It’s difficult for us to make detailed recommendations on hotels, everyone’s trip is different and they have different standards. But on our 8 trips to Britain, we’ve stayed in 8 different hotels and we’re comfortable enough recommending a few of them based on the types of hotel you may be looking for.
These recommendations are just for London. We’ve not had a chance to stay in any other major cities in the UK, so we can’t yet recommend any hotels there. We hope to change this soon enough!
Budget Hotel if you’re serious about budget: EasyHotel
The EasyHotel is as bare bones as they get. It’s basically a room the size of a large American closet, with a bed, bathroom and TV you have to pay extra to watch. The hotels are clean, bright and safe. And they’re CHEAP. Prices start at £25 a night if you book well enough ahead. I personally recommend the location in South Kensington as it’s a nice neighborhood and close to transport connections. It’s spartan – but you won’t be spending much time there anyway. It’s just a place to sleep and watch Telly (if you pay £5). This is the cheapest hotel in London.
£25-50 a Night ($40-75)
Budget Tourist Hotel: Royal National
This is a centrally located hotel near Russell Square. It’s very popular with tourists and gets mobbed on the weekends. It’s also a pretty massive hotel. When we were there in 2005, it was in the middle of a renovation, which I’m sure has long since finished. The rooms were rather shabby, the hallways were loud at night, but it was relatively cheap and it’s a lot ‘nicer’ than the EasyHotel. It’s also in a nice neighborhood near the British Museum and Russell Square is one of my favorite spots in London.
£77-£119 a Night ($150-200)
Nice Tourist Hotel: Radisson Edwardian Vanderbilt
If you’ve got a little more to spend, I can highly recommend the Radisson Edwardian Vanderbilt Hotel in South Kensington. It’s a central location, close to a bunch of museums, Hyde Park, Harrods, etc. It’s comparable to a nice hotel in a major city in the States. You won’t feel ashamed to stay here. Staff are friendly, the building is historic and you’ll enjoy your stay here.
£100-£200 A Night ($160-$300)
Book a room at the Radisson Edwardian Vanderbilt hotel.
Tourist Splurge: Cavendish Hotel
This is where we stayed during the Royal Wedding and we’ll definitely return here again. It’s a central location in St. James surrounded by history and it’s just a few feet to Buckingham Palace, rooms are well appointed and modern, staff are helpful and it’s all around nice hotel. This will cost a little more than most people are willing to spend – but it’s well worth the money.
£150-£300 A Night ($250-$500)
Crazy Expensive: Park Lane Hilton
We had the opportunity to stay at the Park Lane Hilton when we won a British Airways contest – it’s not a place we could normally afford to stay. Let me say, though, that it was a dream hotel. It’s the kind of place where people dress up in Tuxes for dinner. You’re also likely to bump into someone famous (but not famous enough to afford the nicer hotels down the street). It’s right on the corner of Hyde Park and is close to everything, including the US embassy.
£240-£1000+ A Night ($380-$2000)
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Anglotopia was founded by Jonathan and Jackie Thomas for people who love Britain - whether it's British TV, Culture, History or Travel - we cover it all. Anglotopia was started to get us back to the UK for a trip and it did that in 2009. Now, the goal is for Anglotopia to make our dreams of traveling to the UK whenever we want a reality.