Just Four Quid

Don’t fancy holidaying in your head or going on a staycation? You’ll be needing some actual accommodation, then.

For those without much energy, location is everything. There’s no point staying somewhere, not matter how beautifully decorated, that involves a big, wearing trek to where you actually want to be. My strategy has always been to treat my hotel room purely as somewhere to sleep at night (in which case I am unconscious and don’t care what it looks like) or to take a handy break during the day (in which case I am resting and don’t care what it looks like). By choosing rubbish hotels I’ve been able to afford to stay in prime locations and they always have a certain comedy factor (doorhandles dropping off, ludicrous shower arrangements etc.) that make my holidays memorable.

However, things have moved on since those days and it is now possible, particularly with the use of the internet, to get cheap deals on nice hotels without being miles away from where you want to be. If you’re going abroad on a standard sort of holiday (for 7, 10 or 14 days in a mainstream destination) you might be better off with accommodation as part of a package holiday, but for UK holidays and less conventional holidays, it’s probably best to find your own bargain accommodation.

Martin Lewis’s MoneySavingExpert site (I know I keep going on about it but it’s the most well-researched and up-to-date personal finance site on the internet so let’s take full advantage!) has good pages on cheap accommodation, including tips specific to the UK. These include such gems as how to use Tesco Clubcard points for hotels, how to find rooms in student halls of residence (particularly good value and well sited in London) and youth hostels, as well as sites for finding cheap deals on conventional (and often quite posh) hotels.

I’d agree that Youth Hostels, though not stylish, are worth thinking about because they are no longer youthy or hostelly; they have many single, twin or family bedrooms as well as dorms and are often very well located. However, some might have restrictions on whether you can get back in during the day to rest, so it’s best to check first.

Martin’s cheap accommodation pages also include some homeswapping sites, where you register your home and swap it for a week or two with someone who has registered theirs. A less scarey alternative to this that he doesn’t mention is swapping homes with your friends who live elsewhere, or house-sitting for them when they go away.

So, whether your doorhandles stay on or not, some savings to be had. Tomorrow, travel!

Money I’ve raised today: £1.50 (still doing well selling books on Amazon!)

Money I’ve raised so far: £181.28 (see my  my RRF page and my MERUK page on JustGiving)