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There’s something special about staying in a hotel – even a humble motel or bed and breakfast. Not being in your own home or having to worry about washing bed linen, having room service breakfast sent up to your bedroom, and being pampered by professionals who dedicate themselves to keeping guests happy are experiences that you can only get when you check into a good hotel.
However, as any regular traveller will tell you, the consequences of booking the wrong hotel can be dire. And the cost of booking a more expensive option than necessary can also be exorbitant. This buyer’s guide will help you find good prices on hotels that tick all of your boxes, allowing you to enjoy your next trip as much as possible.
People have been running lodging houses and inns for thousands of years. No doubt they had them in Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. However, the modern hotel is something different. Hotels with hundreds of rooms, uniformed staff, restaurants on site, room service, swimming pools and all of the things we associate with modern establishments only came about in the 19th century.
The key technological innovation was the lift, something that today’s hotel guests take for granted. However, without an easy way to transport luggage and guests up ten floors, most hotels wouldn’t be conceivable.
Luxury hotels started to spread from the 1810s onwards, with major brands like the Savoy and the Ritz dating back to that era. Various types of hotel developed as well, including city centre luxury lodgings, seaside bed and breakfasts, rural retreats and spa centres, as well as hotels set up specifically for solo business travellers.
By the 2010s, hotels could be found in every town in the UK. Overall, the country has 730,000 hotel beds and 45,000 hotels, while the hotel industry turns over some £40 billion every year. As you can see, there’s plenty of competition and choice, wherever you intend to travel. But what is the best way to begin your accommodation search?
Whatever type of hotel you are looking for, you’ll have a number of search and booking options available to you. Don’t rely on one site or format alone. Shop around, consider your options and book somewhere with the best price, along with a good rating and the amenities you need. Here are some of the most popular places to look:
Hotel booking websites – The global online hotel booking scene is dominated by two sites. Booking.com is run by the Priceline Group and offers over 1 million different properties (including bed and breakfasts, hostels, hotels and private rentals). Hotels.com is run by the travel giant Expedia and lists 325,000 different hotels. Both of them have easy to use search and booking interfaces, with excellent geographical reach, and both also offer smartphone apps to help customers find and make the right booking. They tend to be a good place to start, and also offer discount codes and gift vouchers on a regular basis, so always check the HotUKDeals hotel listings for hotels.com and booking.com deals.
Major international hotel companies – You don’t need to go through hotel booking databases like booking.com. If you are a member of a loyalty scheme at a company like Hilton or Marriott, it often makes sense to book via their corporate websites. For example, when you make a booking with marriott.co.uk, you can benefit from their Marriott Rewards member rates, which can result in cheaper rooms than would be available from hotel aggregators, so don’t assume that price comparison sites offer the best deal. Sometimes they do, but if you are a loyalty member, that’s not always the case. Companies like Marriott also offer deals sections, which are worth consulting before you book. They often feature combo deals for rooms and extra services like breakfast or airport transfers, which may edge out pure room bookings from other sites.
Hotel comparison websites – Comparison websites like Trivago or Kayak are different to hotels.com or booking.com. Instead of charging hotels to list with them, these sites aggregate deals from hotels all over the world. They tend to have a wider reach than the big hotel bookers (Trivago has 1.4 million hotels in its database) and also have bigger review databases, helping you to sift through superficially similar hotels to find one that really suits your needs.
Last minute hotel booking sites – Some hotel booking sites also specialise in making last minute bookings. On any given night, almost every hotel will have some rooms that it hasn’t booked or have been subject to cancellations. Nowadays, many of them go through online bookers to shift these rooms, often at far lower rates than conventional prices. Late Rooms and lastminute.com are the market leaders and are always a handy option if you are stuck for accommodation.
Airlines – You can also book accommodation when you book your flight tickets. For example, British Airways enable you to book your flights and hotels, as well as services like car rental, from one handy search engine. You’ll find similar options at most budget carriers as well.
Most travellers tend to stick with one booking medium, whether that’s booking.com or a favourite hotel chain. That simplifies things neatly, but it’s not the best way to find cut-price accommodation. Shop around, keep your options open and make sure you find the best rate for the hotel you are interested in. Remember, rates can vary at the same hotel, depending on how you book, so check the different options before you commit.
Before you book, it’s also important to physically locate a hotel that makes sense for your travel needs. How often do people book resort hotels that are five miles from the nearest beach, or suburban hotels that take two hours to reach the city centre attractions? Don’t risk any mishaps like that. There are plenty of ways to ensure that you get the geography of your hotel booking right.
The best way to do so is to use hotel finder tools. Google Maps is a good starting point. For a basic indication of your choices, type in the name of your destination and then hotels, and a sample of the city or resort’s hotels will come up.
You can also use online tools like Hotelroomfinder, which has pretty much every UK hotel on its database and also allows you to make cut-price bookings. You can type in a town, city or district and the database will call up every nearby option, allowing you to narrow down your shortlist.
Before you book, it’s also worth running through the various types of hotel on offer, as different kinds of hotel will suit different travellers. Here are some of the basic categories:
Coastal resort hotels – Tend to be close to major beaches (often with their own private stretches of beach), offer all-inclusive packages with food, drink and entertainment thrown in, airport transfers and essential amenities for warm climates, like large outdoor pools.
City centre business hotels – In every major city, you’ll find names like Hilton or Marriott – global brands that cater for short-term, often professional visitors. They are efficient, with no-frills but high-quality accommodation, good food and an excellent location, which is often their major selling point. If you need a reliable place to base yourself for a city break, they tend to do the job well.
Boutique hotels – Usually located near the centre of town, but just outside the more expensive downtown core, boutique hotels can be more expensive than business hotels, but offer a more individual, luxurious experience. Generally housed in beautiful, historic properties, they may also have unique features like live music clubs, art galleries or cocktail bars that set them apart. And they are often the best option for couples seeking an atmospheric, romantic place to stay.
Hostels – Usually based in urban areas, hostels are the cheapest accommodation option. They usually feature group dormitories with fairly minimalist services, but make up for this with friendly, youthful staff, entertainment, computer facilities, bookshelves, laundry rooms, safes and handy locations. If you are travelling as a group, and need to save money, they are the best way to go.
Motels – Once hardly seen in the UK, motels are more and more common. They are always found on the outskirts of towns or along major motorways and cater for guests with cars and/or bikes. Rarely in the highest luxury bracket, motels focus on providing comfortable places to stay for a couple of nights, welcoming service and filling breakfasts. Major UK names include Premier Travel Inn and Travelodge, both of which can be found all over the country.
Spa retreats – Almost always in the high-end category, spa hotels tend to be located in ex-manor houses and other opulent surroundings. They function as places to retreat to and recharge your batteries, offering massage, beauty therapies, tennis courts, swimming pools, fine food, golf courses and natural beauty. Because of this, they don’t tend to come cheap, but the HotUKDeals hotel listings regularly include spa weekend discounts, so don’t count them out.
When you are searching through the hotel listings in destinations like London, Manchester or Paris, what kind of things should you be looking for in order to separate truly exceptional hotels from also-rans? It’s not always as easy as just comparing prices or star ratings.
One thing that often deceives customers are hidden charges. These aren’t always made clear by sites like booking.com, but can add significant amounts to the booking. For instance, many US cities impose occupancy taxes and local surcharges that aren’t featured in the initial price. This can make a big difference to the cost of your holiday, so do your destination research before you go.
Think about what you really need from your hotel as well. If you have the option of renting a car, why not stay somewhere more relaxed in an out of town setting? If you are solely focused on museums and galleries, find somewhere near a metro station with easy access to cultural attractions. And, if you are just up for a beach holiday, make sure you don’t get stranded too far from the coast. Even a few hundred metres can be an inconvenience, especially when you see plenty of hotels right next to the seafront that you could have booked.
Read customer reviews too. Every hotel booking site should include a section featuring customer reviews. However, not all of them make critical reviews as obvious to bookers as they could do. Scroll down and check that the first few positive reviews aren’t an exception. Sometimes, blocks of good reviews can skew the perception of a hotel, even if they have had lots of negative feedback in the past, so don’t be fooled.
Finally, think about amenities. If you need a pool, book a hotel with a pool. If you are taking a pet, be sure to find a pet-friendly hotel. It all sounds basic, but when you see great deals for hotels, you don’t always factor in all of your needs. Be aware that some hotels also charge extra for amenities like using the gym or the internet. This should be documented on the booking site, so double check that it doesn’t apply to your hotel as it can be a real pain.
Understand the star system as well. A 5-star hotel isn’t necessarily the best hotel in town. It simply has a wide range of amenities (that’s how the stars are awarded), and the stars themselves are not awarded by an objective organisation. They can be a good indicator, but aren’t the end of the story, so don’t treat them as such.
Whenever you come to make a hotel booking, saving money is always a possibility, but not everyone does so. Here are some key things to remember when making a hotel booking that should free up some extra holiday spending money:
Explore secret hotel rooms – Secret hotels are something that few travellers seem to know about, but can deliver major savings. Companies like lastminute.com offer secret deals whereby customers specify a destination and a set of travel dates, but don’t choose a hotel. The site then chooses for them, charging 40% less than ordinary bookings.
Use all of the price comparison sites – Whenever you are using comparison websites, it’s a good idea to shop around. They all have slightly different databases of hotels, and may well offer marginally different prices as well.
Join loyalty schemes – Most hotel chains have loyalty schemes which are really handy for regular customers (generally business travellers). What is less well known is that sites like booking.com also offer member benefits via the Genius program. It’s not a traditional loyalty scheme, but it can deliver 10% hotel discounts.
Sign up for e-mail alerts – Sites like Priceline, Venere and booking.com also mail out regular newsletters to their members, featuring short term hotel discounts. These are well worth keeping tabs on if you are about to travel, as they often feature savings that can’t be found on the main search engine.
Contact hotels to ask them to beat online prices – Being proactive can be a great way to secure the best hotel rates. If you see a hotel you love, don’t accept the rates you find online. Give them a call and ask if they can match or beat the rates you’ve found online (for their or other hotels). You’ll be amazed by how often hotels will make price concessions to secure your custom.
Book early (or very late) – When you are making hotel bookings, timing really matters. If you are heading on a beach holiday, try to book as early as you possibly can. Hotel prices tend to follow a linear upward curve from affordable to expensive prices the closer you get to your departure date. Then again, last minute deals are always available (but don’t rely on them if you are taking your family to the Canary Islands).
Book at the right time of week – Hotel prices also vary depending on the time of week you are staying. For instance, city breaks are cheaper at weekends, as hotels seek to fill rooms that would otherwise be full of business travellers. On the other hand, resorts tend to drop their prices during the week, particularly out of season.
Using hotel gift vouchers – Many hotel chains also offer gift vouchers, which can be a great way to offer friends and family the gift of affordable accommodation. If you want to get hold of vouchers, the Hotelvouchershop is a great place to start. Their vouchers can be used at major chains like Marriott, Meridien and Holiday Inn, so wherever you need to travel, they should be suitable.
There’s another option that travellers should always think about: forgetting hotels entirely and looking for alternative forms of accommodation. Here are some quick ideas to consider:
Airbnb – Airbnb has risen from nothing to being a dominant accommodation provider in just a few years, and they are the most important competitor to hotels in cities all over the world. If you want a comfortable, affordable place to stay and don’t mind undercutting hotels or dealing with the owner, Airbnb is a great alternative to think about.
Couchsurfing – If you are really struggling for funds, or are particularly sociable, Couchsurfing is another option. Basically, it’s Airbnb without the room rates, and with a guarantee that the owner will be there. Guests tend to be expected to behave well and help out with the cooking, but aside from that, it’s a relaxed way to make friends in strange cities.
Camping – Camping is another option. It’s not applicable everywhere, but you can find campsites in major cities like London, Paris and Barcelona, surprisingly close to the city centre. If you take your own tent, camping is extremely cheap; campsites tend to be sociable places, and there’s something relaxing about being under canvas in the natural world – at least for some travellers.
Travelling around the UK or the wider world doesn’t have to be expensive – even if you choose to stay in luxury spa retreats or plush city centre boutique hotels. If you shop wisely, compare prices, take advantage of any available deals and time your trip well, you can radically cut the cost of travel, wherever you intend to go.
Whatever your travel plans, the first place to look are the HotUKDeals hotel listings. Our listings cover all of the major price comparison and hotel booking sites, including lastminute.com, Late Rooms, booking.com and hotels.com, along with hotel chains like Travelodge, Premier Travel Inn, Holiday Inn, Marriott and Meridien. You’ll also find hotel and flight deals with major airlines (and even train companies).
The key thing is to keep your options open. Research the amenities of each hotel. Compare prices and ratings. Find a convenient location and then make your booking.
Book early to secure the very best rates, or use the deals on HotUKDeals to find affordable short-term bookings, then relax and start planning your holiday itinerary, safe in the knowledge that your accommodation has been taken care of.
Finding hotel accommodation can be a real pain, but it doesn’t have to be like that. Wherever you are travelling, the HotUKDeals hotel listings provide the latest and most attractive discounts at the UK’s favourite hotel chains and booking sites, enabling every holidaymaker to cut the price of travel.
