A special guest post from trivago, Premium Supporter of the Social Travel Summit.
When most people think of treating themselves to an indulgent luxury trip, what probably comes to mind is images of sun-soaked villas, infinity pools overlooking the Mediterranean or regal riads hidden down beautiful alleyways.
Let’s not forget you can find luxury in any of the UK’s largest cities – but exactly where is best for a luxury city break?
To help out, we’ve taken a look at 4- and 5-star hotels across the UK’s biggest cities to find out exactly where offers the best value, the best choice and the cheapest upgrade.
Which city offers the best value city?
Simply put: where is the cheapest place you can enjoy 4-star or 5-star comfort? To find out, we compared the average price of 4- and 5-star hotels with the average price for all star categories in the same city.
Our results show that Scotland came out on top! Aberdeen offers the best value 4-star hotels, while Edinburgh has the best value 5-star hotels.
In fact, visitors to Aberdeen would only have to fork out 4% more on average to enjoy the comfort of a 4-star hotel (at £118), while Edinburgh-bound tourists would be looking at a comparatively low 67% increase to enjoy the highest quality 5-star experience (at £197).
Interestingly, while London had the second best-value 4-star hotels (£177), the capital was also home to the most expensive 5-star hotels (£337).
Where can you find the biggest choice of luxury accommodation?
Naturally, London has far more hotels than any other city in the UK, but which city has the highest percentage of options?
According to our research, Belfast offers the highest relative percentage of 4-star hotels, with 40% of its accommodation boasting this rating.
Meanwhile, Oxford has the highest proportion of 5-star hotels, as well as the second-highest proportion of 4-star hotels.
And not only can you find the best value 4-star hotels in Aberdeen, but with 34% of its hotels rated 4-star, you have plenty of options too!
Where can you upgrade to 5-star for the lowest price?
Of course, when it comes to treating yourself with a bit of indulgence, the sky is the limit – and if you are looking for a 4-star hotel in Glasgow, you might as well splurge for 5-star.
According to our research, 5-star hotels in the Scottish city cost just £44 more on average than their 4-star counterparts. This means a more affordable upgrade than Manchester, Edinburgh, Oxford or London.
So where should you go for your next UK-bound luxury city break? There’s plenty of options, but Aberdeen, Belfast, Oxford, Edinburgh or Glasgow are great places to start looking!
For more advice on when and where to book, head to Room5, the online magazine from trivago.