Little Hotels - Newsletter Edition 13

News from Little Hotels, Edition 13

Welcome to the latest newsletter from Little Hotels. We hope you enjoy these occasional little snippets popping up in your Inbox; and if you want to keep up to date in-between, just drop in to our News page at Little Hotels.

Recent New Hotels

It's good to remind ourselves every now and then that the Costa del Sol is not all high-rise and crowds. We were really pleased to find Hacienda de San José, a newly-built but totally traditional country hotel just ten minutes from the coast near Mijas.

Then for some real away-from-it-all relaxation, there isn't much to beat Cortijo Los Malenos. Finca Ca's Sant, Mallorca

Also ten minutes from the beach, the coast in this case is the untouched Cabo de Gata Natural Park and the tiny village of Agua Amarga. This quiet little hotel has a delightful touch of rural chic.

I spent a week on Menorca last year (sailing, not work!) and I was reminded again how beautiful it is. Therefore I was dying to get at least one more Menorca hotel on our website, and Morvedra Nou is it. It's a renovated farm very near to some utterly gorgeous little coves that we first discovered for ourselves over twenty years ago.

While "little hotels" on Menorca are rare, we have quite a few to chose from in Mallorca, though we can never find enough to satisfy demand. Our latest though is Finca Ca's Sant, a rural idyll at the foot of the Tramuntana Mountains. Perfect for walking, exploring, the beaches, or just doing absolutely nothing.

The province of Jaen doesn't feature highly on the tourist trail, but maybe it should. Las Casas Del Consul is one of those patrician town houses built around an Andalucian patio that provides a haven of tranquillity in the centre of the old town of Úbeda, a Unesco World Heritage site.

Some New Villas Too

Villas of Spain has added a few new properties to the list too. One notable example is Villa de Jerez, the very property that the Channel 4 programme "A Place In the Sun" described as "a moorish palace". Casa Santiburi, Cabrera

Imagine our surprise when we were idly half-watching the programme and suddenly up popped Villa de Jerez. "I know that house!"

Villa de Jerez is a large house, available with either 4 bedrooms or 6, but we also have several new 3 bedroom villas in Cabrera, Casa Santiburi for instance, and Casa Loma. At the opposite end of the size-scale, we also have Villa de Terrazas Studio, which is a one-bedroom studio apartment with the same great Cabrera views.

Cheaper Holidays, Despite the Exchange Rate

Despite the 10% drop in the value of the pound against the euro, it seems that no-one is being put off booking their holidays for 2008, as January was our best month ever for bookings (thank you). It makes perfect sense of course, not just because of the horrible weather in the UK last summer, but because booking through Little Hotels saves about 30% of the cost of a holiday. This year our annual random comparison showed a saving of precisely 29%. Although this is the lowest saving we have ever seen, as well as the fact that it is random it probably reflects the fact that our prices had the exchange rate movement factored in and the Simpson Travel brochure did not. If the exchange rate swings back the other way before the summer, the percentage saving will get bigger again.

With bookings racing ahead so early in the year, it again will pay to make your booking as soon as possible, if you haven't already done so. Not only will that help to get you precisely the holiday you want, it will save Margaret tearing her hair out as she tries to find some accommodation for someone who has left it too late.

A Pleasant Day Out

Margaret and I are well aware of the privileges that come with running this business. When we visited Cortijo Los Malenos in November, we took full advantage of the opportunity to stroll along the beach at Agua Amarga and have a leisurely lunch in the only beach restaurant that was open at that time of year. There was hardly anyone around, and we were able to soak up the sunshine, and enjoy the stunning beauty of the sparkling sea and the sun-washed cliffs. It really is a lovely spot.

Even though the temperature was less than 20º, the sun made it feel very warm. Meteorologists make a big thing of wind-chill factor Flamenco at La Cartuja

as a way of indicating the perception of temperature when the wind makes the weather seem colder than it really is. What we really need though is a "sun-warming factor" to indicate how much warmer it seems when the sun is shining. This would be especially useful in Spain in the winter months. It would also be helpful in somewhere like the Canaries: up in the mountains the measured temperature can be quite low due to the altitude, but it still feels warm due to the strong semi-tropical sun.

Flamenco Holidays at La Cartuja

La Cartuja de Cazalla has just informed us about the Flamenco holidays they are running this year. The Centre of Contemporary Culture at La Cartuja will be organising practical courses to introduce you to the world of flamenco art and culture: "The Spirit of Flamenco". The 8 day programme consists of workshops, a concert by the teachers and several local excursions. The first opportunity to attend this course will be 23 to 30 March, and it will be repeated from 28 September to 5 October. Contact us for more details.

Happy holidays!
Paul Melhuish

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