hotels of best of italy tour, do they have AC?

When I did the 17 day Best of Italy tour all the hotels had a/c and private baths.

The tours do not always use the same hotel, but would expect all would be similar.

Have done 3 RS tours in Italy and all rooms had a/c and en suites.

Why don’t you contact the Tour Sales dept and ask them about the hotels on this tour?

I went on this tour in mid-October 2016 and all the hotels had ac and en-suite even though we didn’t need the cooling at this time of year. Even in Rome, we had very mild temperatures!
My point is all the hotels had AC and the rooms were en-suite. Your best bet is to call the RS office and they will be sure to help you.

The place to see if a tour might have a shared bath situation is to go to the tour information page, scroll down and click of Physical Demands. For Best of Italy, “shared bathroom” is not listed.

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours

As a contrast, click on Europe on the tour list, click on the iconic 21 Day Best of Europe, click Physical Demands. This is one that has a possibility of a shared bath if the particular departure date stays at the hotel in Stechelberg.

I think there is one other tour with a shared bath possibility…maybe in one of the Scandinavian countries?

I've done four RS tours including Best of Italy and there were a couple of hotels without AC, including the agriturismo, but I traveled in spring when it wasn't needed, though it did end up being 85 in Rome (that hotel had cooling). I've never had to share a bathroom, other than with a roommate. As suggested you can call the RS folks and find out if your comfort expectations will be met on a particular tour. You can also check out scrapbooks from prior tour members to get a flavor of hotels (they don't always stay the same place) https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/scrapbooks/tour-alum-scrapbooks

As others have mentioned, the best place to find this out would be the RS Office.
But I can say that when we were on the BOE 14 tour, all of our Italy hotels had a/c and private baths (Florence, Venice, Rome).
However, we found in general that European a/c is not as refrigerator-like as what we generally experience in the US. But it was enough to cool us down/take the edge off without us having to put on sweaters:)

Best of Italy tour in 2017: we stayed at the Villa Cipressi in Varenna in September. No A/C, comfortable with window open, but I got mosquito bites. So now I carry a packet or two of mosquito repellent.
No shared bath on that tour.

The shared bath down the hall while common 20,30 years ago is not frequent these days. Our last shared bath was maybe ten years ago. However, marginal AC is common. Many if not all rooms are set up with a master control switch for electricity for the room and that includes the AC. The AC will only run if you are in the room. The problem arises if you are gone all day and the room becomes very hot. The AC may struggle to get the temperature down within a reasonable time period when you return. I know the US concept of AC is a uniform 68 degrees but is not the standard in Europe so you may have to do a little adjustment. But that is part of traveling.

OK, for the shared bathrooms, based on checking the Physical Demands section of each tour, I see the following tours have the possibility of shared bathrooms.

• 21 Day Best of Europe (it doesn't say it but this is the hotel in Stechelberg as mentioned before)
• 14 Day Best of Europe (same deal and they don't all stay in Stechelberg)
• Family 14 Day Best of Europe (description says "Be content with the possibility of your family sharing bathroom facilities on this tour.")
• Best of Scandinavia in 14 days ( description says "Be content with sharing bathroom facilities at your Ærø B&B.")

I don't see any others with shared bath possibilities. Even the 2 tours that are solely in Switzerland do not have shared baths. They both stay in the Lauterbrunnen area as does the Germany, Austria, Switzerland tour but all must stay up in Muerren and all those hotels have ensuite baths.

We went in the fall and wished we had AC in Rome and Florence and heat in Milan. These are considered seasonal in Italy and, for heat at least, there's an on date.

Rick's hotels are chosen in advance, but it's possible there could be a necessary substitution along the way so you lose the AC.

Even if your hotel has air conditioning, it doesn't mean it will be turned on. In many areas of Italy, local ordinances dictate when a hotel can turn on their a/c. I have spent numerous May's in Italy and most off the air conditioned hotels didn't have it turned on. "It was too early in the season" they would say.

If you want small group tours with better centrally located hotels, and no shared baths, take a look at Odysseys Unlimited. The prices they quote incude airfare but you can pay for land only.

I've toured in Italy with both companies.