This 25th anniversary edition (covering Continental Europe) has all the comprehensiveness of its predecessors, along with a more rigorous (and exhaustive) selection of places covered than ever before; in particular, the descriptions of individual hotels are more searching and evocative than in previous editions.

The publishers of the Guide have always prided themselves on their fiercely independent reporting, but staying ahead of their rivals has become harder than ever, given the more stringent approach taken by more and more guides. But the anonymous inspectors of the Guide remain incorruptible, and some of the finest hotels in Europe get a needle-sharp analysis here. We are allowed to assess different reports on a different hotel: a small Parisian hotel near the Eiffel tower is complimented for its attractiveness and the cheerful couple who run it, but we're warned against the "unsoundproofed walls"--par for the course (as the Guide tells us) in Paris. We're told about the "enormous beds" in a hotel on the Via Muzio Clementi in Rome, while a historic hotel in Delft is positively loaded with vox pop praise from visitors (in fact, it's the combination of professional and non-professional assessments that makes this book unique).

The 600-odd pages are tightly packed, and other incentives to pick up this new edition include 150 worth of discount vouchers, up-to-date opening times and prices, along with strikingly improved full-colour maps. If you want to spare yourself the hotel room from hell, here's how to find the heavenly variety.--Barry Forshaw

I haven't found a guide which rivals this, the Which Guide takes a very similar format but doesn't read as well. Alastair Sawday's Special Places To Stay series has directed me to equally brilliant places, but doesn't always describe the rooms in enough detail.

Not every hotel I love is listed in the Good Hotel guide, I've been surprised by some of their omissions, but when I've written to them with suggestions I've always received a personal reply. This book's hotel reviews have been totally reliable, if you're going to buy just one guide - make it this one.