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THE iHi INDEPENDENT HOTEL DIRECTORY - 2012

Find and book small independent hotels with character in Spain

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Hotels in the real Spain.

For most tourists, continental Spain is about 1500 km long and 5 km wide, and lies at an altitude of just a few metres above sea level. This Spain is composed essentially of beaches, large hotels, bars and nightclubs. It is resolutely modern, and international - a place where people speak lots of different languages, among them Spanish and Catalan. And the drink is cheap.
Bits of the real Spain can be found on this seaside strip - enclaves of agriculture or inhospitable hills; and along the north coast of Spain, there are still plenty of them. But the coastal strips of Spain are just a tiny fraction of this large country, a country with a fabulous historical and environmental heritage.
The iHi independent hotel directory is of little use to anyone looking for cheap accommodation on the Spanish costas. But if it's the real Spain you're wanting to discover, iHi has some good addresses for places to stay.

SPAIN

Town and country hotels to suit all budgets

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A totally independent selection of small spanish hotels with character

Choose a region Choisir votre région
Northern Spain	Catalonia
Central Spain
Valencia & Murcia,	Andalucia
Click one of the links above or click on the map

A carefully chosen independent customer-led selection of good value hotels with character

This hotel selection is quite independent : and listing with iHi is not open to all independent hotels - far from it.
Unlike most directories, hotels cannot just pay to be listed or featured with Independent-hotels.info. iHi lists only independent hotels - and in the case of Spain - some hotels from small chains that respect the individuality of each hotel. To be listed, all hotels must meet a range of quality, location and price criteria, good quality good value hotels for independent travellers.
For Spain, iHi lists come hotels belonging to small independent chains, for the simple reason that in quite a few Spanish towns, we do not know of any independent hotels meating our criteria; and rather than offer travellers no hotels at all in these towns, iHi considers it to be more useful to list the hotels that come nearest to meeting our criteria, even if they are not independent.

The iHi criteria:

Location: iHi has sought out wherever possible hotels in attractive locations, away from noisy main roads. There are country hotels and town hotels, most of the latter in side streets or on roads with little night-time traffic. Though a word of warning here; Spanish towns and cities are, almost by definition, noisy places on warm evenings. At the end of day, when work is over, Spain lives outdoors - and in cities, that means in the street, where the noise of voices continues to echo off the walls until - sometimes - the small hours.
Character: most hotels in the iHi independent hotel directory are in period buildings, converted farms or haciendas, old inns, or classic town houses. A few modern hotels are included, when these are the best options available for a given location or area.
Welcome: iHi editors have read through thousands of hotel reviews, to include only hotels where many travellers have reported friendly, helpful and welcoming staff.
Value: iHi has selected hotels offering good value for money. Good value hotels are not necessarily cheap hotels; they are hotels whose prices are competitive or low compared to other hotels of similar standing in the same area. iHi includes a number of "hostales" as well as hotels.

To be listed on iHi , a hotel must rank well on at least three of the four above criteria.
To book rooms, you will be directed either to a booking portal offering the best rates avaialble, or in some cases directly to the hotel's own website. While most hotels now use booking portals, some do not - but this is not a reason to be excluded from the iHi directory if criteria are met.

Some observations on Spanish hotels.

The Spanish hotel classification system
The classification of Spanish hotels runs from five stars to no stars. The Spanish, as a nation, enjoy good quality hotels, with the result that even in small Spanish towns one may come across exuberant four-star or even five-star hotels of the kind that one would not find in many small towns in France or the UK.
Hostales are not hostels, but small guest houses, with normally no more than ten rooms; in most cases, they are run by live-in owners. Classifications for hostales exist, but vary according from province to province. In some provinces the classification of hostales runs from zero to three stars; in others only to two stars. With some hostales, star ranking is inappropriate, since it is based on amenities rather than on the unquantifiable convivial qualities that can be more easily found in small establishments than in big hotels..

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Free hotel listings with iHi - strictly for independent hotels
Recommend a good and calm independent hotel in France, Spain, Italy or the UK.
If you run or have stayed in a small independent hotel that you think ought to be in this directory, contact iHi with details. Send an email to ihi "at" independent-hotels.info .
Maximum size: 40 rooms. City hotels: acceptable up to 75 rooms. No chains. Only independent establishments or hotels belonging to very small independent chains. Affiliation to a referral chain (Logis de France, Inter Hotels) is no problem.
If you are a hotel owner and have a site that presents your independent hotel or guest house, send us an email giving details. We will send you further information. iHi privileges calm hotels in a quiet environment.

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