The Crafty Traveller: Travelodge v Premier Inn, testing the UK's leading ...
With money tight, more of us are choosing to take a holiday on home soil, often in the form of a short break.
This is no bad thing as many unsung cities offer rewarding discoveries. I visited Cardiff last month (for the first time, I'm rather ashamed to say) and I was very taken with the architecture in the regenerated Cardiff Bay area, and the alfresco, continental-style atmosphere on a warm evening at Mermaid Quay.
What also struck me was how several of the top attractions in and near the Welsh capital are free.
You don't have to pay a penny to see world-class Impressionist paintings at the National Museum Cardiff, for example. And apart from the £3.50 car-parking fee, it costs nothing to wander around St Fagans, where 40 original Welsh buildings from different historical periods, including houses, a school and a chapel, have been painstakingly reconstructed in 100 acres of parkland.
When it comes to accommodation, if you want to keep costs down, your best bet is to stay in a budget chain hotel.
Stays can be incredibly cheap if you book well ahead – as with fares with the low-cost airlines, most rates increase as hotels fill up. The two leading chains, Premier Inn (600 UK hotels) and Travelodge (472 hotels at the last count), have hotels in many city centres.
Travelodge has also just announced plans to open smaller-scale 'Metro' properties in prestigious, central locations.
A big selling point for both companies is that families (up to two adults and two children under 16) pay no more to occupy a room than a couple or person on their own, while breakfast is also free for children.
But which chain should you turn to? Last month I stayed at a Travelodge and a Premier Inn in Cardiff. Both hotels had been highlighted by the companies as examples of their best city-centre properties.
Here's what I found.
Atlantic Wharf
The modern, five-storey block is in the Cardiff Bay area. It's a five-minute walk to the copper-coated Millennium Centre, less than ten minutes to Mermaid Quay, and Cardiff Bay station, with frequent trains to the city centre, is 200 yards away.
Across the road from the hotel is the Red Dragon Centre, which boasts a cinema, bowling alley and a casino. Parking is free – a big perk.
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Stays can be incredibly cheap if you book well ahead – as with fares with the low-cost airlines, most rates increase as hotels fill up. The two leading chains, Premier Inn (600 UK hotels) and Travelodge (472 hotels at the last count), have hotels in
Part of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, and situated on Surin Beach, once you step inside the open lobby, you would hardly notice that you are in amongst big chain hotels and a busy street out front. Our ride from the airport was well thought out
Courtesy The Leading Small Hotels of the World A week before I am due to stay at the Saxon I find myself at Johannesburg airport with a long wait between flights and too much luggage. I phone the hotel at 5am. "Just wait there," says Richard,
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Thailand In Style Reviews Thailand's Award Winning Hotels in 2008
Bangkok, Thailand (PRWEB) December 29, 2008
Over the course of 2008 Thailand continued to garner multiple travel awards and accolades from international organizations and bodies. Thailand In Style reviews award winning hotels within its existing collection of boutique hotels in Thailand along with some very welcome new additions.
Thailand's hotel industry continues to push the boundaries, innovating, adapting and changing to satisfy latest market trends and consumer needs, says Miguel Cunat, CEO of Thailand In Style. Four out of the top five hotels featured in the Cond Nast (UK) Readers Traveler Awards 2008 (Overseas Leisure Hotels, Asian and Indian Subcontinent), are in Thailand for example and the very admirable list goes on.
In Bangkok the legendary Mandarin Oriental Hotel Bangkok swept the board in the Gallivanter's Guide Awards ranking 3rd in the Best City Hotel Worldwide category, 1st in Best City Hotel in Southeast Asia and 2nd in the Best General Manager Worldwide category. In Luxury Travel Magazine's 2008 Gold List the Oriental was voted the 5th Best Overseas Hotel and came 23rd in the Hotel or Resort you Dream of Visiting category. The Oriental Bangkok also held its place in the Conde Nast (US) Traveler Gold List for 2008 and took 4th place in Travel + Leisure Magazine's Top 50 Hotels in Asia.
The Sukhothai added to its impressive roster of accolades in 2008 when it was voted best hotel in Thailand in Institutional Investor's 2008 World's Best Hotels survey and claimed third place in Business Traveler Asia Pacific Awards Best Business Hotel in Bangkok category.
Relative newcomer to the boutique hotel scene in Bangkok, Seven Hotel, with just six rooms careered onto the Conde Nast (US) 2008 Hotlist Hotels; The Thai capital is awash in hotels of all shapes and sizes, but tucked into a cul-de-sac off Sukhumvit Road, this town house turned B&B will satisfy hotel-design fans.
In the North of Thailand, the Four Seasons Chiang Mai was listed 7th in the Top 20 International Resorts Category of Andrew Harper's Hideaway Report's 25th Annual Survey of The World's Best Hotels, Resorts & Hideaways. Travel + Leisure Magazine voted it the fourth Best Hotel Overall, number 7 in their Top 50 Hotels in Asia category and included it in their Top 15 Small Hotels list.
Sister hotel, the Four Seasons Tented Camp in Chiang Rai scored first place in the Conde Nast (US) Traveler 2008 Readers Choice Awards; The venerable hotel chain pitches its first tent with these 15 luxe shelters scattered on 200 rugged acres along the Thai-Burmese border says Conde Nast in their review.
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