Hotels

UK Hotels

How to find quality accommodation.

There are various schemes operating in the UK that aim to drive up standards and give public confidence in UK serviced Accommodation.

Serviced Accommodation is roughly broken into three categories:

Hotels: - Formal Accommodation with full service.

Guest Accommodation (eg B&B's): - informal accommodation with limited service

Budget Hotels/Motels: - accommodation with a limited service.

The Main Organisations in the UK that give quality gradings are:

AA - One to Five Star Ratings

RAC - One to Five Star ratings

Visit Britain - One to Five Star Ratings

These will be visibly displayed around the entrance of the establishment and also may be displayed on the accommodations website if applicable.

These three organisations have joined forces to create one overall rating scheme for England, and utilise the 5 star system for Hotels and 5 diamond system for other guest accommodation such as B&B's, Guest Houses, Farmhouses etc.

Hotel Rankings

One Star - Budget Accommodation with limited facilities, but a high standard of cleanliness. There should be eating facilities for Breakfast at least, and 75% of bedrooms will have en-suite facilities.

Two Stars - Better equipped bedrooms, all should have en-suite facilities and a colour TV. Eating facilities should include Breakfast and Dinner.

Three Stars - There should be a higher standard of services available, including receptionist, room service and laundry service. Bedrooms and public areas should be larger.

Four Stars - You should now be expecting superior comfort and quality accommodation, with spacious public areas. 24 hour room service of drinks, refreshments and snacks with excellent customer service and full dry cleaning service available.

Five Stars - Roll Royce service, offering you the highest possible level of accommodation, facilities and cuisine, backed up with professional and attentive customer service.

For a complete breakdown on the 5 Star and Diamond Rating, as well as information on Welsh and Scottish Schemes, follow the below link to the Visit Britain Website

http://www.visitbritain.com/VB3-en-GB/productsearch/ratingsinformation.aspx

Another way to find decent accommodation is to use review base sites such as My Local Services, and look at previous peoples experiences.

Other popular review based websites are www.tripadvisor.co.uk and www.epinions.com/Hotels--reviews--great_britain

If it all goes wrong…

If you are unhappy with the service you receive. In the first instance, always take it up with the manager of the establishment you are staying at.

If you get no satisfaction from this, send a letter to the establishment, quoting any invoice numbers, date and duration of stay and detailing the complaint.

From here, you may able to get assistance from bodies such as ABTA www.abta.com

Your Local Citizens Advice Bureau www.citizensadvice.org.uk is a good port of call and can offer all forms of advice or point you in the right direction.

Another useful resource is Holiday Travel Watch www.holidaytravelwatch.com