Italy Florence Casa Howard Guest Houses The Best Hotel Deals

Amusing and cleverRight splash in the centre of Florence (or Rome) the non hotel' Casa Howard has been winning international success now for years. International Travel magazines, together with Fashion, Lifestyle and Architectural ones have published on these small guest houses hundreds of articles. Transforming family properties in S. Maria Novella in Florence or in the Spanish Steps in Rome with no bar or restaurant and not even a concierge, these guesthouses couple the most technological systems with very appealing and different decorations in every room. This very particular formula has started to be copied so much as for the Times to proclaim CH as the inventor of luxury guest houses. The truth is that word of mouth together with the kind of service you would expect in a private home and no usual commercial objects and style you see in boutique hotels are the winning key for travelled guests, sick of the impersonal touch of the traditional hotels. Style is obvious when e.g.wines of well known wine makers are offered at cellar rates, olive oil pressed in the family mill is given as a present, small dogs are welcome, flowers are beautiful (from their garden), textiles are astonishing so.... all contribute to this special blend'. Smart travellers have decreed its success not as much for the rates, which are lower than well known and close-by hotels, but for the detail and philosophy of this Company, which was born also for the need to up keep and re structure antique family properties. The house key is given with a silver key holder that refers to their brand a dachshund. Breakfast,optional, is served in bed and consists of home baked croissant, home made jam or honey, freshly cut fruit and orange squash all served on Ginori china and English silver cutlery. In the bathroom, some are really stunning, you have soap and shampoo from the Antica Farmacia di S.M. Novella (Summer you get mint and Winter you get pomegranate scent). Lovely marbles, frescoes, parquet floors, Turkish bath in every house, optical fibre, heated floors, large TV screens,an entire library and also English speaking Housekeepers, help in booking shows, choosing restaurants or looking for shops leave Guests with a pleasant feeling and they always return.