A five-star hotel for £22 a night, including breakfast? Yes, it’s possible, according to the latest research from the consumers’ association Which? after it analysed the prices of five-star properties in 77 countries. You can bag a room for two at that price at the Emerald Bay Hotel & Spa Nha Trang, Vietnam, which has a rooftop terrace, infinity pool and private beach.
In neighbouring Cambodia, the Angkor Miracle Resort and Spa in Siem Reap is even swisher, with dark wood floors in the spacious rooms, a spa and a pool surrounded by tropical greenery. Rooms are £49 a night, B&B.
The bargains aren’t confined to Asia, where you would expect less expensive rates. In Europe, the Grand Hotel Continental Bucharest, Romania, has a fine-dining restaurant, baroque furniture, a spa, and turn-down service for the grand fee of £87 a night, room only. In Africa you can enjoy the rooftop plunge pool while staying in one of 14 courtyard rooms at Riad Jona in Marrakech, Morocco from £79 B&B.
Which? said it searched for five-star bargains on hotels.com because the website makes spot checks on star ratings the properties upload themselves. It excluded anywhere with a lower customer rating than eight out of ten, removed others that didn’t seem suitably luxurious and ignored all-inclusives.
What is a five-star hotel anyway?
There is no standard definition of a five star hotel, with different requirements in many different places around the world… And there’s the rub. In the UK, for instance, a five-star hotel has stringent criteria laid down by the AA Hotel and Hospitality Services, including 24-hour laundry service, evening housekeeper service, a full afternoon tea “where there is a market need”, and a variety of seating styles in public rooms. Many hotels do not apply for the scheme, which involves a fee and inspection.
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In Europe, Hotelstars covers 21 countries in a similar system to Britain, with some differences, such as requiring five-star hotels to have a full blackout option in rooms. France, Italy and Spain use their own systems. American hotels are awarded diamonds rather than stars.
Elsewhere, it is not easy to find the criteria on which ratings are given. The specialist travel company InsideAsia said it would sell the aforementioned Vietnam’s Emerald Bay as three-star and Cambodia’s Angkor Miracle as four-star. “Technically, anywhere with a pool, gym, spa, restaurant and bar counts as five-star there,” said Charlotte Bower, the Southeast Asia specialist at InsideAsia. It’s why I don’t pay attention to five-star hotel ratings, particularly outside of the UK; you might not always find the quality you expect and anyways, you can find beautiful affordable hotels that aren’t trying to conform to five-star tick-lists if you know where to look.
How can I find a luxury bargain then?
While the Mr & Mrs Smith website is known for its high-end hotels, it features affordable luxury in its popular budget boutique collection, with many properties under £100 a night and some below £50.
“We actually started Mr & Mrs Smith because we thought the star system was a joke,” said Tamara Lohan, the site’s chief executive and cofounder. She said Morocco, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Turkey were among the countries offering luxury for less.
In Turkey, Mr & Mrs Smith lists the upmarket Six Senses in Kaplankaya near Bodrum for £248 a night B&B if you stay seven nights or more, as part of its free-to-join club offers.
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Another website that’s less about fixtures and fittings and more about individuality is i-escape.com. “Many of our properties have fewer than ten rooms so it’s hard to tick the five-star boxes, but they are still thoroughly spoiling,” Michael Cullen, the i-escape director of hotel partnerships, said. As well as detailing a hotel’s positives and negatives, i-escape has a cheap and chic section, a price-match guarantee, and offers its members special deals.
There are also frequent flash sales at luxury hotels on Secret Escapes. Its spring sale features half-price bookings, including the five-star Intercontinental Crete at £118 a night when staying seven or more nights, with dinner and breakfast.
And don’t forget the less expensive sister brands to well-known luxury groups. For example, if you baulk at the price of Banyan Tree hotels, try Banyan’s sister company Angsana. Similarly, Minor Hotels offers good deals in some of its luxury Anantara properties, with a room in April at Riverside Bangkok in Thailand for £113. But it’s about half that in the city at its “select” brand NH Hotels and Resorts.
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Personally, I’m a fan of upmarket B&Bs, which make up for fewer facilities with great value and charm. In the Champagne region of France, for example, Domaine Sacret has four beautifully designed rooms from £125 including a slap-up breakfast (with fresh orange juice), and a complimentary champagne tasting. There’s a welcoming bar area, a sauna, steam room and hot tub will soon be available, and there are electric bikes for hire. It’s listed on the website bedandbreakfast.eu but you’ll get the best price by booking direct.
Posh pubs in Britain are also giving boutique hotels a run for their money, often at a fraction of the price. They don’t have five stars, but they might feature original art (as in the Gunton Arms near Cromer in Norfolk), Michelin-star dining (the Star Inn, Harome, Yorkshire) and a massage hut (the Double Red Duke in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds). Find them at the Good Hotel Guide (goodhotelguide.com). Full disclosure: I edit it.
Not to mention that a third of the hotels in The Times’ annual Best Places to Stay guide come in at under £150. We’ve also rounded up nine tips on how to get the best price on your next hotel stay — from jumping on new openings to planning your breakfast.
If you choose to do your own research, think twice before seeing ‘five-star’ and booking. It’s not always an immediate marker of the best.
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