My guideline on booking hotels in the UK

International Medical Graduates have to book hotels on multiple occasions unless they have family living nearby for:
1. Attending PLAB 2 academies - some doctors prefer staying in hotels
2. Giving the PLAB 2 exam in Manchester
3. Attending their ID checks in Manchester/ London.
4. Attending interviews for their jobs

And once they start work, they may need to book hotels for
1. Exams
2. Courses
3. Conferences
4. Interviews

Like everything else in this country, you can book a hotel online.

This the most popular site:
https://www.booking.com

However this website does not show chain hotels like:
https://www.travelodge.co.uk

There are other websites -
https://www.spareroom.co.uk
https://www.airbnb.co.uk
https://www.trivago.co.uk
https://www.kayak.co.uk

You can end up booking a room for 100 GBP per night or if you are a bit smart about it, you can book a room or 30 GBP or even less.

Here are some tips:

1. Hotels in city centers will always be more expensive. Therefore try to book a hotel in the outskirts if you have your own car.
However for PLAB 2, you must stay in a hotel near the exam center (which is in central Manchester) to avoid delays.

2. Book in advance. You will save a lot of money this way.

3. Look for saver deals on booking.com.
I stayed in a very beautiful estate in Windsor because it was off peak season and I got a room for 33% of the actual cost.
4. You can also get saver rooms in Travel Lodge:
https://www.travelodge.co.uk/search_and_book/saver_search

5. Get a rewards card for any hotel which is offering that service for free, like ibis budget or holiday inn express. You might get a good deal once you have accumulated enough points.
https://www.ihg.com/rewardsclub/gb/en/join/register

6. Make sure that parking is included in the booking if you have your own car. You may end up paying a huge amount for parking. Hotels may also have limited free parking space especially if they are located in the town center. 

 7. Book as soon as possible - Do not delay this ! Hotels can be be booked very quickly so grab a room ASAP. 

Advice for booking hotels in London:
Hotels in London are very expensive. If you have your own car, you are better off staying somewhere outside London. However do note that you may have to pay for congestion charge if you drive into London on weekdays as mentioned here:
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge
So you are better off ensuring that you have booked your hotel near a tube station in zone 4 to 6. 

Advice for booking hotels in Manchster:
As mentioned above, if you are going for PLAB 2 then stay in a hotel in city center. 
However if you have to attend a conference, you can either:
1. Stay in a hotel a few miles outside Manchster and commute to the conference
2. Stay in city center, pay for parking overnight and pay extra.
Check the charges for parking online as well as you may find staying outside Manchester cheaper.


As a general rule, if you have your own car try to stay outside the city center UNLESS you have an exam.

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