A student has revealed how staying in a hotel over university accommodation has saved her more than £4,3000.
Tigerlily Taylor, 20, is one among many who have revealed similar money-saving tricks.
She posted her story to TikTok, which caught the appreciation of many students and managed to garner 48.7k likes and 677.3k views, according to Wales Online.
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One commenter went as far as to call the life hack "genius" while another commenter, snapback3G, said: " “I do that too but at the Premier Inn".
Ms Taylor currently lives in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, and is a student at the University of Northampton.
She told MoneySuperMarket: "On average, the university accommodation is £620, per month (that's for a large ensuite room).
"My hotel room usually costs around £35 for the night and I only need to stay once a week so every month I spend £140, on average, for a double room at the Travelodge.”
It was also revealed that Ms Taylor spends an extra £30 on commuting twice a week while she's also required to attend university three days a week - one of these days are usually separated from the other two.
In fact, on the separate day, she commutes in for the day only - her monthly bill is £260 which means she's saving £360 a month, or, £4,320 a year compared to university accommodation living.
Staying at a hotel could be cheaper for students right now since many are only required to attend university a couple of days a week with the majority of lessons taught online.
MoneySuperMarket has revealed how many students in university cities could benefit from staying at hotels by examining the cost per night of all 557 Travelodges in England, Scotland and Wales for every available date in 2022.
This was compared with the new Unipol and NUS data which looked at the average cost of university accommodation around the UK.
The data was released and is accurate as of December 10, 2021.
| Area | Average student accommodation rent per week (£) | The average price of a Travelodge in this area for one night (£) | Max no. of days where a hotel works out cheaper |
| Scotland | 154 | 49.63 | 3 nights/ 4 days at uni |
| North East | 130.5 | 50.63 | 2 nights/ 3 days at uni |
| North West | 144 | 49.63 | 2 nights/ 3 days at uni |
| East of England | 156 | 52.96 | 2 nights/ 3 days at uni |
| Midlands | 151.5 | 47.88 | 2 nights/ 3 days at uni |
| London | 235.5 | 58.28 | 4 nights/ 5 days at uni |
| South West | 169 | 60.74 | 2 nights/ 3 days at uni |
| South East | 173.5 | 55.39 | 3 nights/ 4 days at uni |
| Wales | 135 | 59.16 | 2 nights/ 3 days at uni |
| Northern Ireland | 132.5 | N/A | N/A |
Jo Thornhill at MoneySuperMarket said: “Looking at the average cost of student accommodation in comparison to average Travelodge prices, there are some savings to be made for those students who aren’t required to be physically present at their university campus every day.”
“Surprisingly, we found that the most financially rewarding regions for switching to hotel accommodation are for students attending London universities. Students in London with 5 or fewer days at University would be better off paying for a hotel than student accommodation.”
When asked what other tips Ms Taylor had for university students, she said: “I would say would be to open a student bank account as some banks provide interest-free overdrafts and other perks.
“Another tip would be as soon as your student loan comes in, budget this straight away. It is so easy to just spend it all, but instead, I would suggest having a plan for the money and setting aside money for necessities first, whatever is leftover can be kept for luxuries.”
