Booking a hotel can be a bit of a blind attack these days as you never know what you're going to be in for, especially in a city. You know how it is, you book tickets to go to a concert in London and then you decide to make a weekend of it so you'll have to book a hotel, possibly at short notice. This can often end in a stay akin to Fawlty Towers!
The internet has obviously made hotel reservations a lot easier and less risky, given that most websites host images of the hotel (although these can sometimes be a false representation of the hotel) and a room can be booked at the click of a button, but that doesn't guarantee you'll get value for money when booking a hotel in the UK.
Sometimes even finding a UK hotel room can be a big enough problem, especially for those attending gigs. For example I got tickets to the Led Zeppelin reunion gig at the O2 Arena in 2007 and found it nigh on impossible to find a suitable hotel near the venue, so we decided to get the train across London, then home to Reading which made what should have been a memorable evening into a bit of a drag!
On another occasion, we went to a Morrisey gig in Suffolk and after checking the train times realised that we would have to leave the Mozfather prematurely, something we did not want to do, given that we hadn't seen him perform live for seven years, partly because he hadn't toured for a while after he relocated to Rome, but also because we missed his last tour in 2003!
So I tried desperately to book a hotel/B&B room near the venue, but could not do so for love nor money! I trawled the internet but to no avail! How ridiculous I felt, in this day and age that there were no decent websites catering for gig venues outside of the city. Booking a UK hotel is fine in the city but when needing to book one at short notice in a more rural area, it became ridiculously difficult.
But happily I can reveal that there are websites out there that now aim to make the gig goers life that little bit easier, offering hotels and B&B's close to specific concert venues, in UK cities and also further afield. Some of these sites provide well written reviews of the hotels on offer and also of concert venues throughout the UK, which is useful and of interest to fans of live performances.
It's so much easier to search for a hotel room by concert venue, especially when the hotels are reviewed by likeminded people after a good value for money room to rest your head after enjoying a concert and having a few drinks along the way.
UK hotels are often overpriced in cities, but if you look hard enough, you can often find a gem. This is made all the more easier with websites aimed at those heading off to a gig and can eliminate the worry of having to leave early enough to catch the last train home, or beat the chaotic rush from the car park - that's no way to enjoy yourself and, take it from me, can certainly take the gloss off a cracking gig.
Shaun Parker is a travel agent and fan of live music with many years of experience in the hotel industry. Find out more about UK hotels at http://www.concerthotels.com
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