Standby Beds a Discount in U.K.

Quality International is offering a discount program called Standby Beds at eight hotels in the United Kingdom on reservations made 24 hours or less before arrival. The discounts are up to 30% off regular rates, according to a hotel spokeswoman.

Rates include full English breakfasts, with properties in Oxford and Bournemouth also offering dinner. Guests also get passes for free admission to some sightseeing attractions. The hotels will also get you a 20% discount on your British Rail trip from their city to your next destination.

There are two participating properties in London, plus others at London’s Heathrow Airport, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Chorley and Winchester, England.

There is no cutoff point for this program, which is being tested for possible implementation in the United States. Contact travel agents or Quality International toll-free at (800) 221-2222.

Meanwhile, British Travel Associates is offering three varieties of a hotel voucher system in Great Britain that provides discounts of 10% to 15% off regular rates.

Under the Hotel Rover plan you have to buy vouchers for a minimum of five consecutive nights, with a limit of two consecutive nights at any one property. The price is $56 U.S. per person. The first night is booked in the United States through British Travel Associates. You book the rest of the nights as you travel.

The Hotel Ranger program calls for buying a minimum of six vouchers, also at $56 per person, for six consecutive nights using any combination of properties. Hotels are grouped on a regional basis, with more than 40 hotels participating. All the nights have to be booked before departure.

You also have to buy vouchers for six consecutive nights under the Hotel Explorer plan, which offers properties primarily in the countryside, some having their own pubs. The vouchers cost $44, and all the nights have to be prebooked in the United States, but you can stay at any combination of the hotels.

The majority of the nearly 200 hotels involved in these three programs are smaller properties. About 90% of the hotels offer private bathrooms in their rooms. Some of the properties may also levy a supplemental charge of about $10.

The cost of the vouchers may vary according to the value of the dollar against the British pound.

More information, as well as brochures for the three programs, is available by calling (800) 327-6097.