All the accommodation featured on this website has been quality assessed by either VisitBritain* or the AA, or has recently applied for a rating and is awaiting assessment. Please be aware that ratings may change throughout the year.

To confirm a rating please visit www.enjoyEngland.com or telephone VisitBritain on 0208 563 3309 or email: feedback@visitbritain.org

For AA ratings, visit www.theAA.com or telephone: 01256 844 455 or email: customer.services@theAA.com

All the national assessing bodies (VisitBritain*, Visit Wales and the AA) now assess hotels and guest accommodation (including B&Bs) to the same criteria and award one to five stars. The star ratings reflect the overall quality of the experience.

When choosing your accommodation look for the Quality Rose, the official marque of the Enjoy England national tourist board rating scheme.

The Enjoy England professional assessors visit every year, carrying out a routine day visit or an overnight stay in the case of serviced accommodation. On these occasions, they book in as you would, as a normal guest and test all the facilities and services. A quality score is awarded for every aspect of the experience including the comfort of the bed, the quality of the breakfast and dinner and, most importantly, the cleanliness. They also score the warmth of the welcome.

Places that 'go the extra mile' to make your stay a special one, will be awarded a high star rating and hotels and guest accommodation may achieve a Gold or Silver award.

For self-catering accommodation:

The layout and design of the accommodation and the range and the quality of the kitchen equipment is assessed, as well as the quality and comfort of the bedrooms and bathrooms and most importantly, the cleanliness.

Higher star-rated accommodation tends to have more spacious bedrooms and bathrooms, and in hotels a higher staff to guest ratio, so service should be very attentive. At five star, you can really expect to be pampered in luxurious surroundings!

Serviced Accommodation

For serviced accommodation, there are two separate schemes - one for hotels and one for guest accommodation.

Hotels have to be licensed, offer dinner at least 5 nights a week (unless categorised as a Metro Hotel) and have all rooms en suite or with private bathrooms.

The different hotel categories are:

Hotel, Small Hotel, Country House Hotel, Metro Hotel, Town House Hotel, and Budget Hotel.

Guest accommodation categories are:

Guest Accommodation, Bed and Breakfast, Guest Houses, Inns, Farmhouses and Restaurants with Rooms. They tend to be personally run by the owners.

Guest Accommodation - Diamonds and Stars

The diamond ratings that were previously awarded to guest accommodation (B&Bs, Guest Houses etc) are gradually being replaced by stars. You will find some entries on this website with diamond ratings and some with star ratings. The new star ratings are designed to meet the greater expectations of consumers with regards to quality and facilities. Higher ratings are therefore more difficult to achieve than under the diamond scheme. On this website you may find, for example, guest accommodation that previously held a 4 diamond rating and has been re-assessed under the new standards as 3 stars. It does not necesarily mean that their quality standards have dropped.

Hotels have to provide certain additional facilities and services at the higher star levels. Guest accommodation providers have to provide certain additional facilities and services at the higher star levels.

Gold and Silver awards for Hotels and Guest Accommodation

Silver awards recognise exceptional quality at all levels and Gold Awards are given to the very 'best of the best'.

Campus

Enjoy England's campus scheme covers the universities and colleges that are able to accommodate visitors during the vacation periods on a bed and breakfast basis. Generally the rooms are ensuite and there will be plenty of single rooms, so large groups will not present a problem. Campus accommodation is star-rated one to five, reflecting the quality of the accommodation.

Hostels

Hostels provide safe, budget-priced accommodation for young people, families and larger groups and are star-rated. Higher rated accommodation often provides en suite rooms.

Holiday, touring, and camping parks and holiday villages:

Enjoy England awards star ratings reflecting the overall quality of the park from one to five stars - five stars being reserved for parks of exceptional quality.

If you choose to stay in any of Enjoy England's quality-assessed accommodation, you can be confident that it has been checked out before you check in. For more information on the Enjoy England Quality Rose assessment schemes and the star ratings, go to www.enjoyEngland.com

* VisitBritain is the national tourism agency, marketing Britain worldwide and England in Britain, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands. Quality is a major element of VisitBritain's strategy to improve tourism products and services and the standard of welcome visitors receive. VisitBritain assesses more than 23,000 accommodation businesses across nine different Enjoy England schemes. These assessments are undertaken by Quality in Tourism on VisitBritain's behalf.

Complaints
If you have any issues that have not been resolved by the proprietor/manager and which you would like to bring to our attention, please write to:

For Enjoy England ratings:
Quality in Tourism
Farncombe House,
Broadway,
Worcestershire
WR12 7LJ

For AA ratings:
The AA
15th Floor Fanum House
Basing View
Basingstoke
RG21 4EA

For more detailed information about the requirements of each star rating please obtain a copy of the new guides.

These can be downloaded from www.enjoyEngland.com or you can pick them up from Tourist Information Centres including Southend Visitor Information Centre.