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Wife and I will be taking a holiday in the UK next year. For about 10 days of our trip we don’t intend to pre-book any accommodation. We’ll be in southern Scotland/ north of England in mid-September so don’t really expect availability to be an issue.
Does anyone have any similar experiences they can share. Is it better value to book on-line same day, may be phone the place, or just roll-up and ask if they have any rooms available. Accommodation type we’ll probably go for is small town or village pubs/B&Bs. Budget up to NZ$200/night. Won’t rule out AirBNB either. I’ve never actually used it though, is it feasible to make a booking with arrival an hour or so later?
My experience with Airbnb is that many hosts need or prefer a reasonable amount of notice – an hour is insufficient for many hosts. In some cases a day or more notice is necessary.
For other UK accommodation – I would suggest looking at a site such as Booking.com to scope out what is available in advance and the pricing. In most cases it likely won’t be any cheaper to book on the day or by phone.
I like apps, easy for making bookings while on the go so scope accommodation out and download the applicable apps. You could look at making some bookings and checking their cancellation policies. Never had any issues cancelling with hotels.com and even though pricing may be a little bit more than direct, need to remember for the ease of cancelling it may be worth it. I do like the freedom to just see how your trip goes and decide once there where to book although I don’t like spending much time on a computer etc searching for somewhere to stay.
Years ago I was going to go to Niue as there was a flight deal on but then realised there was ZERO accommodation during my dates! That’s the issue with small places so Niue is still on my list (maybe 2018? who knows) – but I know where I’m going to stay!
In terms of pricing is anything cheaper? I’m sure there’s some last minute deals around and there may even be an app for that but I think that would just otherwise come down to keeping an eye out and checking back and if the price is right book it! Most of the time though I expect the price to go up closer to the time.
Keep in mind the time you’d be checking in as well. If you’re driving late some places reception closes at certain times or earlier on weekends so excludes the drive up option. I’m also not a fan of trying to unlock the safe for instructions and finding your way around the complex in the dark etc but this is what happens some times.
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