In preparation for my cycle ride from Land's End to John o'Groats next August (more on that story later), I decided that as well as regular 50 mile training rides, I ought to do a 3 or 4 day tour around East Anglia.
My trusty "Cycling Britain" lonely planet guidebook has some great rides, as well as recommendations for places to stay and eat. This guide is only four years old, but imagine my surprise when I realised just how much inflation seems to have taken hold in England's B & B industry when comparing todays prices against those in the guidebook.
For example, in 2001 a stay in the Church Farmhouse at Uggeshall "start from £22 per person". Today, their cheapest price is "from £35". Quite an increase, but possibly reasonable for 4 years. Unlike the next one on my list.
The Northcliffe B & B in Southwold charged "from £22 to £30 per person". Today, those prices are "from £70.00 per room per night inclusive of breakfast and VAT". Hello! More than 3 times the price than they were 4 years ago. What are the owners doing, serving beluga caviar for breakfast??
Perhaps it is just Southwold that has suffered from crippling inflation, so let us move next to Wells-next-the-Sea, near Blakeney Point. Lonely Planet says for the Eastdene guesthouse "charges from £18 per person". Eastdene says "Singles from: £30 Doubles from: £50". Not bad, almost a doubling in price. Incidently, Eastdene was one of the cheapest guesthouses in Wells. Others went as high as £230. I'd expect a handjob and a massage included for that price.
Now, perhaps I am a little naive when it comes to Bed and Breakfast accomodation, and maybe these prices are not only negotiable, but also peak season prices. Even so, I am staggered by the sharp increase in pricing in only 4 years. I do wonder if these places are often fully booked.
Before anyone mentions it, I am entirely familiar with the concept of using youth hostels for my accomodation needs, but they are few and far between on the East Coast of England!
The fact that these places appear in the "Lonely Planet" guide means that they probably are doing quite well and have been putting up their prices as they attract so much attention these days. I also suspect that a certain amount of price fixing goes on. This is unfortunate as these high local prices will encourage use of airlines to travel to more "exotic" places...
Presumably the fact that these places still exist show that they are still in business.
Another thing to consider is the fact that maybe the cost of renting a room is always going to be proportional to the cost of buying a property. We all know of the big increases in those prices over the last 10 or so years.
Nice thought, but from my limited web research last night, all the properties found in the areas I was looking at seemed to have similar base prices. What I did find surprising was that many places "winter" pricelists had equally high prices (most notably pubs with accomodation). They also had daft offers for off-season like "4 days for the price of 3", which is of course no use if you're travelling through somewhere on a bike.
I suspect you are correct on the price-fixing front, but I don't see why the cost of Bed and Breakfast should be linked to house price rises.
I shall report back once I've made a few phone calls to these places.
I suppose offer and demand are driving prices higher... What is more "Rip-off" Britain would be the increase in public transport fares, at the same time that the government tells us we should abandon our cars and use buses instead! Since I arrived in Cambridge two years ago, my weekly "MegaRider" has gone up from 5 pounds to 6 pounds 50p. A whopping 30% inflation!