I am back home in the U.S. and finally getting to finishing this posting I started while i was there. I have been to the U.K. several times over the past 20 years and have had some good and bad experiences with hotels, mostly because of my unclear expectations. Hope this rambling post helps someone who is planning a trip there someday.
Things You Need to Know Before You Book a Reservation
First, if you stay in a Marriott or a Hilton or similar chain in a big city, especially London, you will find little differences between those hotels and the Marriott or Hilton hotels in the U.S. However, if you travel and stay in nothing but big American hotel chains, it is likely that you will miss out on learning some important things about British culture. This is very much like taking the train everywhere you go and only stopping in the big cities where all the other tourists stop at. Yes, there is a lot to be seen from a train window and from staying in a big city hotel, but you will miss a lot of the country and its people are like.
Second, I am suggesting that there are two other types of hotels you can stay at: one type is one of the larger chains that may or may not also have a lot of hotels in the U.S. An example of this is Holiday Inn, Travelodge, Premier Inn, and a lot of others. Another type of hotel is the independent hotel that is found in only one or no more than a handful of cities. The are not quite bed and breakfast hotels, because they are larger with a substantial number of rooms--maybe 20-50 or even more.
The Holiday Inn, Travelodge, and Premier Inn type hotels may look at lot like their U.S. cousins, but they have some important differences:
- They may or may not have elevators, depending on how new they are or who owns them.
- As in all UK buildings, the main floor where the entrance is located is called the ground floor. One floor above this is the first floor. So if you looking for a first floor room at a hotel without elevators, you will still have to climb a set of stairs with your luggage to reach your room. My experience, however, has been that the person checking you in will often help with your bags. No tipping needed.
- They may or may not have air conditioning. (Most likely no AC, especially in smaller cities. Hotels in bigger cities sometimes have AC, but you need to ask.) AC is not a U.K. thing because until recently, even summer days were cool. This has changed in the last couple of decades because of climate change and a few "heat waves" of 85 degrees or hotter.
- Related to the lack of AC is that most hotels leave windows open after making up your room. The purpose of this is to let some good, fresh air in. However, I have never seen a screen on a window anywhere in the U.K. I have no idea why the mosquitos and flies don't come in, but this rarely happens. Another problem with having to leave windows open all night to cool off is that you may be on a noisy street with drunks and loud cars going past all night.
- Very, very few chain hotels in the U.K. have self-service ice makers. You can ask the bartender for a glass of ice if there is a bartender, but you may end up with less ice than you really wanted because his ice maker is quite small.
- Another thing missing from a hotel room is a washcloth. You get big towels and small ones, and even bath mats, but no washcloths because they are considered personal things, like toothbrushes are person and you bring your own. I always pack a couple of colored ones so I can remember to remove them when I check out.
- I have never seen a hotel with a washer and dryer for customers. This presents a problem if you are staying more than a week. My solution is to bring along some laundry detergent that comes on a dissolvable strip so I can wash things out in the bathroom sink and hang clothing in the shower to drip dry. There are also very few commercial self-service laundromats anywhere, and i have looked. You can ask the hotel desk or the person cleaning the room that you would like some laundry done, but it usually costs at least 25 GBP, which is too expensive for me.
- A lot of chain and even some larger non-chain hotels do have restaurants attached to them. Almost every hotel in the U.S. used to have a restaurant attached, but few do now, and I miss them.
- The British, especially older ones, love bathtubs, so it is hard sometimes to get a room with a shower only. When they have a shower in a bathtub, you also do not always get grab bars on tubs or showers, and as an older woman who is afraid of falling, this scares me.
- One really nice positive in U.K. hotels that I wish were in U.S. hotel bathrooms are towel warmers. Nothing like a nice, warm towel when you get out of the bath! I think they tend to have these luxuries because many buildings there have steam heat, so it is easy to hook up a towel warmer. These are also good for drying clothing, just be discrete and remove clothing before the room is made up.
- Another tricky thing are wall plugs. Of course you have the right plug and converter, but you may not know that you have to also flip a small switch on the plug to turn it on. This is a good safety feature, but can confuse Americans who are wondering why their cell phones are not charging.
A lot of independent hotels are located in older buildings that were not intended to be hotels. This presents some interesting problems, but I try to live at least a little like a native, so try to be flexible. Here are some things I sometimes found strange.
- Some hotels that were converted from other buildings have had to add bathrooms to hotels, and this sometimes means the tub is slightly raised so pipes can fit underneath. This means the step out of the tub is a lot longer than the step into the tub. This can cause you to fall if you are not expecting it. In addition, you might find a small step into a bathroom that can be hazard if you are not looking for it.
- Also, sometimes you get a very strange room. I had one this last trip where you entered the room through the bathroom! In a B&B, you also occasionally might find that your bathroom is private, but next to your room, so you need a robe in the middle of the night.
- It is interesting to notice that what the Brits think is welcoming may not be what we expect. For example, a lovely room I stayed in at a B&B in Scotland also came equipped with a fake-fur covered hot water bottle! I would have liked it better if the cover had been white cotton sheet material and clearly washed between users, although in reality, it was probably adequately clean.
Positives:
- One thing I really love about U.K. hotels is the thick cotton comforters on the beds. These are stuffed into crisp white duvets! I got these in every single hotel, including the little glamping cottage I stayed in at the sheep farm.
- I also have had amazing experiences with hotel staff people who go out of their way to be helpful.
I'll be adding other things as I think of them, so check back here occasionally.