As a start to deciding what type of lodgings you would seek in the UK, think about what you intend to get from them. This may vary from time to time as you travel. If what you are after is a place to spend the night on your way to other things, most any convenient one will do. If you want to experience a particular type of character in your lodging, religious, historical, etc., then you must be more selective. On those occassions when you are after character I would suggest making locating an appropriate lodging a major activity of the day. Lodgings with character may not be the easiest to find and my not offer the maximum convenience.
If you research lodging when planning your independent travel, you will come across numerous books full of hotels, B&B’s etc. Many travel guides will list a number of them. These names get published either because an author has randomly come across them or they have paid to be in the publication (either cash or by providing free lodging). One comment would be: because of the publicity the ones listed in travel guides will probably be booked (reserved) up. Another thought is: if they could afford to spend money to advertise their cost would be more than I would want to afford.
I have carried lists of lodgings, copied from books and the web, and only once in 18 years was I able to be in a place at a time where I could make use of one on the list. I’d strongly suggest not making a goal of finding/using one from a list. Find your own and have an individual experience all your own.
By now you can tell we tend toward lower cost situations. I can’t consider very many £ 100 per day hotels, and I can’t imagine what one could possibly get for £350 perday that would be worth (to us, from the Minnesota tundra) that price. Perhaps I can describe three common forms of lodging for folks traveling around, 1) hotels, 2) bed and breakfast (B&B) and 3) motels (relatively new in the UK). If you are inclined to stay in one place for a while a self catering (housekeeping) place might be considered, I'll cover that last.
When considering lodging, understand whether the prices you are quoted are for the accommodation or per person.
Hotels and B&B’s almost always provide a "Full English Breakfast" as part of the room cost (this, being a significant portion of the fare, relates to ‘per person’ pricing). Although they seem to be shrinking a bit, this is quite a breakfast. Cereal (you must try Wheatabix), juice, fruit, tea/coffee, egg, bacon, sausage, mushroom, tomato, beans (as in pork and beans) and toast can be a part of it.
A hotel serving tours, or lots of people, may have either a buffet service and /or a continental breakfast.
A note here on alcoholic beverages. Having a "license" means an establishment can serve alcoholic beverages. Pubs, or public bars, where alcoholic beverages are available, often have hours (about 11 AM to 2 PM for lunch and after about 5:30 PM with relatively early closing times. These are dictated by local laws, custom, etc. When you are renting (a) room(s), your place is considered your home and you can get a drink anytime. Just so you know should you be thirsty when the pubs are closed (to non-residents).
Hotels come in a vast ranges of prices. The ones I would be familiar with would be "tourist" hotels, and a couple of country hotels.
Tourist hotels come as tourist, deluxe tourist, superior tourist, and some others. When this scale tops out the ‘star’ rating ones take over with a 5 star one being quite nice and expensive. Examples of superior tourist hotels in London would be the Kennedy (used by Cosmos tours, I don’t know if you could book a room independently) and the Ibis. Both of these are next to Euston station. And there are many others.
These provide a modest room with a phone and full bath. Rooms are pretty much all the same. As in any big city, a room in the back is quieter. There is a restaurant and bar in the building. Based on the cost, per person, for an extra day added to a tour, they run about $130 per night (London).
If I was going to stay in London, I think I’d try a different approach.
Fancier city hotels, and many country hotels are a bit different. Many country hotels are converted from manor houses. Folks with money used to have country homes with a lot of rooms so their friends could come and visit (for weeks or months at a time). They had large kitchens to serve all these people and quarters for servants. These are relatively easily converted to hotels even though the originals often didn’t provide private baths.
In these types of establishments, all the rooms tend to be different and have different prices depending on size, furnishings, locations, etc. Country hotels may have nice grounds and quiet surroundings. Prices very widely, starting at about 50 pounds and up. Hotel food services also vary from non-existent to very good, often costing $30 to $50 or more for a meal.
There are specialty hotels such a restored castles, old hunting lodges and especially fancy homes. The National Trust and the Landmark Trust have a number of them available by the week, many are self-catering (light housekeeping).
Given the likely cost, unless you stumble across a good situation, I’d not recommend using country hotels. I’d try and dodge hotels in central big cities too. A special event or situation, however, is a good excuse to splurge.
The bed and breakfast is a time honored tradition in the UK. It differs from the B&B scene in the US in that 1)there are a whole range of facilities available, 2)there are many of them, 3)they are everywhere and 4)the goal of most of them is to provide affordable lodging and not necessarily an expensive antique experience as do many of our "Bed and Breakfasts" (also remember that our antiques are one or two hundred years old, a mere yesterday in UK history). A B&B is a great place to interact with the locals, get travel ideas, first hand advice and opinions from folks that have been or are there. We have gotten many useful tips and suggestions from folks we have met at B&B's.
A B&B used to be a place where you had a clean room, often with a large wash basin and hot and cold water (B&B, H&C) (wash basins are often huge, with lots of room for splashing around). Shower and toilet facilities were located "down the hall". While you may not find this an attractive idea, unless you are sick, it works surprisingly well. In the morning an English breakfast is provided. The equivalent cost compared to a motel here used to be such that you could justify part of the overseas transportation cost with lower lodging cost.
Unfortunately, about 10 years ago someone in the tourist bureau decided to recommend people upgrade their rooms to have private facilities (bath) because the "American’s want it". The result has been that what used to be a 25 to 30 pound room (for two) with plenty of space has had a tiny set of too small facilities added making it into a too small room and raising the price to 38 to 42 pounds, or about 65+ dollars. This is refered to as "en Suite". At that price there are other options.
I wouldn’t have believed you could put a toilet, sink and shower stall in a 3 by 5 foot area, about the size of our bath tubs, but they do it. If you are at all overweight or are tall you wouldn’t fit. If you drop the soap in the shower you have to open the door to stoop over to pick it up. If you lean over the sink, which is so small your hands don’t fit in it, to brush your teeth, your bum sticks out into the room. The only place in the room big enough to open a suitcase is the bed. Its really quite silly and a disappointment.
Incidentally this was all done just before they discovered the Japanese tourist spends much more that an American, causing another change in emphasis. My experience is the independent traveling Japanese is rare in the UK, their preference being for tours (as would be mine in Japan). With the recent economic troubles in Asia, this could change again.
In any case, the B&B is a valuable resource and should be used when appropriate. Some B&B’s provide specific atmospheres ( farms, period features), but many just provide clean, convenient lodging. B&B’s come in a range of features ranging from a bedroom down the hall from the family to virtual hotels. There is a classification of a "small guest house" that we have found most useful. A ‘guest house’ has the tenants facilities separate from those of the landlord; we find this works best for us. And small means only a few rooms.
While B&B’s are everywhere, they are usually concentrated in areas of towns where the housing lends itself to providing rooms. This is often an area of Victorian houses. In tourist towns, seaside, lake, country, etc., there will be rows and rows of B&B’s. Being a long established tradition (Fawlty Towers, etc.) many are located near public transportation as there were no cars when they came into being. Having this history, parking may be a problem. If you are traveling by car, check on whether parking is available on the premises.
There is a good chance your room will be located on an upper floor. And it may be cramped with the "facilities" stuffed in. And you may have to park down the block. It would be wise to plan the use of your carry-on and any larger suitcases so you only need to lug the carry-on up the stairs. Maybe keeping a couple of days of undies in the carry-on with your toilet articles would be a good idea..
A really convenient service provided the tourist offices is "Book A Bed Ahead", or "BABA". If you don’t know anything about where you are going anyway, stop in a tourist office the day before you plan to be someplace, or by mid afternoon of the day (see below). Tell them where you want to stay that night, or within 24 hours. They will ask some questions to determine what type of place you want, how much you want to pay, special features, how you are traveling, etc. They will then call the tourist bureau in the town where you want to be and the local board will find you a place. While this is going on you can take a break, have an ice cream or see a sight. Then you can be free to spend the rest of the day as you wish knowing you have a place to stay at night.
They will collect 10% of the room rate and tell you how to get there. When you arrive give the landlord the paperwork and you will get the 10% off. Sometimes you may end up paying a pound for the service. We have found this to be a very useful service.
We have noticed a risk with the BABA service. The local boards will sometimes set you up with a person that doesn’t get much business. This may be because of location, the facilities etc. While this has generally not been a problem, if you have the time, try and find 25 Crossgate Peth in Durham (then think about finding it in the rain, and/or on foot from the tourist bureau).
If you are traveling to the UK you should be doing it before early June, or after the last week in August. The schools are in session them. The local tourists traditionally take vacation in July and August. You are best off not competing with them for resources. Outside of those times, using the BABA service by about 3 PM has worked well. At other times, try for your next nights lodging before you begin traveling in the morning, that's when everyone knows what rooms will be available for the coming night.
Be reasonable about how far you intend to go to get to your next lodging. While it may be no big deal for us to decide to be a hundred miles down the road (starting at 3 in the afternoon) for that night here, such a request will raise eyebrows un the UK. Be responsive to suggestions from the travel people. But, be aware that some of the concern over distances is cultural. In the spring it would be a shame to waste the long evenings if we wanted to be further down the road for the next day.
B&B’s work well in a number of situations. If there are no other reasonably priced accommodations available where you want to be, if you want the experience of staying in a place the locals would use (or have used for a hundred years), if you want a hearty English breakfast (do it at least once on a trip) or if you want to meet and exchange information with local landlords and travelers, the B&B is the way to go. We use a mix of B&B and motel accommodations depending on our goals and location.
Some years ago, the last time we stayed in a B&B in London, Ebury Street, a block away from Victoria Station, offered a number of acceptable places.
In recent years a new phenomena has appeared in the UK. Its the motel! With the increased numbers of folks traveling by car it was a natural, if not traditional. They vary a some, and interacting with them is bit different than here, but they can really be useful as well as economical. They have parking with security cameras. They are NOT necessarily convenient if not traveling by car.
There are several chains. The couple I’m familiar with are:
0800-850-950 freephone (7 AM-10 PM, everyday)
44-1384-78884 from here
These folks advertise from L34.95 per night per room (1997 although it gone up a bit in ‘98). Individual places are higher, so check on the specific location. They are located near restaurants, a common one of which is the "Little Chef". Its a bit like Denny’s, but has a strange menu. Others they are associated with include Burger King, Harry Ramsden’s (fish and chips), Pizza Hut, la Brioche Doree and RockIsland Diner (American style food, rock&roll).
(0)1581 41 43 41 not free, same number from here (Monday thru Friday 8:30-6 PM,
shorter Saturday hours.
This chain advertises L39.5 per night (2000) per room. They have plans for some central London locations for L49 per night. They also are located near restaurants that include Brewers Fayre (kind of an interesting contemporary mix of a family restaurant and pub bar; prices are not bad), TGI Fridays, Beefeater and Potters.
There is also RoadChef, 0800-834719, the Motorway Association of Independent Services. These two have a limited number of locations at motorway rest areas probably offering the least character of ahy type of lodging. I, however, you are on the way to someplace and they are on your way, what could be more convenient.
The RoadChef brochure also references Premier Lodge, 0800-118833, for off motorway accommodations. A couple of other chain hotels, quite pricey, are also related.
I think there is a Granada chain too, but searching the web for 'granada' leads to the Granada Group which has the Traveldoges so I may be mistaken.
What you get is a big room, pretty much like an economy motel here. There is room for a rollaway if you have kids or extra people along. There is a full bath, coffee/tea makings, TV, queen sized bed, a couple of chairs and a table (in addition to the dresser assembly). The telephone is down the hall in a phone booth (who would you call anyway). Prices in the mid L30 range make them competitive with an en suite B&B except you don’t get breakfast (you can mitigate this with a bit of planning at a bakery or deli), full breakfast being L5 to L6 per person additional. And there is parking. The freedom of coming and going without being concerned about disturbing the other guests and lots of anonymity are additional benefits.
When you go to the office, called reception, things are a little different. The travel inns seemed to be staffed all day. The Travelodges have staff in the afternoon and overnight until 7 AM. They check you in and can provide some local information. They don’t seem to be able to make reservations at other lodges in their chain, probably no computer link. They do monitor the parking lot via TV. You must enter/leave through reception.
I’m sure its a function of the fire codes, but there are a lot of fire doors. They don’t seem to be tied to the alarm system so they are always closed. We had to pass through 7 to 11 doors to get to our rooms (into reception, reception to stairway/central hall, central hall to corridor and one about every 4 rooms along the hall), room entrances being from inside halls. It makes you safe, but seems a little silly.
A Self Catering place is one in which you can keep house for yourself. While it is my goal to occupy one of these for a week or so, my objective would be to experience the life of a particular community on a day-to-day basis or to experience living in a unique structure (tower perhaps). I don't think I would spend the time on domestic chores if I had other objectives in mind. So far I haven't realized this goal so I can't offer a specific recommendations. In spite of this, I can suggest some things to consider.
First I'd consider the goals of (all) the travelers. Part of being on holiday (vacation) is to not have to attend to cooking and other day to day household chores, even if it means spending the extra effort and money to eat in restaurants or pubs.
Generally you hear of a 'Self Catering Flat'. The 'flat' part means its all on one level, although not necessarily on the ground floor.
Beware of Chalets, or Challys (Shallys). A number of 'Holiday Camps' have appeared, generally along a sea coasts, which contain a number of Chalets. These turn out to be very rudimentary, A-frame structures all clumped together with 'amusements' (a pool, kiddie rides, game room, bingo, etc.)on the grounds. Really awful surroundings.
If I were to consider a self catering thing I would want to see it before I rented it. Unless it comes via the National Trust or the Landmark Trust, the differing realestate terms and cultural terminology could lead to a disaster.
Some folks, and travel book authors, are into seeing a number of things in a very small area. For this situation, staying in a central place may be a useful approach. Whether this be a self catering situation needs to consider other factors. For me, at this point in my UK exploarations, I would be inclined to look with less detail at more diverse things.. The local folks seem to be more content to view a few things microscopically than I, and perhaps this is where the self catering accommidation comes to the fore. I can't picture train spotting, checking out each stained glass window in the York Minster with binoculars and guide book or checking the lineage of every family of note in the last 500 years.
On a trip long ago I tried to use a plan of going to a place to stay for a few days and do day trips from there. What I found was that driving took so much time and energy I was reluctant to 'give up' the distance covered going to see something by returning to the same lodging. In recent trips we have returned to staying in a few locations and doing day trips, but we now have enough experience to choose those locations carefully provide a good balance between saving engery by not changing lodgings and expending it retracing our steps.
Electric power is 220V 50 cycle. Most bathrooms seem to be provided with hair dryers so you don’t need to pack one (those of us with little hair don’t have this problem).
There is a "shaving light" fixture used by many B&B’s that is so dim it doesn’t even eliminate its own shadow. It should be call a "dark" rather than a "light". No one has thought that men might like to see under their chins when shaving. Men, if you stay in B&B’s exclusively, be prepared to not see your face for weeks and shave in the dark.
The motels use fluorescent lights in the bathroom. These provide plenty of light, but when starting they flicker on. With the ominous bursts of sounds made by the 50 cycle starters you would think Dr.Frankenstein is working in there.
While the bathroom sinks (lavatories) are luxuriously large, faucets are mostly of the non-mixing variety (probably a plumbing code problem). There is a separate tap for the hot and cold. If you are used to adjusting things here to get a nice stream of water at just the right temperature to shave, wash hands, brush teeth, etc. it will be a challenge. The hot water can be really HOT, and the cold really cold. The only mixing is in the sink, which means any residue from the cleaning activities accumulates in the water.
Energy is expensive in the UK so you don’t see many storage water heaters in homes. Most are of the ‘flash’ type where the water is heated as it passes through. If the unit is mounted next to the sink, only a cold water supply need be routed. Recent models are electric. Motels provide abundant quantities of hot water.
The same is true for shower units often found in homes. These usually have a couple of knobs to regulate the water temperature and flow. The flow will be less that you, from the land of cheap energy, are used to. More rubbing and less squirting. Often there will be switch to turn on the electricity to the unit and this will frequently be a ceiling mounted one with a cord to pull. Actual heating starts when the water flow begins.
If you slowly operate the toilet release lever here, it will eventually flush. Toilets in the UK need to have their handles operated briskly to get them to work properly (give that crapper a twist). Don’t be shy about it. Also, there seems to be a need to hide the workings behind paneling or something (as if we didn’t know what was really behind there) which makes it hard to diddle with the mechanism to stop the drip or cure some other minor problem. Toilets with overhead tanks are an exception, but they still need a brisk pull on the chain to work well.
Bath tubs need special attention. They are deeper than ours making for great soaking (if anyone has time for that any more). Their installation places their bottoms much higher from the floor level than ours (ours being almost at the same level) making entering and leaving them more difficult (you have to bend the knee of the leg in the tub to be able to put the outside foot on the floor). The bottom of the tub is mostly rounded (ours being largely flat) making it very tricky to not slip when showering and multiplying the difficulty of entering/exiting. Be very careful and take advantage of any grab handles.
Electrical outlets (for the plugs, the tea kettle, lamps, etc.) are most often switched. Look next to the plug for a switch. Pushing the switch ‘down’ (not up like here) turns them on. Some have an indicator light. Similarly, room light switches are turned on by pushing the ‘down’ side.
Hall lights, especially in B&B's, may be operated by timed switches. As you leave your room for a late night trip to the loo (toilet) the hall will be dark. You will find the light switches illuminated and easy to spot. Pushing one will turn on the lights, for a period of time.
While I haven't seen this yet in the UK, some other European hotels that use card activated door locks require that you place the card in a slot, usually just inside the door, to get the room lights to operate. This guarantees you turn them off when you leave as energy is expensive. If you just want to go down the hall to get some ice, you partner can be left in the dark.
The section on "Buildings" has some more information relating to houses.