Archive for the ‘Accommodation’ Category

Guest post: Can you get a high quality London hotel for under £100?

Monday, June 29th, 2009Karen Bryan

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In this guest post Rajul Chande of London Hotels Insight answers the question “Is it possible to find a high quality hotel in London for under £100 a night?” with three emphatic yeses.

“It’s hard to find what I’d call “genuine value” in London hotels. This is because the city has year-round demand and a structural shortage of hotel rooms. Even in the recession, London hotels have suffered less of a dip than elsewhere. A recent survey by TRI Hospitality Consulting showed that London was the only major European city to show annual growth in occupancy in May.

Tower Bridge, London

Tower Bridge London

This tight market can often lead to poor quality at the cheaper end, with a few noteworthy exceptions like Travelodge with rooms from £19 on their Saver rate.

But the Holy Grail is finding a decent London hotel which offers good service and nice rooms which is still at a reasonable price. It’s what I rather clumsily call “medium price/high quality”. After all, you sometimes need a hotel for a special occasion or hassle-free business trip. You might also need a decent restaurant, a good breakfast or perhaps a gym (all probably beyond a budget hotel) but without breaking the bank.

Everyone has a different definition of reasonable pricing in this context. But I’m assuming realists want the above for around £100. I’m also assuming you want to be near central London.

So I began to scour the Tripadvisor hotel rankings to find hotels in its top 20 that do not cost several hundred a night. I used various search engines to see if it was possible at least “sometimes” if not “most of the time” to get a room under £100. And I came up with the following 3 medium price/high-quality gems for you:

1. The only reasonably-priced hotel in Tripadvisor’s top 5 for London is the Apex City of London Hotel near Tower Bridge, it’s sleek, modern and friendly. This good-value hotel and has just been reviewed on my blog. It is possible to find a room at the Apex city of London for around £100.

2. Base2stay in Earl’s Court actually does what it says on the tin…and more, offering a mix of boutique hotel and apartments at a very reasonable price They give you free wi-fi and even a mini-kitchen. The hotel ranks 13 out of 1152 hotels.

3. Ranked a respectable 14 out of 1152 hotels, you might also consider Luna & Simone Hotel near Victoria. It’s clean, family-run and offers great value.

The Apex City of London probably has the nicest rooms of the three options above, but you shouldn’t go too far wrong with any of them.

Occasionally, even highly-rated 3 or 4 star hotels have flash sales and special offers.”

Review of £9 room at Edinburgh West End Travelodge

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009Karen Bryan

I stayed at the Edinburgh West End Travelodge for 2 nights, 22 – 24 June 2009. I paid £9 per room per night for a family room, booked 5 months in advance during a £9 Sale. Travelodge bought this former four star hotel a couple of years ago and have carried out a massive refurbishment, turning the function rooms into bedrooms. There is a cafe/bar which serves breakfast and evening meals.

Edinburgh West End Travelodge

Edinburgh West End Travelodge is located at Belford Bridge, close to the Dean Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art. The hotel is right on the Water of Leith Walkway so you can be on the tranquil footpath within a minute of leaving the hotel reception. It takes around 10 minutes to walk to Haymarket rail station or Princes Street. The hotel has a free (at the moment) car park but I heard they are going to start charging. It can be hard to find a parking space when the hotel is busy.

I stayed in Room 522, featured in the video. I loved this room as it had views over the Water of Leith and Dean Bridge, yet was far enough away from the road so that traffic didn’t disturb me. My room still had the 4 star fittings, much grander than the usual Travelodge minimalist approach. Many other rooms have been redone in the usual Travelodge style.

I’d rate the Edinburgh West End Travelodge very highly, mainly due to its location and low price, if you can find a room at the £29, £19 0r £9 saver rate. You have to be realistic, you’ll only get the cheap rate if you book in advance, avoiding weekends and peak season. However it’s always worth checking out the price at the Edinburgh West End Travelodge for your stay in Edinburgh and doing a search on the HotelsCombined metasearch for your dates to compare rates available at similar hotels in Edinburgh.

Review of £9 room at Edinburgh Learmonth Travelodge

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009Karen Bryan

We stayed at the Edinburgh Learmonth Travelodge for one night on 21 June 2009. Travelodge bought the hotel around a year ago and have carried out a refurbishment. The hotel is located in a beautiful terrace, parallel to Queensferry Road. It’s around a 11 minute walk to Princes Street.

Edinburgh Learmonth Travelodge

There is pay and display parking right outside the hotel however if you go down the hill, it’s a cheaper parking zone priced at 70 pence per hour for a maximum of 4 hours, Monday to Friday 8.30 – 17.30. The Edinburgh Learmonth Travelodge has a cafe/bar which serves breakfast and evening meals. It’s cheaper to book breakfast online in advance.

It’s hard for me to rate the hotel objectively as I paid for £9 for our room, booked in December 2008 during one of Travelodge’s £9 promotions. At this price it’s an absolute steal. You can find rooms at the saver rates of £19 and £29 for much of the year, except weekends, if you book in advance but at short notice, weekends or peak season rooms will cost a lot more.

We requested a room at the back of the hotel which is quieter. We were allocated room 110 on the first floor which was spacious and airy.

I’d rate the Edinburgh Learmonth Travelodge very highly if you can find a room at the £29, £19 0r £9 saver rate. If the price is higher, you should do a search on the HotelsCombined metasearch for your dates to make a comparison with similar hotels in Edinburgh.

£9 rooms in the Travelodge UK Winter 2009 Sale

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009Karen Bryan

Travelodge UK launch their £9 room Winter Sale at 06.00 on Thursday 18 June 2009. The £9 rooms are avaiable for stays between 1 November 2009 and 31 January 2010. You need to pay upfront for the rooms and there are no refunds.

Travelodge UK £9 room Winter Sale 2009

This has to be one of the best accommodation deals in the UK, an en-suite room that can sleep up to 2 adults and 2 kids for less than a bunk in a shared dorm of a youth hostel. So get on the Travelodge site early, since it may take some time and patience to book your £9 rooms. My advice is to book and pay for one room at a time, if you try to book a few rooms the chances are the site will crash and you’ll end up with none.

Let me know if you managed to book any of the £9 Travelodge rooms.

£19 rooms at Travelodge UK for July and August 2009

Thursday, May 14th, 2009Karen Bryan

Travelodge UK have some rooms for only £19 for stays during the period 1 July to 31 August 2009. Online booking for these £19 rooms opens at 6am today  (Thursday 14 May 2009). You need to pay when you book and there are no refunds.

Travelodge £19 rooms

If you want to bag a £19 bargain Travelodge room and enjoy a budget Summer break, be prepared to spend some time on the internet, as the Travelodge site gets really busy during their promotions. It is a great deal to get an ensuite room for £19 which can sleep up to 2 adults and 2 children.

Advice on hotel overbooking

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009Karen Bryan

Hotel overbooking is when a hotel has taken bookings for more guests than it can accommodate. They can often get away with this as there is usually a number of cancellations and no shows. However you may be the unlucky person who turns up to be told that there’s no room at the inn.

Advice

1 Try to check in and claim your room as early as possible after check in time, especially during peak periods. I know this is not always possible. It just seems unfortunate that it’s the guests who arive latest who suffer the hassle caused by overbooking.

2 Know your rights in the case of overbooking by reading the terms and conditions when making your booking and be ready to insist that your rights are honoured.

3 If you are the unlucky victim of hotel overbooking do complain and you may receive compensation.

My recent experience with hotel overbooking

I arrived at the Edinburgh Dreghorn Travelodge, just off the Edinburgh city bypass, at 21.45 on 6 April 2009 after a long, busy day ready for a bath and cup of tea. As soon as I arrived at the car park I was amazed at how full it was and thought this is the busiest I’d ever seen it but it was the start of school Easter holidays.

Travelodge

My heart sank when I went to check in and the receptionist told me that the hotel was full and there wasn’t a room for me. He was on the telephone to Travelodge head office desperately trying to find out what to do with me but his call wasn’t being answered. I thought I was as well go to my car and have lukewarm cup of tea from my flask and use the toilet facilites at the adjacent service station.

I returned to reception at 22.15 to be informed that I had a room a the Edinburgh Haymarket Travelodge. Now it would have taken me around half an hour to drive there, as there are road works all around Edinburgh city centre due to laying of tram tracks. It’s hard to find a parking space around Haymarket and it costs £2 an hour to park and I wasn’t planning on leaving my room until midday. I also reckoned it could take me around half an hour to find a space and walk to the hotel.

As it would take me 75 minutes to drive home, which I estimated to be 15 minutes more than it would take to get my room in Haymarket, I decided to cut my losses and just drive home.

Now I do understand why hotels overbook and I’d booked my £9 at Dreghorn in a Travelodge sale at the end of 2008. Sometimes I find that I have to forgo my £9 rooms as my plans can change over the course of a few months. I rationalise that it’s such a good deal that I will take that chance.

My issue was that Travelodge should have contacted me earlier to inform me to proceed directly to Haymarket to avoid all that wasted time. I complained to Travelodge and give them their due they apologised, refunded my £9 and gave me a Travelodge e-voucher worth £50.

I’ve since read the booking terms and conditions, Travelodge will either

“provide a room in another Travelodge hotel and pay the reasonable cost of transport to that alternative hotel or any applicable car park charges and provide you with breakfast at no additional charge; OR

at your request, or, if in our reasonable opinion there is no suitable alternative hotel accommodation available, cancel your Booking and refund you the money you have paid for the unavailable room(s) including related extras”

However I was not informed that my transport costs to Haymarket and car parking charges would be covered and I would be given a complimentary breakfast, so you really should read the terms and conditions so you know your entitlements if something does go wrong.

I’d be extremely unhappy if Travelodge claimed there were no suitable alternative accommodation available and just offered me a refund of my £9. So I suppose I should be grateful that they did find me another room. What if you were further from home and offered no alternative, would there be any option but to sleep in your car?

Sleeping in car

Sleeping in car by jofus

Conclusion

I stay at UK Travelodges frequently, often in the £9 sale rooms. This over booking experience was extremely annoying but I was offered alternative accommodation and I have received £50 in compensation, a refund of the £9 I paid for the room and an apology.

The Overbookers.co.uk site is campaigning to make it illegal for hotels to overbook. Have you any experience of hotel overbooking? What was your reaction and the outcome of the overbooking?

£9 rooms in the Travelodge UK Autumn 2009 sale

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009Karen Bryan

The Travelodge £9 room Autumn 2009 sale starts today, Thursday the 23 April 2009. The £9 rooms are on offer for stays between 27 August – 30 November 2009 on selected nights at selected Travelodges. This is one of the best value offers for accommodation in the UK. It’s unbelievable that you can book an ensuite room sleeping up to 2 adults and 2 children for only £9.

Travelodge Manchester

Travelodge Manchester by frankieroberto

Don’t think that all Travelodges are located at motorways services as an increasing number are in city centre.

You have to pay upfront and the £9 is unrefundable. The Travelodge site gets really busy during the £9 sales, so have to be prepared to spend some time and be patient to bag your £9 rooms.

Update 25/04/2009

The £9 rooms have now sold out but there is a fair selection of £19 rooms.

£19 rooms in the Travelodge UK Easter Sale

Thursday, March 5th, 2009Karen Bryan

You can book a Travelodge UK room for only £19 for stays between 3 April – 4 May 2009 in the Easter Sale. Get on the site as soon as possible to get your £19 room as they go fast. It’s great value as most Travelodges have family rooms which can sleep up to 2 adults and 2 kids.

£19 rooms in Travelodge UK Easter Sale

Breakfast isn’t included but at some Travelodges you can have a hot buffet breakfast for £7.50 per adult and kids eat free, so it would still only cost £34 for bed and breakfast for a family of four.

Staying in a religious guesthouse in Rome

Thursday, February 5th, 2009Heather Cowper

If you’re visiting one of the centres of religious pilgrimage such as Rome or Assisi, you may like to consider staying in a convent, monastery or religious guest house, for simple, homely accomodation which is often very central for sightseeing.

 St Peter's Basilica

When I visited Rome with my parents and son last spring, we stayed in Residenza Madri Pie , a religious guest house which I’d recommend, for quiet and comfortable accomodation. It was so close to St Peter’s that we could practically wave to the Pope from our bedroom window.

The Residenza has the look and feel of a convent, with cool marble floors, dark antique furniture in the public areas and simply furnished rooms. Although the reception was staffed by respectable looking gentlemen, our breakfast was served in the morning by the nuns from the religious order. There is also a chapel which can be used by visiting groups.

Residenza Madri Pie in Rome

One of the nicest things was the terrace and garden at the back of the hotel which was a pleasant place to sit after a hot day sightseeing. There was also a large car-park which is unusual to find so close to the centre of Rome. If you require on-tap internet access, you may be disappointed, as the one internet terminal was not working while I was there.

Residenza Madri Pie in Rome

Accomodation in Rome is generally expensive but I think this was a good value mid-price option, especially for those who want to be close to the Vatican and St Peter’s. Double rooms were €125 per night including breakfast and taxes.

Residenza Madre Pie had the feel of a small hotel, but if you’d like to get the more authentic experience of staying in a covent, you could try the accomodation listed on the Santa Susanna website, the portal for the American Catholic Church in Italy. As well as a long list of convents that offer accomodation in Rome, there are also convents listed in Assisi and Florence. This may not be the right choice for the party animal, as some do have an evening curfew, but women travelling on their own or couples and families on a budget may find an ideal place to stay.

Religious shopping in Rome

Another useful website to locate accomodation in monasteries and convents is Monasterystays.com which lists accomodation all over Italy. This could be a good way to get in touch with your spiritual side, for modest accomodation at a modest price.

Do you have any experience of staying in a convent, monastery or religious guest house? If so, do share your recommendations.

Travel on a budget with Hospitality Club

Thursday, January 15th, 2009Heather Cowper

As budget travel is so very much on the agenda this year, you may be interested in my experiences with the travel networking site, Hospitality Club. It’s a website designed to bring travellers and hosts together to exchange hospitality, whether it be travel information, a drink or meal or free accomodation. Once you sign up, you can contact another member in the place you’re planning to visit and likewise you can reciprocate with help or accomodation when other members contact you. There are other travel networks offering a similar service such as Couchsurfing and Servas.

Cycling in the Turia Gardens
Cycling in the Turia Gardens

I joined Hospitality club when I was planning a trip to Valencia with my family and wanted to meet up with someone local to help us connect with the city and get an insider’s view. We already had our hotel booked, so a friendly face rather than accomodation was on my agenda. I contacted Angel because he was in bit older than the average student type, his photo looked friendly and he sounded genuinely keen to help visitors enjoy his city. We exchanged a few e-mails on good places to visit and then arranged to meet up on the first Saturday of our stay. We had breakfast together and then took up Angel’s suggestion of renting bikes for the family and going for a cycle ride in the Turia Gardens.

The day was a great success and with a local we didn’t have to worry about our dodgy Spanish or reading a map – we just followed Angel and had a great time cycling through the gardens to the beach where we relaxed for an hour or two before coming back to the hotel. On another evening we met up again and Angel recommended a typically Spanish restaurant down the backstreets where we had an excellent meal together. Angel was keen to improve his English and we had fun chatting to him about life in Valencia, although it didn’t do much to improve my Spanish.

With Angel at La Utielana restaurant
Eating out with Angel, our Hospitality Club host in Valencia

Obviously, free accommodation is a big attraction of Hospitality Club, but as you can see from our experience, it’s also a great way of connecting with a place and experiencing it through local eyes. Even if you stay with a host, you should expect to engage with them in this way and not treat it like a free B & B.

Since then, I’ve hosted guests a couple of times and found it an interesting extension to our family’s social life, comparing notes on travel destinations and favourite places my guests have been. When I get an e-mail from another member, I use my initial impressions to judge whether I would like to host them or not. If the e-mail shows that they have similar interests, are genuinely keen to visit Bristol & engage with my family, then the answer’s likely to be yes. If it’s from someone who wants to bring all their friends and use my home as a base for partying, then I’ll suddenly find myself unavailable.

The next thing I do is to check their profile for age and interests, and then any testimonials from other people who have hosted them or been their guest. You have to read between the lines a bit on these, as no-one likes to give a damning report. For instance, if someone writes ‘as long as you clearly agree arrival times you’ll be OK’ you know you’ll be dealing with a guest who is chronically unreliable.

One Stop Thali Cafe in Bristol
Eating out with our guests from Hospitality Club

This week we hosted a charming international couple who were taking some time out from work and study in London to see something of the West Country. As well as putting them up for a couple of nights, we lent them guidebooks, gave them our recommendations and enjoyed an evening out together in an excellent local restaurant that they would not have found on their own. From us they went on to stay with another Hospitality Club host in Cardiff and had a week’s holiday without too much expense.

As a woman traveller, one also has to consider security implications and take some sensible precautions. If I was travelling as a woman alone, I’d only request to stay with other women or couples and similarly if I was hosting, I’d probably only accept couples or female guests. I’d also make an effort to exchange a few e-mails before meeting a guest or host, to get a feel for what they were like. But I wouldn’t let these common sense concerns stop me using a travel network like Hospitality Club.

Even setting the cost-saving implications aside, I’d definitely recommend it as an enriching way to travel.