Cheap hotels guide discussion area

laspecia

Hi all
I am looking to book a hotel for 1 night as near to Heathrow T5 as possible as i am meeting my son in October at 9am back from America after 5 mths football coaching. Would prefer not to pay a fortune up to £50. Am getting confused with all the different hotel web sites.Any suggestions appreciated?

simsy64

Hi,
I used infotel too but found it very tricky to use and got bored. Try BedandBreakfastsGuide.com they seem to have loads of Hotels all over the UK. I booked through them and they have Laterooms and Active Hotels, so you can compare prices - and its worth comparing because they do sometimes have cheaper prices. I saved £20 per room! :T

blueski

I've recently come across roomatlas.com, which plots Expedia and Hotels.com hotels on a map. Includes live pricing and availability, TripAdvisor reviews and Street View.

Anyone booked with them yet?

jem71

Free family membership (worth £22.95) to YHA/Hostels International if you buy a Family Railcard for £26. Go to Railcard website for details. This will save you money on family weekends away all over the world.

redshark_man

I want to take my wife away for a short break in the UK but do not have any particular destination in mind. Does anyone know of a short break or hotel comparison website where you do not need to enter a destination first?

bengalcat

We prepaid £275 by credit card for one night's stay at Tophams Hotel, London, through lastminute.com whose site said it was a luxury hotel with many features in each bedroom. When we arrived at Tophams we were taken down the road to an unattended building, led up a dark staircase and left in a substandard room. There was no telephone to contact Tophams and we had either to tolerate the situation or leave. We have since found out that the place we were put in was the Harcourt, formerly a bed and breakfast charging just £60 per day.
We have since learned through MoneySaving Expert that we get no protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act by using our credit card as payment was made to lastminute.com rather than to Tophams. Only if the payment was made direct to the service provider can you claim against the credit card; if payment is made to an agency the credit card company has no liability. MoneySaving Expert lists several agencies that book hotels - just be aware that you lose your credit card protection if you book through them.

myrddin_2

bengalcat wrote: »

We prepaid £275 by credit card for one night's stay at Tophams Hotel, London, through lastminute.com whose site said it was a luxury hotel with many features in each bedroom. When we arrived at Tophams we were taken down the road to an unattended building, led up a dark staircase and left in a substandard room. There was no telephone to contact Tophams and we had either to tolerate the situation or leave. We have since found out that the place we were put in was the Harcourt, formerly a bed and breakfast charging just £60 per day.
We have since learned through MoneySaving Expert that we get no protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act by using our credit card as payment was made to lastminute.com rather than to Tophams. Only if the payment was made direct to the service provider can you claim against the credit card; if payment is made to an agency the credit card company has no liability. MoneySaving Expert lists several agencies that book hotels - just be aware that you lose your credit card protection if you book through them.

Booking rooms through "cheap" websites to save a few pounds is all well and good, but the story above demonstrates just some of the pitfalls you might encounter - and the potential "cost" of the often marginal saving made! The time wastage and the frustration of trawling the sites carries it's own price too, particularly if you find on arrival that the hotel doesn't live up to your expectations.

Use someone like theeasybookingcompany.com instead. Offering a free service, they'll find hotel rooms for you where you want them and at discounted prices, but won't ask you to pay for them in advance (because if you have to cancel prepaid rooms for any reason, you don't get your money back! EXPENSIVE!!) and you always pay the hotel direct too, (usually when you check-out) so your protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act will remain valid.

Remember your granny's advice to avoid being "penny wise, pound foolish!"

Nick_C

Sometimes the best deals are through the Hotel's own website, and many hotels offer an extra 10% to AAA members. If you are a member of the AA in the UK, you are entitled to the AAA discount through the AA's participation in ARC Europe. Quote club number 428, and show your AA card when checking in.

You can buy basic AA roadside cover for £30 a year, and if you do it through Top Cashback, you might get £20 back (lots of negative reports).

I've just done this, and have saved over £30 on a single hotel booking.

Nick_C

I've spent a long time recently booking 9 different hotels for a trip to the US & Canada this summer. I found the best websites (and I checked a lot) to be (in order of price and ease of use);

http://www.travelrepublic.com

http://www.trivago.co.uk

http://www.hotelscombined.com

http://www.travelsupermarket.com

Travel Republic is a booking agent, the rest are comparison websites.

myrddin_2

Nick_C wrote: »

I've spent a long time recently booking 9 different hotels for a trip to the US & Canada this summer. I found the best websites (and I checked a lot) to be (in order of price and ease of use);

(links deleted as requested by MSE)
**** is a booking agent, the rest are comparison websites.

All of which serves to illustrate my point that much (very frustrating, and often expensive) time can be spent trawling websites, instead of using a company such as the one I suggested, where you can speak to people who listen to what you want, know what they are doing, and offer you risk-free value for money. Simple!:j