Some links to products and partners on this website will earn an affiliate commission.

Back in the dim and distant past (up until circa 2017), Accor used to offer one of the best regular hotel deals: ‘Happy Mondays’. Each week, it was possible to book a range of Ibis, Novotel and Mercure hotels across the UK for £25-£60 per night for the following weekend.

Having saved literally £1000s over the years from Happy Mondays, I was obviously sad to see it go and am always on the lookout for a replacement. Finally, it seems that a company called ‘Village Hotels’ is now looking to offer something similar with its ‘Last Minute Deals’…(note that it seems you have to sign up first).

“Late Availability Rooms From £39

Last minute plans, no problem. Check out our late availability deals from only £39 per night. Bookable 7 days in advance until the end of December.”

£39 isn’t £25, but it still isn’t bad. Whether it really represents a good deal or not though, depends on what the normal rates are like and any other offers that are available.

I confess I haven’t done full research yet, but the results from the one hotel I did look at closely, Village Hotel Chester St. Davids, are encouraging.

As you can see below, the Last Minute Deal prices (for the next 7 days) are usually 50%+ cheaper than comparable nights further in the future.

In fact, Sunday is even lower than the advertised £39 pr night, at just £29.

Even better deals?

Village Hotels offers a rather confusing array of different promotions, depending on how many night you want to stay, etc.

The only one I saw that was arguably better than the ‘Last Minute Deals’, was the ‘Autumn Breaks’ promotion:

“Autumn Breaks – 2 Nights From £109 – Available All Week

Book a 2 night break Monday – Sunday with breakfast each morning, and a glass of fizz and £40 to spend on food on your first night from only £109. Limited time offer, book by 31st October for stays from 7th September – 1st November. Book this rate direct and you’ll get your free member benefits included!”

At the same hotel, you could book 2 nights with breakfast, £40 restaurant credit, and a glass of fizz each, for a total of £130. If you value the drinks, breakfasts and credit at say £60 in total (assuming 2 guests), the room cost is effectively reduced to just ~£35 per night.

If you wanted to book in advance, this is a particularly good offer, as the whole calendar is wide open.

If you just want to book a single night though, and/or don’t put much value on the various perks, the Last Minute Deals are still better.

Bottom line

Given Village Hotels’ relatively limited footprint and the fact the properties tend not to be very centrally located, I doubt it’s going to be much of a ‘Happy Mondays’ replacement for me personally, but there is definitely value for some people here.

Have you stayed at a Village Hotel? – What was it like?