European Budget Motels: The Low-Low End

If you're headed to Europe this year, more than ever, you may be looking for the lowest accommodations costs possible. As in the United States, budget chain motels are slowly displacing Europe's independent and often funky low-end lodgings. The biggest chains are French-based and they concentrate on France, but they're slowly expanding into neighboring countries.

Most individual units are in suburban locations, typically along highways with good access and ample no-charge parking. Most are two- or three-story walkups, but a few urban locations are high-rise with elevators. Low-end chains generally do not have restaurants (other than for breakfast). All allow online booking; all their websites offer an English-language option. I cite starting rates, per night, for one to three people, excluding breakfast.

Two French chains dominate the very bottom rung on the lodgings ladder:

• Hotel Formule 1, a unit of giant multi-tier Accor, is both the biggest and cheapest, with about 320 hotels in France and 60 scattered around other countries. Each room has a washstand, but toilet and shower are across or down the hall. This year's rates in France start as low as €26 (about $36 US dollars; see XE.com for current exchange rates), but most are between €29 and €33 near smaller cities, up to €43 in Paris. Breakfast is an extra €3.90 per person. Rates are similar in Germany and Spain but higher in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK.
• Premiere Classe, a unit of the smaller Louvre Group, is a minor improvement over Formule 1: Each room includes a tiny bath module with sink, toilet, and shower. Otherwise, they're about the same. This year's prices start around €35 per night but go up to €75 in a few big cities.

The United States has nothing even remotely like Formule 1 or Premiere Classe. Rooms are typically about 100 square feet—compared with at least 250 square feet for a U.S. budget chain—with one standard double bed plus a bunk suitable for a child or very small adult. Each room has a chair, a small counter, and TV. Only a few are air-conditioned. The reception desk is staffed only a few hours a day; at other times, you check in with a credit card to get a security code or key card which you use for building and room access. On my test stays, I did not encounter a single hotel employee.

Several smaller French chains generally follow the Premiere Classe formula and pricing, with in-room sink/toilet/shower: Akena (site in French), B&B, Fasthotel, and Quick Palace. Some also offer two-bed options, however, and some have full restaurants.

I found two similar chains outside France. Metro Inns has 51 locations in the UK, which, like Formule 1, have shared rather than private toilet and shower—with rates starting at £24.50 per night. Motel One, a bit upscale from Premiere Classe, has 25 locations in Germany, with rates starting at €45.

You have to go up a notch to find the equivalent of a U.S. budget motel. Accor's next-up line is Etap; Louvre's is Campanile. Prices range from €50 to €100. Both chains tend to bunch their brands: You often find a Formule 1 adjacent to a Campanile (or even Ibis or Mercure), and a Premiere Classe next to a Campanile. Guests at the no-restaurant, low-end chains sometimes get discounts at the full-service restaurants in adjacent partner hotels or have access to their airport shuttles.

The two big UK budget chains, Premier Inn and Travelodge, no relation to the U.S. Travelodge) belong in the notch-up group. At both, small-city rates normally start at around £60, but both chains are currently featuring 21-day nonrefundable advance purchase rates of £29 at many locations. Each chain has hundreds of locations throughout the UK.

I've stayed at Formule 1, Premiere Classe, Premier, and Travelodge. All were perfectly acceptable for budget-minded Americans—certainly for overnight highway stops. But for a more extended stay, I would first try to find a big discount at a more upscale place.