Booking Bed and Breakfasts in Great Britain
 

I have been searching for bed and breakfasts for our May 2007 trip to England and Scotland. I am wondering if I would be wiser to take my chances booking our stays after I arrive rather than before. Is it possible that there are many nice and less expensive B&Bs available that do not list online? I am hoping to find clean places at about 20 pounds per person per night. Is that an unrealistic price? Most of those I am finding online are 25 and up.

Hi

In answer to the 2nd part of your question:

There are are still many B&Bs not listed online, or at least that don't have a website (they might have a phone number on line if you google by county eg 'Essex bed & breakfast' etc).

It is getting harder and harder to find really good cheap B&Bs, especially online. I would say £50/room is a fair price, £40/room is now a bargain. I would expect to have an en-suite for that price. If you don't mind a shared bathroom you might be able to find cheaper places.

The quality varies enormously though....

Have fun

Hello. We booked bed and breakfasts throughout Cornwall and Devon in 2000, via the internet, and were glad for the reservations, as they were all full when we stayed. However, our trip was during August, which is peak travel time for Europeans, I believe. Also, our rooms were not lavish, but were more expensive than 20 pounds per night (I remember they were the equivalent of $60 U.S. per night.). I'm not sure you should take your chances without reservations, but maybe someone with more recent experience can help you with this.

We stayed in three B & Bs, one was excellent, one was okay, and one was a nightmare that we still talk about! Do as much research as you can.

I always feel it is better to book before you leave if possible. That way you don't spend your precious vacation time hunting for a room.

If you haven't already done so, check out smoothhound.co.uk. It lists hundreds of hotels and guest houses by location with prices, facilities info, contact info, etc., all in one handy place.

Another good source is the bed and breakfast website:

http://www.bedandbreakfasts-uk.co.uk/

You can also take a look at laterooms.com before you leave, even if you have already booked something (cancellable of course), to see if you can find a better deal.

Good luck!

zielker -

We always book our stays before we arrive. We have found some very nice B&B's on www.smoothhound.co.uk If you are willing to share a bath room you might find a bit cheaper B&B so it depends on your needs.

Can you be a bit more specific and tell us where you are going in England and Scotland?

Enjoy your holiday.

Sandy

I don't think you need to pre book for May. I would pre book the first day and maybe my last. £20 per person is a bit unrealistic now days. Most places will have a tourist information center that you can go into and they will have a list of B&B's that you can try. Some will just give you the phone number to contact some places will even make the booking for you.
It means you have more freedom to roam around and have a free spirt to go with the flow. As somone said a lot of B&B's still do not bother with websites, but work on word of month or the local tourist board. Now if it was July or August I am not sure I would take the risk and would pre-bookm but May you should not have a problem.

If you know where you want to stay in terms of town or city or rough location I would recommend booking in advance. This enables you to do most of the research online and to know you have a place to go. On a couple of occasions we have spent valuable time trying to find the tourist office, trying to find a park near the tourist office, waiting in lines - anyway you get the picture. I would rather take my chances with my choice and live with it if not great. We have only ever had one major disappointment with a B & B and that was in Dublin and that was our being naive about price - you will always pay more in the cities. 20 GBP is not a lot in England any more, but more doable in Scotland. We usually pay about 25GBP and this can get you anything from near luxury to pretty basic. We always have our own bathroom. We always pick the places or towns and then find accommodation over internet - have had stayed in some wonderful places. Strangely, the most 'ordinary' in terms of accommodation have had wonderful owners, location etc - Dublin being the exception! Finally spending valuable time finding accomm when I could be seeing or doing something more interesting......well I would rather do it from home - but I guess that is a personal choice.

I just returned from a short countryside trip in Great Britain. I went solo and I paid 35 pounds at three different B&B's. Two were in small towns, Wool in Dorset, Wellington in Shropshire and three nights in York. I prefer booking in advance as the last thing I want to do is seek out a place after a tiring day out. I really doubt that you will find much in your price range. Maybe if you were to rent a cabin for your entire stay?

Many thanks for the smoothhound website! I have emailed quite a few places, and have high hopes that I will be able to keep the costs to near 20 pounds per night. Thanks to all of you for your suggestions and help. Although I realize we may "miss" on some of these places, I do prefer to spend my time searching NOW rather than when I am tired after a day of sightseeing, as several of you noted.

In June 2005 we traveled through England and I had booked all the B&B nights before we left. Much rather spend the time at home than while on vacation.

If you tell us the locations you are interested in maybe some previous travelers can suggest specific B&Bs.

We met some wonderful owners so would be glad to share information. I did try to stay in the $100 range but that was 2 years ago and not sure about the exchange now.

These are the stops we plan to make during our May 2007 trip so I welcome any suggestions you have for B&Bs:
May 11-12 York area
May 13-14-15-16 Ripon-Durham-Newcastle-Alnwick (I was thinking we might be able to stay two nights in one place, two in another)
May 17-18 near south and east of Edinburgh
May 19-20 We have tentatively reserved Ardgarth Guest House in Portobello and plan to bus into Edinburgh. They are booked for the 18th
May 21 Stirling or Callandar area
May 22 Helensburgh or Glasgow area (we plan to drive to Kilchurn and down along Loch Lommond, then see The Hill House)
May 23 Penrith area
May 23-4 Kendal or Windemere area
May 26 Manchester, convenient to the airport

You may also let me know if you think we are trying to do too much. I tend to do much wishful thinking as I plan these trips. Thanks for your help. Ruth

You might want to look at The Granary in Stearsby for your York area B&B.