London

London accommodation like several other European cities has a reputation for not delivering value for money hotels.
This is especially so in the mid range hotel categories i.e. tourist class. You have to bear in mind that there is no official “must use” rating scheme in the UK and its possible for a hotel to “self classify” itself. Check out Laterooms.co.uk or london-hotels.co.uk and you will note that many hotel rating say “self classified”.
So how do you find a decent hotel thats value for money?
Simple research will go a long way to resolve that situation.
You can check Tripadvisor but beware of bogus reviews - they do exist and I know of one 4 star privately owned hotel in South Kensington that manipulated the reviews and guest candid pictures to gain a top 10 London hotel review placing. Every time someone posted a bad review, it would be superceded with a great review sometimes including professional quality pictures.
You can also use independant local websites such as London-hotels.co.uk which knows the hotels personally and writes candid reviews.
Ask the hotel when it last had the rooms refurbished - in London many are owned by private overseas investors who are only in the business for the rising property prices and are not prepared to put money into the facilities.
Dont believe that pictures of the rooms are representative of the whole hotel. Lets be honest, if you had a hotel you would photograph your best rooms so ask your booking agent are the pics representative of the whole hotel.
Beware of tourist class hotels that advertise standard and deluxe rooms. What this usually means is that some have been refurbished and are charged at a higher rate when in fact they have only been brought up to acceptable standards.
You should also check out the 4 and 5 star market even if you are on a budget. Many exclusive hotels reduce their rates to that of a 3 star when times are bad or when their day to day business is Monday to Friday and they are quiet at the weekends.
A few tourist class hotels are value for money and are honest products but the majority oversell.
For example, I stayed in a “4 star” new hotel in South Kensington last week. I booked a double room in advance, the hotel in question is the Executive Rooms by Shaftesbury. Its a great location to be fair. When I arrived, I was told I was being transferred to another hotel in Bayswater. I point blank refused as my business was in South Kensington. Miraculously, a room became available but I was wary so said I would check it. Sure enough it was basement with a view of a brick retaining wall but the bed was a disaster. The mattress was 6 inches shorter than the bed base !!! Worse still it was only 4 feet wide and that was for two people! Needless to say I checked out and went to Rydges Hotel which was fantastic and comes highly recommended.
I have a list here of good, personally checked London hotels which I consider value for money:

The St Giles Hotel London - centrally located in the West End and for the area cheap at under £100.
The Ambassadors Hotel London is in a great location and deleivers a mid range product which is honest and good value.
La Reserve in Fulham is also not be be under estimated.
In the West End next to Covent Garden is the Strand Palace London, the standard rooms are a little dated but for the supreme location is prices are acceptable.
Stretch your budget a little and stay in mayfair at the Washington Mayfair Hotel London.