Frugal London hotels: As little as $30 per night

The lowest-price, air-conditioned, en-suite hotel room in London costs $30 per night, single or double — frugal, right?

There are the caveats, of course:

• Not in central London, rather in the nearby London borough of Croydon, a 16-minute train ride to London Victoria
• Small space: 30-42 square feet. Two people cannot pass between the double bed and the wall
• No television, but WiFi is coming in Summer 2015
• A window is extra

But, it’s $30 per night, single or double — and it’s London. Moreover, it’s up to date, scrupulously clean and quiet.

Welcome to easyhotel, the best of the small space, no frills, low cost hotels across Europe. This is the cheapest, but not the only, frugal choice of hotels in London. Experts, and my decades of experience, suggest these approaches:

• If flying a major, international airline, book air and room as a package. An example: Delta to London is $1,321, flight only. Book as a vacation and select the Best Western Burns Hotel in Kensington for four nights, the flight and room are $1,288 — less than the flight alone. The Burns is a well-regarded, mid-quality, moderate-price hotel by a lovely garden in Kensington, steps from high-street shopping. Booked separately, it’s $110 per night.
• Stay at a bed and breakfast, instead of a hotel. B&Bs aren’t for all: a bedroom and a bath in a private home risks loss of privacy, inflexibility about comings and goings, or a too-talkative host at breakfast. Yet, London does B&Bs about as well as any major city and frugal choices abound. How to find a suitable B&B? For London, start with “best of” lists in authoritative newspapers and magazines — The Guardian for London, as an example. Then crowd-source your choice at a site like TripAdvisor. A B&B called Arlington Avenue made the Guardian’s most-recent list of “10 of the best B&Bs in London.” It also made Alastair Sawday’s list of “Special Places to Stay” in London. But it ranks just 224 of 529 London B&Bs on TripAdvisor. Most reviewers raved, but several noted a “fussy” owner and the problem of sharing a bathroom with whomever rents the second bedroom.  But the price is right: $66 for a single. So, buyer beware.
• Consider a hostel, including so-called, up-market “poshtels.” As with B&Bs, tread carefully and do the same kind of “best of” list and crowd-sourcing homework.
• Avoid booking services. While many are reliable, they add cost, typically $5-10 per night.

 Featured image courtesy of EasyHotel.com