When staying in various hotels in London, keep in mind that you can break your hotel charges down in three different categories. First of all, there is of course the booking deposit — the payment that you must make upfront in order to hold your room reservations. The second part of your hotel bill will be the rest of the basic room charge — some hotels may require you to pay part of that in advance, while others may allow you to pay that once you have arrived. The third component of your hotel charges will be for any additional charges that you incur during your stay — charges for room service, laundering of clothes, telephone pole charges, etc.