wlbox

We need some website suggestions for booking B&Bs in Kent.

janisj

The best way to book a B&B is through the B&B's own website (the vast majority have one).

MmePerdu

To find B&B's which usually, as janisj suggests, I book through their own websites, I use Smoothhound which lists lots of places that you might otherwise not find. Most have websites but not all. Sometimes it pays to call. http://www.smoothhound.co.uk/

Sawdays is also a good site and has some upscale places too.
http://www.sawdays.co.uk/

MmePerdu

Here are Sawdays offerings in Kent:

http://www.sawdays.co.uk/special-pla...n&display=list

Smoothhound in Kent:

http://www.smoothhound.co.uk/39.html

janisj

All the B&Bs on Alistair Sawday's site have their own websites - and 90+% of the ones on smoothhound do as well. I have book (literally) more than a hundred B&Bs in the UK and only once needed to go through a listing site.

Now holiday cottages are different - maybe 40-ish % of the time I use an agency or listing site. But for B&Bs, what I do is google the town or village I want to stay in/near. Say Tenterden . . I google Tenterden B&B and it returns links to every B&B in the area that has an internet presence - even the few that don't have a website of their own. You also get the google map w/ pins on every B&B which you can click. As you move the map around more B&Bs in the wider area display. Google also displays the local tourist office which may have even more B&Bs.

I always prefer doing this than relying on Sawdays or other listing sites -- some of the very best B&Bs I've ever stayed . . . have no affiliation w/ the big sites.

MmePerdu

I like to look everywhere I can think of, it does no harm, there are no rules and no one way of doing it. I didn't say book there, just use them to locate ones you like. Google ones that look good to find their own sites. As I said.

PatrickLondon

You could also try the tourist information centres' Visit Kent website:
http://www.visitkent.co.uk/places-to-stay

wlbox

Thank you. I am really need a good website that provides searches since I am not familiar with the area or the B&B.
That way I can check on a map and read reviews and prices.

PalenQ

https://www.airbnb.com/

And the new player on the block, kind of, is also a great resource for listings of B&Bs and of course bookings - many Fodorites have reported good experiences with it.

PalenQ

I'll second Patrick's recommendation of using the local TIC (Tourist Inforamtion Centre) site which ubiquitously lists every approved B&B in town - if the B&B ain't on their list it probably did not pass muster of local tourist office inspections and criteria - B&Bs and hotels are rated by a star system thru such checks I believe.

MmePerdu

Years ago I used the TICs to book last minute on arrival in towns all across the UK. In the last few years I've had some very poor experiences so have ceased finding them useful except in an emergency. They don't, in fact, inspect accommodations and aren't allowed to recommend one place over another so one is left to the diamond ratings and photos which, in general, are of little help. I've been sent to some pretty funky B&B's when another in the same street with a similar rating was wildly better.

I still think you're better using a site such as Airbnb, Sawdays or Trip Advisor, where opinions are given by those who have inspected or stayed there, wherever you decide to actually do the booking, on the site or on the accommodations own website.