Pound for Pound, Bargains by London Standards

This is what $57 -- about as cheap as London hotels come -- gets you. But after a full day's activities, the downsides of the place will seem unimportant.

EasyHotel -- brought to you by Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the same budget travel czar who created low-cost airline easyJet and discount cruise line easyCruise -- has the compactness and mood of a youth hostel. This property, opened last year, will be joined by two more London easyHotels, scheduled to open by next year.

The room rate, which must be prepaid, starts at $57 for early bookers and ratchets up to around $85 depending on how near to your arrival day you reserve. We reserved five weeks before our trip and paid $67. But that gets you only a room. Optional maid service is $20 extra a day, while the in-room TV is $9.50 per 24-hour period.

But with that location, who needs TV?

Plus: The guests, often adventurous, who congregate on the front stoop.

Minus: The front desk, which seemed reluctant to offer even basic travel tips.

Info: http://www.easyhotel.com/

Hoxton Hotel

Where: 81 Great Eastern St., Shoreditch. The nearest tube stop, Old Street Station on the Northern Line, is a couple of blocks from the hotel and a good half-hour's ride from London's major theaters, museums and other sights.

How much? Double rooms start at $141, but the average rate is about $195 per night.

Best for: Fans of the East End club and party scene.

The details: Discouraged at first by the Hoxton's neighborhood -- in transition from run-down to bohemian vibrant -- we were drawn to the lobby. With its exposed brick walls, two fireplaces, bar and amusing faux taxidermy, it has a certain buzz.

The 205 guest rooms, while small, are bright and inviting, furnished with flat-screen TVs and comfy beds with Frette linen sheets. The bathrooms are large and have showers, tubs, nice towels and toiletries.

HOXTON HOTEL: Inviting rooms, close to the East End club scene.(Hoxton Hotel)

Owner Sinclair Beecham, co-founder of the popular Pret A Manger sandwich shop chain, seems concerned about keeping guests' costs manageable. Breakfast -- a bag with a banana, yogurt and orange juice, hung on guests' doors in the morning -- is included in the rate. Telephone calls, about 10 cents a minute to the United States, are a fraction of what other London hotels charge. The room fridges are stocked with complimentary milk and mineral water. Meals at the hotel restaurant run about $80 for two, though several nearby pubs offer far cheaper fare.

Opened in September, the Hoxton already seems to have a following. When we dropped in, the lobby was packed with travelers in their 20s to 40s from all corners of Europe and North America. The staff was young and eager to help.

Back to the location. At first blush, it doesn't seem tourist-friendly. Shoreditch is composed mostly of high-rise apartment complexes and warehouses converted to lofts. While there are a few shops and cafes, none are particularly inviting. But some of the city's most up-to-the-minute dancing and drinking haunts -- such as Canteloupe, a fun bar, and Fabric, a dance club -- are within 10 minutes by foot from the hotel. Brick Lane, home to a concentration of good Indian and Pakistani eateries, is also nearby.

Plus: The easy proximity to hot bars, pubs and dance clubs.

Minus: Noise from the corridor and other guest rooms.

Info: 011-44-20-7550-1000, http://www.hoxtonhotels.com/.