4 star or 5 star

Choosing your holiday cottage

How to ensure that you select the right cottage for your holiday. We all look forward to our well deserved holidays and you want to be sure that you are going to enjoy your break, selecting a holiday cottage can be difficult but by reading reviews and researching your choice you can minimise the chance of disappointment. In this article we focus on star ratings and what they tell you about the cottages you are considering.

In the UK holiday cottages do not have to be independently inspected but many owners choose to have their cottages rated so that prospective guests can book with confidence. There are two rating agencies available to cottages in England – Visit England or the AA. In the past most self catering properties have been rated by Visit England but in recent years the AA have rated more cottages – they do not charge as much as Visit England for the rating.

We use Visit England to rate our properties, they issue a huge list of what a cottage has to do to achieve each rating level and inspect against this every year. As well as coming to check that we are maintaining standards the inspectors are also a useful source of advice.

The inspection rates the property on a great long list of criteria, for each one you get a mark between 1 to 5. The marks translate into an overall percentage score for each cottage. Four star cottages have to achieve over 75% and 5 star cottages over 87%.

I always book a star rated cottage, cottage owners who are star rated are kept on their toes by the inspectors, we are encouraged to continually improve and it shows to prospective guests that we are confident of our standards.

Even though the 4 star band is only 12% points there can be quite a difference – if you happen to book one that scrapes in at the bottom of the band it will be quite a different experience to one that is right at the top of the band. Before I got involved with running holiday cottages I just did not appreciate this and often found myself disappointed with the 4 star cottage I had booked – I now know why that can happen!

The Gold Award is something to look out for – awarded to cottages right at the top of the 4 star band and to 5 star cottages that have a “wow factor”.

Here at Broadgate Farm holiday cottages all our cottages achieve a 5 star ratings, and all hold the coveted Gold Award.

We are committed to making your stay at Broadgate Farm as enjoyable and comfortable as possible. We take great care in the design of our cottages but at the heart of it is your comfort – beds you can sink into, comfortable sofa’s and luxury bathrooms. Why not come and see…..