One of the hardest aspects of trip planning to Britain is find good and decent hotels. Many of the trip planning websites have reviews – but sometimes they are just a little hard to believe. There’s usually an extreme between people who loved the hotel or hated it and post disturbing pictures.

That’s why I love The Good Hotel Guide – it’s filled with hundreds of great reviews for hotels all over Britain and they’re written by professionals. They’re not biased based on one terrible experience and they judge hotels on many different sets of standardized criteria.

The book is definitely thorough with detailed and honest reviews of over 800 hotels, inns, guest houses and bed and breakfasts throughout Great Britain and Ireland. A hotel cannot asked to be review, they have to be recommended by someone and then a trained professional is secretly sent to evaluate the place (gotta be a hell of a job!) and write an honest assessment.

Each review gives you the basic information about the hotel, the detailed review and any specific notes about the establishment, such as if they allow pets, number of rooms, payment options and any other special requirements.

This book is not quite for you if you’re on a budget. Many of the hotels featured are high dollar hotels, but there are also a few budget hotels worth looking at. More often than not, when talking about British hotels, you get what you pay for. So, if you can afford a little more to splash on a nicer hotel, you’re bound to guarantee a better time.

My wife and I have stayed in some real crappy hotels on our many trips to England and after our last trip where we had the opportunity to stay at a Hilton, we’ve resolved to save more so we can spend more on much nicer hotels. Sometimes a broom cupoboard will do for a hotel room. But sometimes, a much nicer room can help you have a much more enjoyable vacation. And this book will certainly point you in the right direction.

The book some with £150 worth of vouchers for you to save money on your hotel booking, which will help offset the cost of some of these hotels. In the back of the book, there’s a very useful map that plots all the hotels so you can easily plan your holiday accordingly. The front of the book features a handy ‘hotelfinder’ that breaks down the best places to stay based on certain situations such as value, family, location, etc. Very helpful indeed.

My only complaint about the book is that there are absolutely no pictures, which is a real shame as it would be lovely to be able to visulize some of these really amazing sounding places. Thankfully, they do have a website with ample pictures.

If you’d like to buy a copy for yourself – it’s only £17.50 plus shipping – check out the Good Hotel Guide Website here.