LastMinute.com – finding a Top Secret Hotel gem!

 

Have you ever been lost for a hotel – when you needed one as soon as possible? This happened to me just recently!

Sometimes it can be one of the most frustrating things; you put your location into one of the many many hotel finder search sites (in this case my location was London), and you are quickly reminded there are like a gazillion hotels in London ranging from one star to five star deluxe. So then you start to narrow it down to a price that you can afford in a location that you want, with good quality and some value thrown in – I mean who does not like a bargain.

 

 

You find a couple of hotels that might fit the bill, but the fun does not stop there – no now you have to traipse through review after review, checking out what the customers who stayed there had to say about it:

“its great value” one said

“pity about the location”; or

“the service was great if only the room did not look out on to a sewage works”; or

my personal favourite “the rooms looked much bigger on their website site.”

I mean of course they look much bigger on the site they are not going to reduce the size and charge you more – come on people that’s why we end up reading what others are saying about hotels – turns us all in to obsessive voyeurs .

I am one of those people who end up checking every last detail, every last word someone has got to say about a particular hotel because the last thing you want is to book an amazing room with all amenities and spectacular views only to find out when you get there that its caravan in a field next to a river, on a sloppy hill with a cow – well at least you think it’s a cow could be a damn bull one way or another you ain’t going to get close enough to check.

Anyway I must have gone through at least ten hotels and still could not make up my mind, the stress, the agony of making the wrong choice. I mean what is it about hotels – we want them to be perfect – which considering we probably only spend about twelve hours there is crazy.

It was at this stage while still searching and getting fed up and tired that I just could not find the one for me, with class and value for money, that I came across Lastminute.com and their secret hotels; to say I was a little uncertain and concerned I would not end up in that very same caravan I mentioned earlier was an understatement, but at this stage I didn’t care, I was all searched out and figured what the hell – so after looking at some descriptions I plumped for a five star hotel for around £90 thinking five stars; at the very least it may turn out to be as good as a three star. Not that you get the name or any real information about these secret hotels until you actually pay and book it, so I paid my money and awaited the email confirmation of my folly.

I had never before booked a hotel this way, but I can tell you one thing – I would never be scared of doing it again as the hotel I got was The Grange City Hotel, London and after having stayed there it truly lived up to its five stars the place looked amazing, staff were very friendly, even the room was big and plush – ok so the view overlooked a railway station – but the hotel made up for it with its fine bar and restaurant plus a really nice health centre with swimming pool, saunas and jacuzzi. The best bit? – It had a tube station just a hundred yards up the road perfect for getting around.

So from now on I am always going to choose a hotel like this, because I later found out that if you put some of the description into Google you usually can get a good idea of the hotel they are offering so its not so secret after all. But for me Lastminute.com get five stars for this service and it really is kind of fun a bit like opening a Christmas present from your mum not sure if its going to be the train set you wanted or just another jumper!

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