Priceline once before a cruise and ended up in the same hotel as the cruise passengers who booked a room through the cruiseline. We were even able to add our luggage to the bus transporting the passengers to the ship. Then we took a train with our carryons and traveled to the ship independently. 

Not sure about the areas in London, but I don't think the underground is too far from any location in Piccadily Circus.


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## Judy

If I were to try Priceline, which area would I choose to get Piccadilly Circus?  The areas looked fairly large to me on the priceline map. I thought I couldn't be sure of getting near enough to a tube station on the Piccadilly Line.


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## PStreet1

I don't know what area is close to Piccadilly Circus, but two factors to keep in mind are that virtually none of the London tube stations have an elevator, so you will be lugging the bags up and down the esculators.

The good note is that you will be leaving London and headed against the incoming traffic so that will help some.

Definitely not as nice as staying in London itself, but we've done it for convenience several times:  we use Priceline and get a 4* hotel at Heathrow (we've never paid more than $50.00--dollars, not pounds) for the hotel.  There is a free bus that circulates around Healthrow all the time (not the hotel express one--just a free one).  We check in, leave the bags, get the circulator and go back to Heathrow and go into the city.  Then, of course, we go back to Heathrow that same night, catch the circulator and in 5 minutes, we're at our hotel and ready for the next morning with absolutely no morning hassle.


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## Blues

PStreet1 said:


> Definitely not as nice as staying in London itself, but we've done it for convenience several times:  we use Priceline and get a 4* hotel at Heathrow (we've never paid more than $50.00--dollars, not pounds) for the hotel.  There is a free bus that circulates around Healthrow all the time (not the hotel express one--just a free one).  We check in, leave the bags, get the circulator and go back to Heathrow and go into the city.  Then, of course, we go back to Heathrow that same night, catch the circulator and in 5 minutes, we're at our hotel and ready for the next morning with absolutely no morning hassle.



This sounds brilliant.  I would only caution that you be aware of when the last tube runs back to Heathrow in the evening.  It looks to me like the last one leaves downtown sometime around midnight to 12:30, and arrives Heathrow shortly after 1AM.  If you're not a night owl, this will probably work for you.  I only mention this because we had stayed at a hotel near a tube line, but a long taxi ride.  We went out to a play in the evening, and then a late dinner/snack.  DW complained that I rushed her so we could catch the tube, rather than pay an exhorbitant cab fare.

-Bob


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## Carolinian

I find the best resource on hotels in Europe is www.booking.com


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## MaryH

Is this a weekday or weekend that you need to stay overnight?

Sheraton Heathrow often have weekend rates around 50-60 GBP..


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## PStreet1

Every time (but one), we've gotten that hotel with our Priceline bid for a 4* at Heathrow.  We've paid $50.00 (dollars) or less a night each time.  It's a nice hotel--we usually grab breakfast at the McDonald's about a block away before our flight to the U.S., or wherever.  The bar/pub in the hotel is nice and the food is o.k.


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## MaryH

yeah I find the Sheraton convenient if it is only a 1 night stay or 2 nights with a very early flight.  They used to have good rates with breakfast but last few times I used 3K points for award nights and got access to the lounge with my status.


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## MULTIZ321

Judy,

Another booking App to keep in mind is Hotel Tonight - it's available in the Android Play Store and the iPhone marketplace.   Recently, they extended their service to Europe.  Here's a cut and paste from a previous Tug thread that I posted that included info about Hotel Tonight.

HotelTonight

Last-minute hotel booking app HotelTonight extended its service into Europe this week, now offering last-minute deals on hotels in London. Unlike other discount booking services, the Android and iPhone app offers deals on just three handpicked hotels each day. Bookings can be made anytime between noon and 2am, allowing users to get deals even after other discount sites have shut their doors for the day.


To learn more about the App, see this previous Tug Thread 7 Apps You Don't Want to Miss

Richard


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## Judy

MaryH said:


> Is this a weekday or weekend that you need to stay overnight?
> 
> Sheraton Heathrow often have weekend rates around 50-60 GBP..



We need to stay over on a Tuesday night.


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## Judy

PStreet1 said:


> Every time (but one), we've gotten that hotel with our Priceline bid for a 4* at Heathrow.  We've paid $50.00 (dollars) or less a night each time.  It's a nice hotel--we usually grab breakfast at the McDonald's about a block away before our flight to the U.S., or wherever.  The bar/pub in the hotel is nice and the food is o.k.


How far in advance did you put in your successful priceline bids?


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## PStreet1

We started trying as soon as we knew our night, and got the reservation early on each time.  We check on www.biddingfortravel.com to see what bids are currently being accepted and go from there.  As I said, we've always paid $45-$50 dollars a night, and we've been pleased with the hotel and the arrangements--for us, it's better than spending that last night in London and worrying about making the plane the next day.


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## Judy

PStreet1, Thank you for the information about priceline.  I nearly used them, but just as I was preparing to put in a bid, I discovered that the Hoppa from the Heathrow tube station to the area hotels stops running around 11:30 PM. A reviewer said that cabs were expensive and that the drivers don't want to take short trips.  Since we're going into town for dinner and theater and don't want to take the chance of missing the bus, we've decided to stick with our hotel in Paddington for the moment.


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## nerodog

*why not consider B&B's around Victoria station ?*

Hi, you might find better prices in this area ... lots and lots of B &B's around the station and its a great locale!


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## PStreet1

Not for you because you have your arrangements now, but for others who might be looking at the same factors, here are a few additional notes.

The free bus isn't the Hoppa.  The Hoppa has a charge.  The free one is a different bus entirely.  However, I don't know if it runs all night or not.

Map of Heathrow free bus:  http://www.heathrowairport.com/static/Heathrow/Downloads/PDF/travel_around_Heathrow.pdf

As you can see from this link http://www.londontoolkit.com/lhr/heathrow_local_buses.htm
there are a number of buses that run along the hotel row.  However, this site doesn't say which ones run 24 hours a day.  There's probably a site that gives that information, but I don't know which one it is.


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## MULTIZ321

Here's a good site for London Bus information, including 24-hour buses.  Towards the bottom of the page are links for specific bus info.

http://www.visitlondon.com/travel/getting_around/london-bus


Richard


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## Jimster

Frankly, I think the term is an oxymoron.  If you have any hotel points you can use this would be a good time to use them.  PC is a very busy and crowded area.  Some nice places and some a little seedy.  price line is probably your best option if you don't have points and others have explained that.


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