That hotel prices are just completely over the top!!

[Pipsquiggle]

I am looking to book a 2 night - child free - stay away for DH and I, first time in over 2 years. We want to rest and relax, quite fancy a spa but not essential. Just don't want to cook and clear up every meal

I have asked friends for recommendations - anywhere south of Birmingham but not Norfolk or the West Country (too far) - Pennyhill Park, Lime Wood, Dormy House are some of the suggestions - they are circa £500+/night!!! They look lovely but genuinely who can afford £500/night? And also are they worth it?

YABU - they are super luxurious, you need to just suck it up
YANBU - there are plenty of good options out there, you need to look harder

Any suggestions are welcome BTW

I’m assuming if you’re looking at spas, that’s what’s pushing the price up so much. I had a similar break last month, 4 glorious nights away by myself, and it was only just over £300 including breakfast in a 4 star, central London hotel.

Ha some expensive taste you have there. You could check out Four Seasons Hampshire- if you can spare the extra day they often have a 3rd night free offer that makes it seem like better value and the spa is lovely. I’ve been to Pennyhill Park a few times and it’s not for me but my mum absolutely adores it there.

Surely people are recommending slightly more expensive options, as opposed to a bog standard Travelodge, because you are telling them that you want to go for a treat?

If someone says they are looking to book a weekend away, maybe at a spa hotel, as a treat and no budget is mentioned then I going to suggest nicer hotels with a higher cost per night as I assume they are wanting something luxurious that they may not usually splurge on as a family.

While it's not outrageous for a really nice place, in general, hotel pieces are ridiculous at the moment - you'll likely need to be booking well into the future to find better prices.

My spouse works in hotels, and it's been wild for the last month-ish, since just before the July 'Freedom Day' and English schools broke up which have created the usual school break issues to multiply severely. Last weekend while trying to help someone find a room, any room, he did a 100 mile radius search first of the chain he's in and found nothing, then did a general one of all hotels and found one place available, and yeah, they were charging something like £500 for the night for a typical city centre hotel.

Between that and the issues some hotels have been having, I'd hold off a bit longer.

you're looking at hotels that are usually £400 a night even pre-covid. they are all gorgeous hotels and you get what you pay for. Atm finding even 3* hotels are going for £250 a night. it is just insane.

have a look at summer lodge in Dorset. we spent our minimoon there and it was gorgeous and not quite as expensive as Pennyhill and Limewood

We are going to a beach front Travelodge soon. I have a quick check at the price now and its £200 a night! I paid £75 a night when I booked it

There’s a few smaller country spa hotels in cotswolds- Stow on the Wold, or other places between Cheltenham and Swindon, generally they are cheaper than what you’re quoting. Are the prices for the best rooms in the hotel? If all the regular rooms are booked already (which is likely given people are staying in the uk more and not going for a European city break) so you’re in the top suite or it’s a price that includes everything then I would expect that to be around that amount.

YABU!

You want luxury - you pay the price!

Penny hill Park is worth it! 🥰🥰🥰🥰

Thought you were going to complain that lack of travelling abroad had pushed hotel prices up which is definitely NBU.

But those hotels you've mentioned are always expensive!

But you don't have to pay £500 per night to not 'cook and clear up after every meal'. You can do that anywhere.

When are you looking for? Are you looking for a weekend? If you go midweek, and can wait until September, it will be much cheaper, probably less than £500 for 2/3 nights including dinner and breakfast, because business trade is much reduced at the moment.

I agree either others saying that you are looking at high end hotels.

I was going to stay for 3 nights at Dormy at the Fish Hotel in January this year (so completely off season) and it was going to be £300 - £450 per night.

You have expensive taste

Pennyhill is not worth it- if you go chose your rooms wisely!

If you could go further north, it will be a lot cheaper than that too.

I just looked at websites and even without seeing prices it's pretty clear what it will be😂
Luxury always comes at cost

Most hotels are charging well over the odds at the moment
I was looking for hotels In Bournemouth A hotel that would normally be around £130 b&b is now over £200 a night
You could try looking in less touristy locations can still get reasonable prices around Bristol which actually is a lovely city

Sunday night and Monday night are always much cheaper than booking Friday and Saturday, if that may be of any help!

We’ve stayed at Limewood a few years ago - it was absolutely lovely but we definitely didn’t pay £500 or anything like it!

Running a hotel is expensive, especially a spa hotel
Everything has increased in price and to be fair they have to start making money to stay open
It's hard as you need a break but you can't blame them for playing the market
I hope you find somewhere though

Penny hill park is a real treat…strongly recommend it if you can afford it !

If Travelodge and Premier Inn are now able to charge £200ish a night I think it makes the luxury hotels better value.

Lime wood, Chewton Glen and so on are always expensive, but still offer value for money because of the excellent facilities, food, spa, service etc. In the same way as an expensive restaurant meal can still be good value because of the skill, work and creativity involved.

I do agree that you should wait until the school holiday scrum is over to get better rates. Also check Secret Escapes, Hotels.com and similar, we recently got great rates in two 5 star central London hotels on Saturday nights (less than £250 a night).

I paid £420 for 3 nights in London recently, 5* hotel

I struggle to understand how you could ever extract 500 worth of value from a hotel room, especially as I'd anticipate sleeping for at least 8 of the hours I'm occupying it for. If it includes food, spa facilities etc. of course that's slightly different

Hi everyone, thanks for the context. Hadn't realised even more budget hotels e.g. Travelodge had jumped up in price so much as well.

So to be clear, these weren't my suggestions, these were from my friends. I haven't been to any of these places, my friends have, but admittedly pre-covid. They look lovely but sinking half a monthly mortgage payment for 2 nights away just seems a bit much. We do deserve a treat though - we've both missed 2 birthdays and our 10 year wedding anniversary. Looking to stay away on a Sunday and Monday night.

For those that know more than I do on hotels, do you think there could be any last minute deals? We had to cancel our UK holiday this year as I caught covid - are there any websites that I could look at?

We were watching Raymond blanc cooking programme so out of interest, looked up his restaurant and hotel!!
Hotel prices started at over £1100!!!! My DP said he's never seen me so speechless!!