The high cost of holiday accommodation in Scotland

[Scoffingbiscuits]

Holiday accommodation is so expensive in Scotland that, despite living in Scotland, we don't even aspire to go away on holiday here except out of season. I know that we could do wild camping, and we've done that on occasion, but it's not really my idea of fun.
We decided to book a short countryside "summer break" in late September, but the prices were still astronomical. So we looked just south of the border (Cumbria) and prices are literally half what they are in Scotland.
I've read somewhere that Edinburgh is now the most expensive place in the world to go on holiday.
I've scoured the holiday accommodation sites. My main discovery is that the cheapest accommodation in Scotland is around Aberdeen airport. That's good to know, but we'd like to explore other areas too. Are we missing something?

I adore holidaying in Scotland but it's really expensive I agree. Bothies and hostels are an option I guess, but there's also home exchange websites which lots of people have recommended to me. Sone are asymmetric so you earn points rather than needing to do a direct swap

My nephew is self employed and works in Scotland regularly, often in rural areas where country house hotels are the only option. He's just bought himself a small 2nd hand caravan.

He parks it on his customers' land or in their carpark so no booking or pitch fees. It also means he can eat for a fifth of the price and can change his plans without penalty if the weather turns very bad.

We have stayed in cottages all over England and Wales. We also stay every couple of years in a cottage near Oban. We thought Cornwall was the most expensive for a cottage!

£80 a night is a pretty small budget to be fair.

'Tokyo is more expensive than Edinburgh.'

We stayed in Tokyo last year - was a lot cheaper than same standard in Edinburgh (and we were surprised that Tokyo room was same size as a similar Edinburgh hotel, we were expecting to have a much smaller room)

We used to have a night out in Edinburgh at least once a month but can't afford it now.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was paying £80 for a week in a cottage.

I remember paying £66 for a week in a cottage in Morvich in 1990. Adjusted for inflation that should be around £170 now.

That’s less than £25 a night.

I know that we could do wild camping, and we've done that on occasion, but it's not really my idea of fun.

What about regular camping on a campsite? Plenty of options in lovely areas that don't need to involve a trowel for toilet visits 😁

Hostels are great value. Hotels are much cheaper than most English big cities.
I travel a lot with work and often find Scotland considerably cheaper than England for Hotels.

Ridiculous licensing laws that have been conflated with planning in Edinburgh (over 90% rejection rate) mean that there are less than 2k licensed self catering properties in Edinburgh (approx 0.8% of housing stock). It’s spreading throughout Scotland. Add to that the visitor levy that is payable by anyone (tourist or not) and on top of vat is the most expensive in Europe (they’ve adopted a crazy percentage model that is confusing and expensive) and it is totally unaffordable. Another ideological move from scotgov that does fuck all to solve the housing crisis but is irrevocably damaging the economy.

This is happening less and less. We have far more tourists (up nearly 25% from abroad and much more people in the UK holidaying in the UK) and accommodation is much more full. I would love to find a nice hotel in liverpool for sixty quid, but it normally is around the hundred quid mark or more.

I've given up with airbnb. I use hoseasons and look for holiday parks/lodges which often come in at way less than £100 per night this time of year, depending on location.

We are English and holiday in the Scottish Highlands / West coast every year. Yes I think it is expensive but so are a lot of other very scenic places in the UK.
We spend about 2k a week for a 2/3 bedroom Airbnb of a very good standard. We always book early as the nice places are in short supply.
We also stay in hotels. Since we have left the EU, I have found that hotels in Scotland, in line with a lot of other places, find it hard to get staff. I was stunned a few years ago, after paying over £300 a night, that our room would not be cleaned each day.

The NC500 is just one part of Scotland but I agree prices have been affected. Also The infrastructure isn’t geared up to so many (often freeloading) tourists who try to pay as little as possible from campervans, or disrespect the environment such as so and wrongly called wild camping from cars 😡. The Scottish Government could do far more by way of control. I was camping over there (nw highlands) for years before it no 500 was a thing, but couldn’t be doing with the roads full of camper vans and such like. Still a gorgeous part of Scotland though!

I have also noticed a much longer season in Scotland since Covid probably. Places I’ve been to are already full next spring with hardly any 2 week blocks left in say March to October 2027. Places booked in often dreich November when days are so short too.

Yes also need to bear in mind the Scottish school holidays different to England.

Places nobody wants to go will be cheaper, of course.

A very quick search shows as many places available for a similar price in various locations in Scotland.

My issue with campsites is not the cost but the endless rules. The ones in caravan clubs are the absolute worst. Telling you MUST be facing this way etc etc. your kids can only play in this small patch of grass, and yet turning a blind eye to people with their dogs off lead. Awful. Just awful.

All a campsite needs to do is point out where their tent space is and tell everyone yo shut up after 10. It’s not hard.

And these licensing laws have also outlawed house swaps unless you pay the council £££ for a licence.

Plenty of campsites are like that tho. There's something out there to suit everyone taste, and rules etc usually published on websites. I do try to avoid the caravan club ones as they can be a bit regimented and sterile.

I have a time share at Cameron House, lots of lodge owners try and shift their unused weeks on the FB group. Often you can pickup a week at easter/half term for as little as £1100, this will be a 6b property. Maybe worth a look

When Premier Inns and Travelodges are nearly £200 per night without breakfast I agree prices are ridiculous. And this is outwith school holidays/festival/Christmas etc. Just an ordinary weekday in September.

Where I stay (very rural Scotland) it's difficult to find anywhere due to overseas carers being brought in and the recruitment companies buy up all the cheap rooms and HMO's lets. Recently noticed on our local FB groups that a lot of hospital workers are moving to the area also looking for cheap rooms. The council also buy up a lot of rooms in e g Travelodge to help with homelessness accommodation.

That basically leaves tourists with only the posh hotels to choose from.

Agreed, there are some great ones.

I read on another thread that Scotgov has now dropped that - (after protests) - so that you no longer need a licence for a house swop where no money changes hand. Hope that's right.

You still need a licence to employ a housesitter for your house and pets when you're away, though.

I would compare direct bookings, hostels and university accommodation, as they can be cheaper than major booking platforms. Checking Scottish school and bank-holiday dates may also help identify quieter, lower-priced periods.

I certainly haven't noticed that for hotels. I stayed in a hostel earlier this year, because, despite its being February, accommodation was really expensive (a very popular and expensive part of Scotland). It was a nice hostel, but at the end of the day sharing a bedroom with lots of strangers isn't for the fainthearted, especially as it was mixed sex, which seems to be the norm now.