Finding a Hotel in Europe
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This, of course, is the make-or-break task of every one of your stops; the right choice, at the right price, can make the difference between your hating a city and loving it. Therefore, don't leap to find a hotel. However tired you may be from the trip, it is vitally important that you make a careful and deliberate study of several hotels before alighting at one. An hour spent at this job can result in several full days of pleasant consequences.
Obviously, you need mobility and ease to make a proper selection. Never rent a room sight unseen. On approaching each hotel, ask to see the rooms, and then check the bath and toilet facilities on each floor. Show a healthy regard for price. Let it be known that you are willing to proceed down the street if rooms are unavailable in your price range.
Naturally, you needn't become a disagreeable horse-trader in these dealing, or regard every hotel as an enemy to be out-foxed.
Remember only that in renting a room, you are making a purchase which, multiplied by the days of your stay, can amount to a hefty sum. The choice should receive the same thoughtful care that any equivalent purchase would get. By analogy, no self-respecting British tourist would step to a hotel counter, learn that a room is available, and then immediately sign the register, as so many American tourists are quick to do.
Check, too, to determine whether any extra charges are to be added to the basic room rent. Are taxes included? Is breakfast included? Is breakfast at the hotel obligatory? If breakfast at the hotel is not taken, is a penalty charge added to the hotel bill? (This amazing practice is actually far more prevalent at de luxe hotels than at budget ones). if any difficulty in communication exists between you and the hotel clerk, have him write the price of your room on a piece of paper, and keep the notation for later proof.
Properly and courteously done, these requests will not even slightly offend a European hotel management. Instead, they will evoke a measure of respect similar to that which the champions of budget travel-the British-have been receiving for years.
NEVER JUDGE A HOTEL BY ITS COVER: One final note about judging a budget hotel: never, never be deterred by the exterior appearance of the hotel or by its lack of all those streetside touches that mark most American hotels-i.e., marquees, ground-floor lobbies, smartly designed entrances. Many excellent European hotels just aren't built that way-and to prove my point, let me use an analogy:
There are millionaires in Italy, who live in buildings that resemble, from the outside, an 18th century warehouse: their walls are crumbling, ancient, peeling, cracked. Yet walk inside and you'll discover elegance unheard of-for Europeans value the architecture of the past and would never think of remodeling the exterior of a genuine period building.
The same with hotels. One particular budget choice of ours in Florence, occupies the second floor of a loggia-enclosed building, constructed in the 18th century. Peer into the entrance and all you'll see is a dark, stone staircase, without decoration or amenities of any sort. But walk upstairs, and suddenly you'll be in a perfectly dean, charming and sunny hotel, whose rooms are as comfortable as any in Italy. You simply can not judge a European hotel by its exterior.
Then, too, some European hotels and pensions are located on the second and third floors of business buildings. The excellent Hotel Hemmet in Stockholm, for instance, looks-from the outside -like a collection of lofts, housing fly-by-night offices. But once again, walk upstairs and you'll find chintz curtains and a cozy lounge and rooms that would satisfy a D.A.R. member.
Always reserve judgment until you have actually seen the rooms. Get used to inspecting hotels that carry no outside markings other than a small plaque. Remember that you are in the Old World, whose surroundings and outlook are different from ours and rejoice in that fact!
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   Beauty Health Fashion TravelFinding a Hotel: Never Judge a Hotel by Its Cover
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