Booking Ahead-Hotels and B&Bs

Waaaaaaaaaay too early.

I travel to London often. I’ll try booking lodgings 4 months out. Same with the Heathrow express.
Elizabeth Line hadn’t opened on my last sojourn.

Maybe a little early but not terribly so. We usually start researching places about a year in advance ourselves and then may tentatively book a place that we particularly like ... but only if there's a free cancellation policy in place such as on booking.com. I'll then use the place we've booked as a placeholder while I research other properties at leisure knowing that I can change the booking without penalty if I find a place we like better.
We found that many of the nicer properties in popular locations (Cotswolds, Lake District, London, etc) can be booked up well in advance, so reserving early can mean the difference between getting your first choice versus settling for what's left.

A lot of places, especially smaller ones, won't open up reservations until maybe six months ahead. You'll get a "no availability" message that actually means "we're not taking reservations this early." I'd say 3-4 months is plenty early to book almost anywhere.

I agree with Robert, especially outside of larger cities where options are fewer—book as soon as you can. For a May trip this year I started booking accommodations in September/October of the prior year. We were primarily doing self catered accommodations outside of London in smaller towns and villages. I would make sure that everything is cancellable or that you’re ok losing the deposit if you need to cancel.

I agree with Claudia that it is way too early. Do your research now as to where you wanf to stay and when but we have found that most places will show no rooms available simply because it is too early. When you do get reservations months ahead keep checking that nothing has changed especially with small B and B places that may suddenly close for some.reason.

If self caterting you do need to book early, especially in the tourist hot spots. B&Bs don't book up as early (unless there is a very popular annual event that people book up for the following year).

Places such as Skye need to be booked as far ahead as you can - September will still be busy there.

Many places probably aren’t posting availability so far out as they haven’t worked out how high their costs are going to be next year with gas and electricity prices more than doubling and double digit inflation.

I usually book at least 6 months ahead for September travel and slightly less for October, although mid October means school holidays, so places will be busier and more expensive then.

We booked the hotels and B&Bs for our current trip the middle of April since we are traveling with another couple and most B&Bs only have a few rooms. Normally we book 3-4 months in advance.

I'm right there with Robert, Katheryne and others ... I start preliminary research 9-12 months out and will book (only fully refundable) places if available ... as trip plans change over the next 6 months, I'm usually booking new places and cancelling places no longer needed ... about 3 months out I'm all set ... about 75% booked for my trip next April to England/London, only a few places booked for the second part of the trip to the Netherlands and Belgium so will start that in earnest in the next few weeks.

Update:
We have booked almost all of our lodgings already! Honestly, it feels good knowing that we got the places we wanted. Some of the B&Bs were already almost full, so I'm glad we did not wait. We did end up with 2 that are pre-paid, but we will be getting travel insurance which will reimburse us if we need to cancel. Now I'm trying to find someplace for one night in Edinburgh that isn't an arm and a leg!

We just stayed at Market Street Hotel. Convenient to train station and to the Royal mile. We got a cheap rate booking a year out (October 2021 for October 2022) but may have been because of the pandemic. We paid $250 US $ for one night (on a Friday) before heading to Glasgow to start our RS tour.

maryellenhowen- I think you are wise to have booked now! I'm planning a trip for the end of next summer and have also booked most of my accommodations. B&Bs in Chipping Campden and York were already nearly full- granted they have only a limited number of rooms to begin with. The B&Bs I booked in London and Bath were not yet open for 2023 bookings, but I dealt directly with owners through email and secured reservations that way.

I also need one night in Edinburgh at the very end of our trip and am considering Premier Inn. Affordable and no two night minimum like many places.

Have fun planning!

We're going to Scotland and England in September 2023, and I have already booked the hotels and 3 guided day trips.

Not if you are prepared to take what accommodation is available. Holiday areas like Skye do book up quickly. There is also restricted accommodation in the more rural parts of the UK and you may end up having to travel further to find somewhere. Also not every one is happy to sleep in a small van with no facilities.

If you know where you want to stay then it makes sendse to book because otherwise someone else may book it .....

It makes a huge difference if you have a vehicle; you can head out to an area that's not accessible by public transportation, where the competition for rooms will probably not be as intense. I travel by train and bus, and I've found that highly seasonal locations (including western Scotland and Cornwall) can be a real problem if you wait until very late to look for a room. The demand simply exceeds the supply. Aside from issues of availability, I object to paying 3-star or 4-star rates for places with dreadful reviews that would be 1-star spots at best.

On my 2017 trip to Devon and Cornwall I spent a night in two cities I hadn't planned to visit (which nonetheless were quite nice), because there was nothing affordable in the coastal towns several days before arrival. I couldn't find an affordable twin-bedded room in a convenient location on Mull in 2019, so I ended up staying in Oban instead.

Necessary? That depends. I'm sure that if you don't mind staying wherever, and taking your chances, it is not necessary at all. But I don't want to drive into Salisbury in the late afternoon and hope that we can find the number of rooms that we need all in one place, in a place that we like. Or drive all around Keswick hoping to find someone with 2 rooms for 1 night. So for us, booking ahead is necessary. I've spent loads of time researching the hotels and B&Bs in each town we are going to, and I want to stay in the ones I have chosen, so it feels really good knowing that part is taken care of and we don't need to think about it when we are there.

Each person has a different travel style and way of looking at scheduling. What works for one person may not work for another. I am very glad that you were able to get your reservations that you desired. Have a wonderful trip.

I used to wait until 3 months out. Now however with the explosion of travel after Covid I've noticed that even 5 months in some of the hotels I'm looking at are booking up quickly.

I am someone that wants a certain hotel and a certain room that is why I book early with the hotel. Smaller places may not book ahead quite as early as larger hotels chains with online booking. I'd start checking again around 6 months out. Covid could also have closed some of the B&Bs. I know one of my favorite small pensions in Spain closed during Covid.

We did a four week drive tour of S. Wales and England in 2017 and largely booked small hotels and B&Bs.

I used Kayak.com (which includes Booking.com) to find low priced places, but double checked with TripAdvisor for location (it has a great map feature) and good rating/reviews.

We like to stay close to city center and we always find great B&Bs in Britain.

Wurundjeri, I did not take it as criticism at all, just as an honest question. I do hope my explanation as to why it was necessary for us came across as no more than an explanation. Your way sounds quite adventurous, but would stress me out the whole trip! Haha!

I don't know about what the availability is in general, but the hotel we chose for our week in London (first week of October next year) only had 3 rooms left, so, another reason I was glad I chose to book early.