Main Resources Page

How to choose a Hotel Room in the UK

Choosing that perfect hotel can be a tricky operation, after all there are so many to select from and it is after all a big decision, one that if got wrong could ruin an otherwise lovely trip. The choice is made even more important if it is an important occasion.

Setting Your Priorities for that Hotel room

To a degree your priorities will depend on the reason for the trip, after all if it is a business trip you’ll be looking for a place to stay near to your meeting / airport etc, whereas if it is for a holiday you’ll probably be looking for somewhere in the countryside. Then again it could be that food and drink, or being close to a particular event is the main attraction? The thing to do is to decide on your priorities and budget and only then to start your search.

The Hotel Room – Where to Look

These days the first port of call just has to be the Internet, after all it contains details of just about every hotel in the UK one way or another. So where do you start?, well if you have an idea of the location you want to stay in (eg Liverpool) then you could, like many, simply go to one of the major Search Engines (Google being the UK’s favourite at the moment) and type in “hotels in Liverpool”, which will undoubtedly bring up many sites, most of which will be useful.

Hotel Directories

The chances are however that a good percentage of the sites listed will be “Hotel Directory” sites (like Hotelshopuk.com), the main reason for this simply being that these sites are a lot bigger than sites which are about just one hotel and that they spend more money and effort in getting their (directory) sites to the top of the listings. The good news is that these directory sites offer the searcher a real boon as they often give them the ability to fine tune their requirements not only by location, but also by room type and price, and in many cases availability. Thus these directories can save much time, it not being necessary to continuously “hop” from one site to another.

Choosing from the Hotel Short List

Once you have used the Hotel directory’s search facility to narrow down the number of hotels to a workable number you can then start looking at pictures of the hotel, the rooms and list of facilities. Depending on the level of detail selectable in the hotel directory’s search facility, it may be that some of the list have to be discarded very quickly, eg if it didn’t give you the choice of choosing only “pet friendly” hotels and you are taking your pet dog. It could however be quite difficult choosing from the remaining list if it is very long, but by careful examination you’ll be sure to find one that meets your needs exactly.
 
Hotel Directories – The Quality Answer
 
Looking at the alternative method of searching (hopping from one site to another) directories must be the “time saving” answer for those seeking a hotel room. However they have another advantage as not only do they offer speed, information and choice (plus the all important ability to reduce the numbers down to manageable levels) all in one easy to use location, they also provide another key ingredient / pointer, that of an assurance of quality, especially if like HotelshopUK they use “mystery shoppers”.

Mystery Shoppers Ensure Quality

The use of mystery shoppers in the hotel industry looks like spreading, and that is good news for customers in more than one way, as forward thinking / customer focused directories like HotelshopUK actually give their “shoppers” an incentive, each report being rewarded with some money off vouchers for their next booking. With these and other checks are going on all the time you can be assured that every hotel in the directory offers good quality, bad performers being removed lest they bring the entire directory into disrepute.

Hotel Directories Offer it All

So when it comes to choosing a hotel room and making a reservation, the good hotel directory has it all. You can:- Search for all the hotels that match your initial list of requirementsHone down that list by refining the search criteriaCheck each hotels facilities to find one that is just perfectConfirm availabilityReserve your hotel room onlineAnd have the assurance of quality

Which Directory to Choose??

As ever this is another matter of personal choice, but basically if you select one that cover the UK in depth and has an easy to use interface (and better still is backed up by a helpful team you can actually speak to on the phone), just like the service offered by HotelshopUK you can’t go far wrong. So happy “hotel selecting” and do enjoy your holiday / break or business trip.