iHi is
Independent-hotels.info
A
directory of small friendly hotels for
discerning independent travellers. Hotels with character for all
budgets, from best bargain low-cost hotels, to good
value quality boutique hotels.
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iHi -
INDEPENDENT
HOTEL DIRECTORY
Hotels
for the discerning and independent traveller. Welcome
to the guide.
This
guide presents a choice of carefully selected small
independent
hotels
in
Europe, offering calm surroundings and a pleasent environment
for
your overnight stay. From popular locations like Andalucia
and the
French Riviera to really out-of the way spots in deepest inland Spain
and
greenest France, iHi offers a carefully selected choice of hotels for
travellers who want to avoid the monotony and predictable sameness of
stereotyped international chain hotels.
While most directories of "character hotels" tend to list
mainly
or exclusively upscale "boutique" hotels with prices beyond the budget
of many travellers, iHi looks out for character hotels of all sorts and
for all budgets. So even if some of the independent hotels listed in
this directory have signed up to exclusive boutique hotel referral
chains, others do not belong to any network or chain of independents.
The
best hotels?
Are these the "best hotels"? Well that depends what you mean
by
"best" . While this guide does include some four-star and even
five-star hotels, it doesn't go for the big glitzy hotels where most of
the guests are glitterati, stars or businessmen on expense-accounts.
Most of these belong to big hotel chains anyway. Although the iHi guide
does include
some good boutique hotels, we don't include those whose prices exclude
most ordinary mortals. For iHi, and for many ordinary
travellers,
the
best
hotels are small hotels where the welcome is friendly, the rooms are
comfortable, the atmosphere is warm, and you can get a good night's
sleep.
The hotels listed tend to be small to
medium-size establishments, friendly hotels with character, often
off the beaten track and in quiet locations. Generally
speaking, hotels have a
maximum
of 40 rooms; many are a lot smaller, a dozen rooms or
less, though the number may be
higher in city locations. You
will not find in this list any
large
hotels, or concrete tower blocks; most of the establishments listed are
just pleasant middle of the
range hotels for ordinary travellers. There
are hotels with stars, and without stars, with
restaurants and without restaurants, hotels with spas, with
saunas, with jacuzzis, with fitness centres, with pools; but also
simple hotels with little more to offer than excellent value for money,
cleanliness, character, charm and a good night's sleep.
Other
accommodation and further information
PLAIN
INFORMATION - NO
HYPE
iHi is
not one of
your standard Internet "guides" to hotels. Independent-hotels.info only
lists friendly hotels that have been chosen for their qualities,
location and
value. That's why our lists are short. No hotel gets lited here unless
it gets good user reviews and/or it has been recommended to us by
travellers.
Online
hotel booking :
Most of the hotels in this directory can be booked online, but this is
not always the case. For some hotels it is necessary to contact the
hotel directly. This can usually be done by
email, in English. .You may well find that online booking
sites offer you better rates than you will get by contacting the hotel
directly - but this is not always the case.
Generally, individuals contacting hotels directly - notably those who
turn up at the door without a reservation - will be charged the
"rack rate" - or standard price for the room. Yet there is often room
to negotiate a price, espcially for an out-of-season
booking.
iHi
qualities
This guide specialises in
hotels that
have very good user reviews, and meet our criteria concerning
location, value for money, character and
quality.
Hotels can apply to be listed in iHi, but will only get approval if
they meet our criteria .
We welcome recommendations from
visitors, will check out hotels that you recommend to us, and list them
if suitable.
With a few exceptions, all hotels
listed in this guide are independently owned and run. A few of the
hotels listed belong to "referral chains", which are not really chains,
but groupings of independent hotels using a common label, such as Logis
de France. Just occasionally the iHi guide includes hotels belonging to
small chains of character hotels, notably when these meet all other
selection criteria, reflect our values, and appear to be a better
option than any independent hotel nearby.
Location
: iHi looks for hotels in quiet locations: this does not mean only
hotels in the heart of the countryside, as that would be too
restrictive. Quiet hotels include those that are not located on busy
streets; many are in the country, but we also include urban hotels
located in relatively quiet locations in town centres or residential
districts.
The iHi guide depends on the
reliability of
user recommendations; we endeavour to make thorough checks on any hotel
website recommended for inclusion in this directory. No hotel sites
included in this
directory are in any way connected with this guide; for this
reason the
iHi
guide cannot under any circumstances be
held liable for the information provided, nor for the accuracy of
content appearing on the
private websites of any external website, hotel or establishment
listed in
the guide.
In the
meantime, happy travelling!
Information
for independent hoteliers...
Adding
small independent hotels to this guide
Hotel owners or travellers:
recommend a
good and calm independent hotel in France, Spain, Italy or the UK.