Short Term Digs 29 March 2005 at 11:16PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in House Buying, Renting & Selling 5 replies 984 views

hard_up_and_fed_up

Hubby is looking for short term digs midweek, at the moment, in Colchester but he moves frequently throughout the country. As hotel prices are on the rise, can anyone suggest how / where we might find info on lodgings?
Is there a formum or website that might be helpful?
Surely - as many people work away from home - there might be??

dougk_2

Its a case of finding a reasonable B&B and then negotiating the price based on not having cooked breakfast, long term stay etc etc.

try https://www.smoothhound.co.uk for B&B's and hotels.

Has he considered getting a motorhome or similar?

There are plenty of campsites throughout the country!

Ted_Hutchinson

Rather than a motorhome, which might mean moving off site when he drives to work and returning to find someone has nabbed the flat part of the site, why not consider a caravan.
EBAY CARAVAN SEARCH

If he also joined the Caravan Club he will find they have lots of 5 van Certified Locations which are very cheap and allow stays up to 30 days. It would mean he could drive to work without losing his space on the site.

It would probably be easier for him to buy one with a fixed bed or one which enabled the bed to be left up so he didn't have the nightly hassle of rearranging the seats to beds.

The more upmarket caravans have decent sized fridges, cookers oven etc so it would be quite possible to live reasonably cheaply and many certified locations have electricity so TV/Radio use isn't a problem. The toilets and showers are also much improved as have the heating systems.

hard_up_and_fed_up

We have considered motor homes, but the company he works for makes him drive a trackered van and i don't think they would cover his fuel if he wanted to use his own vehicle and he often does hundreds of mile within a few days.
He does get £30 digs allowance if he stays out but he often has to pay well more than that due to it being last minute and not much choise. Also, when in the London area it is impossible. It is rare that he can get digs for £25 a night and pocket a fiver to make up for the over payments.
i might get a list of caravan sites with static homes, maybe he can get a deal there as it is not peak season. Thing is, when the summer starts, the process gets more difficult and more expensive!

nearlyrich

Sounds like he needs to renegotiate his "digs" allowance, if he is regularly spending over what is allowed. Many companies impose a limit on how much they will pay but are more flexible if you have to get somewhere at short notice. £30 isn't very much even outside London even a travellodge type place can be £70 or £80 on a week night.

Ted_Hutchinson

It might also be worth his while either joining the Ramblers or finding a Rambling Friend who could lend him a copy of the Walk Britain Handbook. It's handbook of accommodation and has a good selection of reasonably priced accommodation in the £20-35 price range. Many of these aren't advertised in the more expensive accommodation guidebooks nor are listed in Tourist Offices.

It gets really expensive trying to advertise in every outlet and if you are only offering accommodation in the lower price ranges you find youself working more for the adverts than for yourself.