News from Little Hotels, Edition 7
Well, that's summer nearly over for another year. We hope you all enjoyed your summer holidays. It's been a very busy time for us (and we thank you for that) but a most enjoyable one. Many of you may also be looking forward to an out-of-season holiday in October or November: we have done an awful lot of bookings, and many more people have had to be disappointed because most hotels are still quite full throughout the autumn and you need to book in plenty of time to get the hotel and dates you want.
Recent New Hotels
It's been quite a while since we mentioned newly-added hotels, so some of these date back a bit.Senderos de Abona is a charming little village hotel, economically priced, on the island of Tenerife. Only 10 km from the beaches, it is completely free of the brash commercialism of the coastal towns.
We don't have enough hotels on the Costa De La Luz, but we're working on it. Casa Cinco has been added recently, a delightful little place just ten minutes from long sandy beaches, and we'll be putting in another very soon.
There is a new hotel in Seville that is notable for its incredibly friendly and helpful staff. It's called Hotel Alminar, and it's in a relatively quiet pedestrian street very close to the cathedral and La Giralda.
For a stunningly-designed avant gard interior in what was once a village blacksmiths, you must try Cas Ferrer Nou Hotelet. It's in Alcudia, on the north coast of Mallorca.
Cortijo Soto Real is really special, a former prince's home carefully transformed into a 5-star luxury hotel that offers every conceivable facility and comfort.
Getting Around
Most of our hotels are chosen, at least partly, for the peaceful environment they offer to guests. That inevitably means that many are a little way off the beaten track. Far and away the best way of getting around is to hire a car. Most people do, but a few of our clients seem reluctant yet we would always encourage you to do so. As a broad generalisation, the cost of car hire for your entire stay will be similar to the cost of a taxi to and from the hotel, so you get all the use in between for nothing. You don't have to use it every day, but it's there when you want it. You can book a car from a choice of established and reputable car hire companies, direct from our website.Granada
Margaret and I treated ourselves to a short break in Granada in August. On the
way there we stopped off for lunch in Guadix, an interesting town with many cave
houses, and then followed the road over the picturesque Puerto de la Mora pass
to Granada. We stayed at the Casa
Morisca hotel, which is a typical old Granada
house in the Albayzín, built around a central patio. The standard of restoration
is quite exceptional, and we enjoyed a view of the Alhambra from our balcony.
We spent some time wandering the little winding streets of the Albayzín and looking in the numerous shops selling Moorish-style furniture and decorations, but like all visitors to Granada, our main objective was the Alhambra. Many writers far better than I have written whole chapters and books on the Alhambra, so I will just settle for saying that it is an amazing place. Of course it's hot in August, and by walking around the town first and then up the hill to the Alhambra, we made quite hard work of it. Really I would recommend visiting outside the main summer months, or taking one of the local minibuses to the top.
We celebrated Margaret's birthday (she's not allowing me to say which!) with an excellent dinner at the El Huerto de Juan Ranas restaurant. Good food, fine wine and stupendous views of the floodlit Alhambra. Of course it's not the only excellent restaurant in Granada by any means, but it's one that we can recommend personally.
Christmas
If you're thinking of a Christmas break in sunnier climes this year, it's time to start thinking seriously. The best packages and the best flights sell out early, so you need to get your booking in quickly. We currently have Christmas packages from La Posada Del Torcal (Andalucia), El Privilegio de Tena (Pyrenees), Los Castaños (Andalucia), Hotel Villalba (Tenerife), Els Frares (Valencia) and Mas Fontanelles (Valencia). Many of our other listed hotels will be open for Christmas too.
Something Out-of-the-Ordinary
Of course you realise that Little Hotels only lists little hotels, usually with fewer than 20 rooms and always with fewer than 30. Not every small hotel can get listed though, because we are very choosy. For a little hotel to be a "Little Hotel", it must provide a high standard of cleanliness, facilities and service. Especially service, because we believe that the characteristic that marks out our clients most clearly is their desire for friendly prompt attention and to be treated as an individual.One hotel with a very special standard of service is Hotel Alminar in Seville. The hotel has only recently come onto our website but we have known Francisco the manager there for years. He has surrounded himself with a team of Sevillanos who hold a special affection for their city and who want their guests to love Seville as much as they do. They will advise you with the local knowledge that you can't get from any guide book.
Website Maintenance
This weekend our data centre is carrying out some maintenance that will make certain parts of our websites unavailable between 12 noon Saturday 1 Oct and 6 am on Sunday 2 Oct. In particular, the enquiry and booking forms are likely to be affected, so if you are trying to use those facilities and encounter a problem, please just put the relevant information on an e-mail and send it to enquiries@littlehotels.co.uk.Spam Filters
We’ve come across a few occasions when clients send us an enquiry or booking and never receive our reply. It seems that this is caused by over-zealous spam filters scooping up our e-mail before it ever reaches the intended recipient. If you’re expecting a reply from us and it doesn’t arrive, please look in your “junk mail” folder or any spam vault you may have. You may be surprised to find other e-mails there as well that you would want to have received. If you have access to the settings, the surest solution is to add littlehotels.co.uk to your whitelist.Happy holidays!
Paul Melhuish
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