Pound for Pound, Bargains by London Standards

Besides, the location offers easy access to all manner of shopping and entertainment. Several full-service supermarkets and a couple of clusters of cafes, restaurants, gyms and music clubs are all within a 10-minute walk.

Plus: Kitchenettes in every room help bring down the high costs of London restaurants.

Minus: Skip the breakfast -- mainly a box of cereal, juice and a pastry -- that guests can opt to have delivered to the room for $9.40; there are plenty of good breakfast spots nearby.

Info: 800-511-9821, http://www.base2stay.com .

EasyHotel

Where: 14 Lexham Gardens, Kensington. Set on a calm street just off Cromwell Road, it's three blocks from the Gloucester Road tube stop and a lively few blocks of cafes and restaurants. Kensington High Street, with its boutiques, is a 15-minute walk away, and Hyde Park is a half-mile down the road.

How much? Single or double rooms start at $57 per night. But you have to book months in advance to get that rate.

Best for: Backpackers who want to upgrade from a hostel for a night.

The details: One step inside this 34-room retrofitted Georgian townhouse, and I felt like crouching.

The lobby is a cubbyhole. The narrow stairway is a struggle to navigate with two bags. And our single room -- all 50 square feet of it -- probably had been a decent-size clothes closet in another life.

EasyHotel spares even many of the basics supplied in other budget hotels. The guest room furnishings consist of a functional bed covered with basic linens and a television hanging on the wall. Our room had no closet, table, dresser, clock, phone or window (only a couple of the rooms do), and two hooks and a tiny bit of floor space were the only provision for clothing, guidebooks, maps and papers. There is no on-site restaurant, no storage space for luggage, no telephone operator to take reservations or answer questions.

EASYHOTEL: The price is right but the quarters are mighty tight.(Easygroup)

The walls of our room -- one bright orange, the others white -- were adorned with the easyHotel.com logo in boldface letters (in case we forgot where we were staying). The orange bathroom, which consisted of a toilet, small sink and shower, reminded us of pay toilets: It had the same tight fit and sterile look. Soap was the only bathroom amenity provided.

The desk clerk, intent on carrying through with the spartan theme, uttered no more than 10 words when we checked in.