Looking to book a london hotel at the best price? Whether you want a 5 star hotel or a 1 star bed and brakfast, and where ever you want to be in london, we can help you get the best price on your hotel.

You don't have to spend hours clicking around hundreds of websites in order to get the best price on your london hotel. There are 5 or 6 websites that, between them, offer the cheapest prices.

Most 'london hotels' websites are affiliates of one of these websites (they offer a limited range from just one of these five london hotels websites). Here we tell you about all 5 websites, plus a couple of other websites with a limited range of london hotels, but great prices.

All of these websites offer some form of lowest price guarantee. They power the hotels pages of all of the specialist 'london hotels' websites and many of the better known brands.

But before you look, we offer some advice and tips on how to get the best deal on london hotels.

How to get the best price on london hotels

As with most things on the web, our first piece of advice is to shop around. Check the prices at all of the websites detailed below. It's not unusual for them to offer the same hotel at very different prices.
Unlike flights, as long as there is no conference or major event in the area of London you want to be (and you can check that at whatsonwhen), you will often find the best deal by leaving booking late. Booking between two and seven days in advance usually yields the cheapest central london hotel rooms. But don't wait until the day as prices go back up.
When comparing prices, the most important thing is to make sure that you are comparing ‘like with like’. Not just the same hotel (and there are 34 Holiday Inn hotels serving london, for example), make sure the ‘package’ is the same. Price per person and per room, service charges and breakfast (included or not) are the usual variants.
The hotel booking websites negotiate discounted rates based on volume so it's usually cheaper to buy through them. Usually, but not always. Don't be afraid to try the direct approach and contact the hotel yourself. But, to get the best rate you must ask if they have any special offers.
Sometimes adding a weekend night will lower the rate for all of the other nights of your stay.
Compare prices, but compare locations too. It's usually worth paying a little extra to be nearer the centre of town, or your preferred attraction.
Don't just rely on 'star' ratings. Look at the facilities the hotel has and rank hotels based on the facilities' importance to you.
If you want a cheap hotel at the weekend, consider hotels in or near business districts. Business people only want hotels during the week. These hotels are usually of a 'superior' standard but, in order to attract weekend custom, they offer excellent weekend deals.

Where to book london hotels

Now the interesting bit. These websites will give you the widest choice of london hotels at the lowest prices.

Active hotels - with a very fast search, this is an excellent website for budget hotels and to get a baseline on the rate you should expect to pay. They offer the widest choice of hotels too - over 400 london hotels from B&Bs to 5 star luxury with rates from £25 a room or less to £250 or more.

Click for a description and picture of the hotel plus comprehensive hotel information, then book and get instant online confirmation. The website covers the big chains plus independent hotels and B&Bs.

Superbreak - this link is to superbreak's london hotels page. You can narrow your search by clicking on the arrow at the end of the 'all london' box and selecting one of 11 areas of london.

Enter your dates for details on around 300 central london hotels - from 2 to 5 star at prices from £45 a night. You can also use the 'special offers' search, search by hotel star rating or book london theatre breaks.

Room rates, facilities, grades, detailed descriptions and even photos are available for most hotels. But note that Superbreak quote prices on a per person basis not per room.

Worldres / placestostay.com - this website provides the hotels pages of many well known brands, including lastminute.com and Opodo. With prices up to 70% off published rates, for the last two years Forbes has called WorldRes "Best of the Web" in online hotel reservations.

This link takes you to their london page. From there you can click on places on a london map for details of hotels by area, or search across all of london, selecting from over 250 hotels - anything a bed in a 6 berth dormitory from £10 a night to apartments or suites in 5 star luxury hotels.

Hotels.com / travelnow.com - one of the worlds biggest and best hotels booking websites, this link is to their general 'london hotels' page. Enter your dates, then sort the results by 'best value', 'quality', 'price' or A-Z or refine your search to a specific area or near a landmark.

Hotels.com offer use their bulk buying muscle to offer 'special internet rates', offering guaranteed rooms backed with a best buy guarantee.

Allrez.com - this link takes you to the allrez city hotels page (with 'london hotels' automatically selected).

Enter your dates and pick (at the bottom of the page) from 'downtown' (central), 'north', 'south', 'east' or 'west', the hotel grade (from tourist to luxury) and the facilities that are important to you (to select more than one, press 'ctrl' on your keyboard and click on the facilities you want) for up to 100 hotels at prices from £40 a room including taxes and breakfast.

A broad range of london hotels. Click on a room type and 'more info' any of the hotels for an honest assessment of the hotel and its location. A regular place for bargains.

Holidayextras - this is a bit of a 'joker' in the pack. It is a discount website focusing on airport hotels, but if you click on this link, then 'london' in the 'airport' box, enter your dates and click 'proceed' you'll get details of up to 30 central london hotels.

Their central london hotels range from 2 to 4 star, often at unbeatable prices - from £40 a night (per room, not per person) they even have quad rooms from less than £45. Always worth a look.

Hotel Connect - another excellent website with a limited range of london hotels but great prices on the few they do offer. Browse their special offers and, once you've searched, click for a description and picture of the hotel and other essential information.