When choosing your accommodation look for the Quality Rose, the official marque of the Enjoy England national tourist board rating scheme.
The Enjoy England professional assessors visit every year, carrying out a routine day visit or an overnight stay in the case of serviced accommodation. On these occasions, they book in as you would, as a normal guest and test all the facilities and services. A quality score is awarded for every aspect of the experience including the comfort of the bed, the quality of the breakfast and dinner and, most importantly, the cleanliness. They also score the warmth of welcome.
Places that 'go the extra mile' to make your stay a special one, will be awarded a high star rating and hotels and guest accommodation may achieve a Gold or Silver award.
For self-catering accommodation, the layout and design of the accommodation and the range and quality of the kitchen equipment is assessed, as well as the quality and comfort of the bedrooms and bathrooms and most importantly, the cleanliness.
Higher star-rated accommodation tends to have more spacious bedrooms and bathrooms, and in hotels a higher staff to guest ratio, so service should be very attentive. At five star, you can really expect to be pampered in luxurious surroundings!
For serviced accommodation, there are two separate schemes – one for hotels and one for guest accommodation.
Hotel Categories:
Hotels have a minimum of six bedrooms, but more likely to have 20+ rooms.
Small Hotels have a maximum of 20 bedrooms and likely to be more personally run.
Country House Hotels have ample grounds or gardens, in a rural or semi-rural location, with emphasis on peace and quiet.
Town House Hotels are in a city/town centre location and are of high quality with a distinctive style. High ratio of staff to guests.
Metro Hotels are found in city/town centres, offering full hotel services, but no dinner. Will be within easy walking distance of a range of places to eat.
Budget Hotels are part of a chain of branded hotels offering clean and comfortable en suite facilities, 24 hour reservations and a consistent level of facilities. They are not awarded a star rating.
Hotels have to provide certain additional facilities and services at the higher star levels. These include:
*Dinner served five nights a week.
**Dinner available every night of the week
***All bedrooms en suite (i.e. no private bathrooms) Room service available. Permanently staffed reception.
****24-hour room service50% of all en suites with bath and shower.
*****Some permanent luxury suites. Enhanced services such as concierge.
Of course, many lower star-rated hotels may offer some of the above, but just do not meet all of the expectations for the higher star ratings. Sometimes a hotel has exceptional bedrooms and bathrooms and offers its guests a very special welcome, but cannot achieve a higher star rating because, for example, it does not offer dinner every evening (two star), room service (three star) or does not have the minimum 50% of bathrooms with bath and shower (four star).
Guest Accommodation categories:
Guest Accommodation is the category which encompasses anything from one-room bed and breakfasts to the larger places found in our coastal resorts, which may offer dinner and may be licensed.
Bed and Breakfasts generally accommodate no more than six people. It's like staying as a special guest in someone's home.
Farmhouses offer bed and breakfast and sometimes dinner, always on a farm.
Guest Houses tend to have more than three rooms and may offer dinner totheir guests. Some may be licensed.
Restaurants with Rooms are just that. The restaurant is the main business and they will be licensed. They generally offer a small number of bedrooms with all the facilities you would expect and breakfast.
Inns are pubs with rooms which serve food in the evenings, as well as breakfast. Sometimes access to guest accommodation may be restricted during the day, but you will be advised on booking. Guest accommodation tends to be personally run by the owners.
Guest accommodation owners have to provide certain additionalfacilities and services at the higher star levels. These include:
***Bathroom/shower rooms cannot be shared with the owners. If bedroom not en suite, then wash basin in bedroom
****At least 50% of bedrooms en suite or private bathroom
*****All bedrooms en suite or private bathroom
Sometimes a bed and breakfast or guest house has exceptional bedrooms and bathrooms and offers guests a very special welcome, but cannot achieve a higher star rating because, for example, they do not have any en suite bedrooms, nor can they easily put wash basins in the bedrooms (three star). This is sometimes the case with period properties. They might not have the minimum 50% of bathrooms with bath and shower (four star). Of course, you will find accommodation with 100% en suite bedrooms at all the star ratings, so refer to the descriptions in this guide to help you make your choice.
For
self-catering accommodation, the layout and design of the accommodation and the range and quality of the kitchen equipment is assessed, as well as the quality and comfort of the bedrooms and bathrooms and most importantly, the cleanliness.
Campus
Enjoy England’s campus scheme covers the universities and colleges that are able to accommodate visitors during the vacation periods on abed and breakfast basis. Generally the rooms are en suite and there will be plenty of single rooms, so large groups will not present a problem. Campus accommodation is star-rated one to five, reflecting the quality of the accommodation.
Holiday, touring, and camping parks and holiday villages:
Enjoy England awards star ratings reflecting the overall quality of the park from one to five stars - five stars being reserved for parks of exceptional quality.
If you choose to stay in any of Enjoy England's quality-assessed accommodation, you can be confident that it has been checked out before you check in. For more information on the Enjoy England Quality Rose assessment schemes and the star ratings, go to
www.enjoyEngland.com
*VisitBritain is the national tourism agency, marketing Britain worldwide and England in Britain, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands. Quality is a major element of VisitBritain’s strategy to improve tourism products and services and the standard of welcome visitors receive. VisitBritain assesses more than 23,000 accommodation businesses across nine different Enjoy England schemes. These assessments are provided by Quality in Tourism on VisitBritain’s behalf.
AA Specific Awards
AA Inspector's Choice These hotels stand out as the very best in the UK and Republic of Ireland, regardless of style. The selected Inspector's Choice hotels are identified by red stars.
High Commended AA Inspectors determine a quality score as a percentage to cover all aspects of guest accommodation, including service. The score is then represented as a 1 - 5 star rating. Yellow stars are awarded by the AA and indicate that an establishment is within the upper 10% of the quality score range for a 3, 4 or 5 star guest accommodation.
Rosettes AA Inspectors annually award rosettes to restaurants for the quality of their food. Most star rated hotels have their own restaurants and they also inspect these.
Dinner Awards Guest accommodation are awarded dinner awards for meals that exceed the quality requirements of the establishment's star rating, but are not of rosette standard.
National Accessible Scheme
When you see a National Accessible Scheme symbol you can be sure that the accommodation and core facilities have been thoroughly assessed against demanding criteria. If you have additional needs or special requirements, we strongly recommend that you make sure these can be met by your chosen establishment before you confirm your reservation.
Additional help and guidance on finding suitable holiday accommodation for those with special needs can be obtained from:
Tourism for all c/o Vitalise, Shap Road Industrial Estate, Kendal, LA9 6NZ, 0845 124 9971,
www.tourismforall.org.uk
Mobility Impairment
M1 Typically suitable for a person with sufficient mobility to climb a flight of steps but who would benefit from fixtures and fittings to aid balance.
M2 Typically suitable for a person with restricted walking ability and for those who may need to use a wheelchair some of the time and can negotiate a maximum of three steps.
M3 Assisted Typically suitable for a person who depends on the use of a wheelchair in a seated position. This person also requires personal or mechanical assistance (e.g. carer, hoist).