HOSTEL

You will most probably not find any other city in the world with a higher number and a higher density of hostels as London. And since competition is always great for the customer, hostel beds are really affordable. You can get a night in a dorm for as little as 10 Pounds.

However, you have to be aware that a hostel isn't a hotel. You will find many rooms, that are packed with bunk beds. Besides, the furniture has seen better days in many hostels, just like the showers and the toilets. Additionally, sometimes you will share your room not only with other tourists, but with someone who's actually living there (because of the insane rents in London). The hostel staff is often far from being English. Okay, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but still it's weird from time to time. Enough going on about the hostel disadvantages. You will get an affordable place to stay, so don't expect too much. That's all. You're not forced to spend time during the day at the hostel anyway. What you might want to do is to check a few hostel rating websites. That's a good way to avoid dissapointments.

A good website for booking a hostel bed is Hostelsbookers.com. Not only will you find a large database of hostels in London, but the hostels are rated there as well. Just check what other tourists think of the hostel before you book it. The booking process is easy and it's extremely convienent to compare different offers. As a major plus, there are no booking fees.

As mentioned above, there's a huge number of hostels in London. So it's tough to recommend a specific one. But if you'd ask, I'd tell you to check out the Piccadilly Backpackers. The rooms are basic, not great but not too bad either, same thing goes for the bathrooms. The rates are okay, too. It's the location that makes this hostel so special. It's right around the corner from Piccadilly Circus, just a one minute walk.

HOTEL

If you're looking for a place to stay that offers you convenience or maybe even luxus, a hotel room will be right for you. How comfy your room is depends on the rate. Cheap doubles start at 40 to 50 Pounds, however all you will get is a bed and a bathroom, not much more. There's almost no limit on how much can be spent for a hotel room in London. IF you're filthy rich, go with the Ritz.

These recommendations should help you getting a good hotel deal:

- Compare, compare, compare! Guess what. Comparing offers from different tavel agents pays. Rates vary and it's not rare that one website offers lower rates for the exact same hotel than another..

- Avoid Central London. Sure it's nice to live in the heart of London, however hotels surely know about that and you will be charged for the location as well. If you don't mind taking the train or the tube for a couple of minutes, check for a hotel outside the city center. Try to stay within the tube travel zones, in order to keep costs for train tickets low. A good location is City Airport. It's within travel zone 3 and there are numerous hotel situated around it.

- Go with discount hotels. There are many hotels of well known discount hotel chains all over London. For example: Ibis, Etap, Travellodge or EasyHotel. Still it's advisable to compare rates from these hotels with offers from other hotels. A "discount hotel" is sometimes more expensive than a "regular" hotel.

- Check the hotel website. Usually, rates on the websites of travel agents such as expedia are a lot cheaper than the rates on the hotel's own website. However a look on the hotel website can't do any harm. You will oftentimes get more information and pictures than on the travel agent's site. And while you're there, just go and check the rates. If you don't find a link to the hotel website, just google it.

If you're looking for a hotel anyway, you might want to go with a combined hotel/ticket package. As described in the ticket section on this website, touting is illegal in England. So what many ticket agencies do, is combining the ticket with a hotel night. This way, they can charge lots of money without the risk of being accused. These packages aren't really cheap, but if you want to check that option out anyway, try this one: footballticketpackages.com

RENT A ROOM

If you're up for something exceptional, you could get your place to stay by renting a room from a Londoner. Since rents are insanely high in London, many people sublet their room(s) when they are spending their time somewhere else, even if it's only for a week. Rents will be about 100 Pounds per week in a shared apartment, about 200 Pounds for a whole flat. That's a lot of money, however it's cheaper than spending the same number of nights in a hotel, plus you will have a lot more amenities (such as a kitchen).

This one is a good website for short term flat offers in London: gumtree.com