What was the cost of a room at an inn in England in the 1890's?

[Ruby]

How much would a traveller pay to stay in a room at an inn in England in the 1890's? Would the traveller have to sign a visitors' book? Presumably he would pay in advance.
A penny used to be a lot of money in those days so would it only be a few pennies or as much as a shilling?
The "baddie" in my book is staying at an inn near the MC's. He's come from abroad. Would he be able to use foreign currency?

 

[JRFLynn]

Though I'm not sure about the price, they probably did have to sign a guest book so the innkeeper/hotel manager could keep track of everyone. As for the currency, there must've been some kind of exchange. The bad guy would have likely done it right off the boat, harbor cities would've definitely had banks for that sort of thing.

 

[CupofJoe]

In the UK it used to be the law that everyone had to give a full name and address when signing into a hotel and hand over a passport if they had one on them. I know this was in place after the first world war [the fear of enemy agents and all]. I am fairly sure that the register signing was in place long before, especially if the guest was foreign [the UK had been at war with some or all of the countries of Europe for the last few hundred years].
London hotels, with international clients and access to lots of banks might take foreign currency but away from the city [and perhaps ports like Liverpool] I would be surprised if non-english currency was accepted unless the guest was very favoured and trusted [most places still won't take Irish or Scots pounds that are perfectly legal tender]. A letter of finance/funds from a local [UK] bank might be accepted, almost like a credit card, the hotel would know they'd get paid. In theory a visitor would have a letter from a trusted bank from their home country and hand that to a UK bank, who would then honour any cost and debts allowed/agreed by the letter. For tax reasons I can't see anywhere taking gold or jewels... well not officially...
As for costs of a room... you might get a doss-house for a few pennies a night but I think that a room at a decent hotel would cost several shillings depending on how posh the hotel was. The only prices I can find suggest 5-10 shillings a night and possibly more.
[Victorian London - Houses and Housing - Hotels - list of hotels]

 

[Shockley]

Absolutely would have had to sign a guest book. Interestingly, some places are starting to sell off/catalog their old archived books because of famous names. Walter Sickert was particularly well known for sketching out full pages of guest books, leaving a fairly clear trail of his movements throughout Europe despite his penchant for pseudonyms.

 

[AnneL]

Check out this Google Books scanned book from 1874, page 30 gives cost breakdowns.

A London Directory for American Travellers for 1874: Containing the Fullest ... - Charles Eyre Pascoe - Google Books

Google books are a great resource for research into the 19th century, though it's a bit hit or miss to find what you want.

 

[Ruby]

Hi CupofJoe, before the 1905 Immigration Act in England the authorities did not check who was coming into the country. So in the 1890's my traveller could easily forge his name in the visitors' book. I haven't been able to find any information about passports or changing currency.

 

[Ruby]

Hi Shockley, thank you for posting this. I'm now reading up on Walter Sickert. Is he featuring in your WIP?

 

[Ruby]

Hi JRFLynn, or would travellers have to carry gold which they changed into the local currency at the banks?

 

[Erudite]

Just a thought - people are so certain of this signing, but I'd guarantee there were a lot more "under the table" transactions happening than legit, in the case of people who wouldn't want to sign.

Even today, you can go to a hotel or motel, and say "Nah, I'm good. How much do I owe you." and I doubt the owner will turn you away.

As for the price, you've got good ideas from people above, but maybe take into account locations. Some places in London would have gone for as high as you could imagine! Others in rural areas could be as low as a shilling a night, or for a couple nights. It's got to be written into the story, and that is the only way you'll determine.

Medium quality hotel in a large city - likely 10-15 shillings a night.

 

[Ruby]

Thanks, Erudite. At the moment the traveller has given a fake name and pays an unspecified amount for the room. I'm guessing that he'd have to pay in advance. He's staying at a rather squalid, down-market sort of inn in the suburbs of London.

 

[Shockley]

He isn't - I am just a fan of his paintings.

 

[Shockley]

He isn't - I am just a fan of his paintings.

As to the idea that some of the.logs were falsified - well yes, naturally.

 

[Penpilot]

You can try using this inflation calculator The Inflation Calculator It can translate the value of the current dollar into its equal in 1890 value. For example $50 in today's money translates into $1.99 in 1890s money. I'm sure there's a margin for error, but you could take the modern cost of renting room in an inn into 1890s money and use that.

 

[Gurkhal]

Forgive my ignorance, but isn't this historical fiction as opposed to fantasy? The reason I ask is that if historical fiction is allowed on the forum then I've got a lot of things to post.

 

[Ruby]

Hi Gurkhal, it's definitely a fantasy but it starts off in the 1890's in the real world. It's my fault for deciding to write a prequel in which I found out that my aged main character was actually a time travelling wizard. There I was, just thinking she was 172 years old, still working, and hoping that one day she could collect her pension... However, although it's a fantasy, I've discovered that it should be historically correct. For example, as it's in Victorian England I needed to learn about that period.
This particular part of the Forum is called Research, so maybe you should post your questions, providing you are writing Fantasy.

 

[Gurkhal]

Well, I write mostly fantasy but I really want to write historical fiction.

 

[wordwalker]

You can try using this inflation calculator The Inflation Calculator It can translate the value of the current dollar into its equal in 1890 value. For example $50 in today's money translates into $1.99 in 1890s money. I'm sure there's a margin for error, but you could take the modern cost of renting room in an inn into 1890s money and use that.

That's a great tool there. Caveats: the main site doesn't go before 1800, and is limited to US dollars. (You could apply the ratio of USD to pounds or such, but other economies do change at their own rates, and then there's converting decimal pounds back into pounds sterling...)

 

[Ruby]

That's a great tool there. Caveats: the main site doesn't go before 1800, and is limited to US dollars. (You could apply the ratio of USD to pounds or such, but other economies do change at their own rates, and then there's converting decimal pounds back into pounds sterling...)

Yes, I'm still in a bit of a muddle about this, as I don't know what the exchange rate for dollars at that time would be. To make it even more complicated, the "baddie" drops a French franc on the counter, and the innkeeper's wife notices when she picks it up. She's rather prejudiced against the French.

 

[wordwalker]

Plus, general "changing value of money" doesn't account for how some things just got more or less expensive over time. The tool's good for starting, but specific research is better if you can do it-- though for less important moments you can always use the rough estimate, state the amount in "a few" dollars or shillings or whatever puts it in the ballpark, and consider it safely fudged.

 

[Erudite]

That inflation site is near useless.

- finance degree.