Contract Staying Away: Hotel Tips

[Soho]

I can recommend some hotels in Basingstoke:

Red Lion Hotel (B&B)
Apollo Hotel
Holiday Inn Basingstoke
Fernbank Hotel (Bed & Breakfast)
The Basingstoke Hotel
The Hampshire Court Hotel - Qhotels
Central Point Apartments, Basingstoke
Premier Inn Basingstoke West
Innkeeper's Lodge Basingstoke

[Katherine]

Personally, I always book myself into a half decent hotel for 2 weeks to get a feel of where is best to stay/where posisble drinking colleagues are staying/nice areas of town are etc. Plus I find it helps if you stay somewhere nice to begin with as then you look at your new "working away" location more positively than if you stay in squalor from the start. During this 2 week period I then look for a cheaper option such as a recommended B&B, an Inn with a decent restaurant nearby or more likely renting (ensuring my contract meets my work contract in terms of notice etc.) mainly because I prefer to cook myself a meal a few times a week rather than the lonely meal out with a paper/book etc.

[WTFH]

Spot the difference:

Personally, I always book myself into a half decent hotel for 2 weeks to get a feel of where is best to stay/where posisble drinking colleagues are staying/nice areas of town are etc. Plus I find it helps if you stay somewhere nice to begin with as then you look at your new "woring away" location more positively than if you stay in squalor from the start. During this 2 week period I then look for a cheaper option such as a recommended B&B, an Inn with a decent restaurant nearby or more likely renting (ensuring my contract meets my work contract in terms of notice etc.) mainly because I prefer to cook myself a meal a few times a week rather than the lonely meal out with a paper/book etc.

Personally, I always book myself into a half decent hotel for 2 weeks to get a feel of where is best to stay/where posisble drinking colleagues are staying/nice areas of town are etc. Plus I find it helps if you stay somewhere nice to begin with as then you look at your new "working away" location more positively than if you stay in squalor from the start. During this 2 week period I then look for a cheaper option such as a recommended B&B, an Inn with a decent restaurant nearby or more likely renting (ensuring my contract meets my work contract in terms of notice etc.) mainly because I prefer to cook myself a meal a few times a week rather than the lonely meal out with a paper/book etc.

[Man Utd]

AirBnB

Scammed on AirBnB - my fault for not doing due diligence but place was a pigsty. I took pics and cancelled immediately on entering the property. I then opened a case in AirBnb's resolution centre.

It's all gone quiet.

Anyone had any success in getting a refund?

[eek]

Personally, I always book myself into a half decent hotel for 2 weeks to get a feel of where is best to stay/where posisble drinking colleagues are staying/nice areas of town are etc. Plus I find it helps if you stay somewhere nice to begin with as then you look at your new "woring away" location more positively than if you stay in squalor from the start. During this 2 week period I then look for a cheaper option such as a recommended B&B, an Inn with a decent restaurant nearby or more likely renting (ensuring my contract meets my work contract in terms of notice etc.) mainly because I prefer to cook myself a meal a few times a week rather than the lonely meal out with a paper/book etc.

[BR14]

Personally, I always book myself into a half decent hotel for 2 weeks to get a feel of where is best to stay/where posisble drinking colleagues are staying/nice areas of town are etc. Plus I find it helps if you stay somewhere nice to begin with as then you look at your new "woring away" location more positively than if you stay in squalor from the start. During this 2 week period I then look for a cheaper option such as a recommended B&B, an Inn with a decent restaurant nearby or more likely renting (ensuring my contract meets my work contract in terms of notice etc.) mainly because I prefer to cook myself a meal a few times a week rather than the lonely meal out with a paper/book etc.

Yeh, - me, too

[Man Utd]

Scammed on AirBnB - my fault for not doing due diligence but place was a pigsty. I took pics and cancelled immediately on entering the property. I then opened a case in AirBnb's resolution centre.

It's all gone quiet.

Anyone had any success in getting a refund?

48 hours on and still nothing other than lies to fob me off.

It seems that AirBnB are enablers of scammers and fraudsters.

[LondonManc]

I've never used Air BnB while booking accommodation, generally sticking with Trivago or Booking.com. While Trivago offer more deals, I prefer booking.com's map interface for finding places.

For Manchester to London trains, book on Virgin - trainline charge a quid more and you can't change your seat reservation from the default one, which proves very handy to grab a first class seat on the off-peak, declassified 6:57 northbound on Thursdays and Fridays.

If you haven't got a seat reservation, there's a great app called Euston Platforms, which confirms the train platform a few minutes before the main boards and Virgin lounge at Euston.

[HugeWhale]

I've never used Air BnB while booking accommodation, generally sticking with Trivago or Booking.com. While Trivago offer more deals, I prefer booking.com's map interface for finding places.

For Manchester to London trains, book on Virgin - trainline charge a quid more and you can't change your seat reservation from the default one, which proves very handy to grab a first class seat on the off-peak, declassified 6:57 northbound on Thursdays and Fridays.

If you haven't got a seat reservation, there's a great app called Euston Platforms, which confirms the train platform a few minutes before the main boards and Virgin lounge at Euston.

Book on East Midland, they're usually at least half the price. On trainline, click the link on the bottom that says something like 'see if slower trains are available' you can also access the East Midland trains from their own website. You can get a return for tomorrow from Hartford (where I live in Cheshire so it's comparable, also stops at Crewe) to London for £79. The same (edit: a very similar) ticket on Virgin is £221 (just checked).

[Lance]

Book on East Midland, they're usually at least half the price. On trainline, click the link on the bottom that says something like 'see if slower trains are available' you can also access the East Midland trains from their own website. You can get a return for tomorrow from Hartford (where I live in Cheshire so it's comparable, also stops at Crewe) to London for £79. The same (edit: a very similar) ticket on Virgin is £221 (just checked).

flying can be cheap as well.
Usual Leeds/Bradford to Heathrow return is around £130
A bit more for Manchester, but I've just found one to City airport, and return from Heathrow for £120.