Last-minute bank holiday hotels
Posted by Anthony on April 27th, 2010If, like us, you’ve forgotten that this coming weekend is an extra-long bank holiday extravaganza of sun-basking laziness, and are currently lamenting your failure to organise anywhere to do your lazing, then fear not. We’ve had a chat with the ever-efficient Smith Travel Team and they’ve given us an up-to-the-minute breakdown of which hot hotels and boutique guesthouses still have rooms available for this weekend.
So, if you’re in the mood for a last-minute weekend away (and who isn’t?), then have a butcher’s gander at these very special UK hotels, one of which is bound to have a room with your name on. Not literally.
1) Aviator
Hampshire
Style Silver belle
Setting Airfields of Farnborough
Aviator is a surprise package: a stately sweep of glass and metal from the outside, an essay in sultry opulence on the inside, with plush velvet sofas, flickering open fires and a Guggenheim-inspired lobby with circular balconies reaching to the roof.
Rates £125–£275 a night
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2) St Moritz Hotel
Cornwall
Style Surf-side family HQ
Setting Rugged Camel Estuary
A multitalented modernist resort overlooking the Camel Estuary, the St Moritz Hotel has more can-do attitude than a team of cheerleaders, giving it a fantastic reputation among families of all ages. Whether you book into a stylish penthouse apartment or a child-friendly garden villa, you’ll want for nothing: there’s a Cowshed spa, activities galore and a buzzy restaurant and bar. The rooms are stylish and contemporary; the location’s unbeatable; and, best of all, the staff are really, really nice.
Rates £95–£260 a night
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3) Holm House
Vale of Glamorgan 
Style Deco-fuelled modernity
Setting Penarth’s Victorian seafront
Holm House is a cosy 1920s boutique hotel in Wales sitting atop ‘Millionaires Row’ on the outskirts of Penarth. Brazilian mahogany panelling and working open fireplaces blend with cool Osborne & Little styling and slate-grey corridor tunnels. A bedside brass bath here, a deco triptych mirror there; the effect is an ultra-glamorous vision of Twenties/Noughties luxury.
Rates £215–£390 a night
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4) The Forbury
Berkshire
Style Decorative opulence
Setting Redbrick Reading
The reception of this Berkshire boutique hotel is a swirl of pinks, reds, burnt orange and silver, creating a slick European-style ambience. The Forbury’s commissioned contemporary art on the walls and the world’s biggest chandelier add up to a stylish stay with a decadent, playful air.
Rates £230–£440 a night
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5) Fowey Hall
Cornwall 
Style Family-friendly manor
Setting Salty Cornish coast
Commanding sweeping views of Fowey’s river estuary, port and the sea, this small, charming and unpretentious luxury family-focused hotel on the south coast of Cornwall was the original inspiration for Toad Hall in The Wind in the Willows. Its French furniture, Wilton carpets and fine oak-panelled dining room give it a traditional but relaxed and intimate feel. A croquet lawn, indoor pool, interconnecting suites, and nearby beaches and sailing make Fowey Hall ideal for wannabe sea dogs and fun family escapes.
Rates £165–£590 a night
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This is just a taster of the Smith hotels which still have a few rooms going spare this weekend. If you’re after a London hidey-hole, for example, we’ve heard rumours that York & Albany, Hazlitt’s, Blakes Hotel and (currently suffering a case of election fever) Brown’s Hotel will all be able to oblige, too.
For more enticing impromptu getaways, give the Smith Travel Team a call on 0845 034 0700 and they’ll sort you out. They’re helpful like that.
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