Hotels on RS tours

Terri, your criteria of

clean, centrally located with decent breakfasts are priorities.

pretty much hit the mark in describing RS tour hotels. We've taken 14 tours over the last 11 years, and have enjoyed pretty much every hotel. Some of them have been more "basic" than others, and a couple were downright plush. I'm not a reliable reporter on A/C; I don't use it. But I do remember several hotels where we had to keep turning the A/C off when returning to our room, because the staff kept turning it on.

I only remember one hotel with inadequate breakfasts; generally they are copious, with an array of breads, cold cuts, cheeses, fruits, and sometimes cereals, eggs, yoghurt... Always coffee, often a range of teas and juices.

Of course, some folks have had RS hotels that they found inadequate; sometimes this is a matter of taste or expectations. Not always, of course. We may have been extraordinarily lucky to have found every hotel at least adequate, and most of them downright enjoyable.

Most of them have been centrally located, but I do remember at least one - one of the plushier ones - on the Village Italy tour that was located well outside the nearest city. And I think at least one of the Italy tours stays at an agriturismo. But most tour hotels are very well located.

I've been on only two RS tours (one in Italy) but my experience with the hotels was very good. Central location is key to the experience, even more so if you're doing your own sightseeing. No problems with cleanliness or breakfast quality. All had character and helpful staff. I don't remember any AC but my trips were in October so it didn't matter.

Edit -- See this new thread asking whether the "My Way" tours use different hotels from the escorted ones. I don't know the answer but it will certainly matter to you. The RS company tends to use the same hotels over and over in a season, and I don't know any reason why they would differ by type of tour.

I have taken 10 RS tours over the past 15 years, none of them were the My Way versions. The quality of the hotels has only improved since I started and only one hotel was a disappointment. In recent years, all have had WiFi, good breakfasts (I eat a lot so some of the B&B places could have fed me more), excellent and helpful and friendly staff, very clean, perfect locations, and many have had A/C. A few have not had 24 hour front desk clerks, but they tell you to keep your key so you can let yourself in.

The one disappointment was a hotel which started major renovations right before we arrived resulting in a rickety temporary stairway being the only way up to the rooms (4 floors of rooms) and the breakfast being served in the library room. The work crews started every morning around 06:30 and worked until 20:30 so if you were hanging around the hotel, the noise was intrusive. We spent 3 days in this hotel.

Eight RS tours and the hotels seem to get better and better. Not super plush, but they will meet all you requirments. Nothing to worry about in my opinion.

I would echo TC. After many tours the hotels do seem to be better. But, an important caveat-not all rooms within a hotel are the same. On our tours the guides seemed to know this and “mixed it up”. If you got a clunker on one stop-funny toilet, wall such that you bang your head, etc.-you did better on the next. But not always. We took note of rooms we thought were substandard and if we got yet another on the next stop we spoke up. Once our room was changed. Another time the rest of our rooms were clearly the best. Don’t be shy!

My experience in 2006 was like that of the previous poster, in that some in our group got much nicer rooms than others...it was just "luck of the draw". However, now I'm concerned about another thread I was directed to in which someone said the "My Way" hotels were different, and much worse. Following up on that, and will call RS offices tomorrow.

18 RS tours and the hotels are getting better than when I started in 2001. I have almost no complaints about the rooms or food. I look forward to RS tour #19 in 2021 or 2022, whenever RS starts up their tours again. Most of the tour hotels I have stayed in did not have AC but in living in Hawaii with temperatures lately around 90*F I do not have AC there so have not gotten use to it anyway.

Ok, this isn’t a competition but in my 22 tours experience, I think Jane has posted the best general summation of the tour hotels. They have upgraded most of their hotel choices since I began traveling with this company (about half those as a single) as far as amenities, space and general comfort and they all have offered a wonderful experience. In all those hotels, there was only one that I considered just below what I personally have learned to expect but hey, it was only one night and we were in Bosnia! None of those tours were My Way tours but I’ll be watching for those specific replies. Every hotel I stayed in provided what your priorities are.

I can't comment on the caliber of RS "My Way" tour hotel's, but I can echo the positive reviews for the other tours. We have taken 4 RS tours and believe the hotel's would meet your priorities. To the best of our recollection we've had one or two hotel rooms that didn't have A/C. The hotel provided a fan and it was tolerable. We usually travel independently and hire guides along the way.

Hi Terri

I did the My Way Italy last October after numerous guided tours. I saw no difference between the hotels on this tour compared to the escorted tours. In my notes, I had checked them out on Booking.com and all but one were rated 8.7 or above. The Hotel California in Florence had the lowest rating, but when you walked out the front door and the Duomo was just two blocks ahead of you, I didn't care about much else. I felt all were in fine locations, breakfasts were fine and all had great staff.

It was a great tour and I was able to do whatever I had on my list, one of the highlight being taking the train to Milan and seeing the Last Supper. This was one of the friendliest groups I have ever been with and there were lots of dinner meetups and happy hours.

October is a great month to go and hopefully we can all travel again by then.

Leslie

Hey, thanks Leslie. Would it be an imposition to ask the names of some of the hotels on the RS Italy My Way tour? I'd like to check the general ratings on Booking.com and TripAdvisor too. If not, I'm wondering how far in advance of the tour date you are provided with the hotel names. In my (ancient) 2006 recollection, we didn't get that info until pretty close to the tour start date.

Sure Terri, these were the ones we stayed at.
Venice - Hotel Antigo Travatore
Lake Como - Villa Cipressi
Monterosso - Hotel la Colonnina
Florence - Hotel California
Asissi - Hotel Umbra
Rome - Dharma Style Hotel

You get the names of the 1st and last hotel as soon as you sign up. You don't get the rest until about 30 days out.

Thanks so much.

Terri,

I've only taken one My Way tour and based on my experience, the hotels were of the same type and quality as on the regular tours. All of them provided the same "decent breakfast" that all hotel guests had. At this point, I have no way of knowing if the breakfasts at European hotels will still be provided in the same way due to the pandemic.

The prime criteria for RS hotels (and they do change them around based on availability) is location. They have to be near enough to attractions in order for you to be able to walk or take public transportation to sights. And they negotiate breakfasts and hours to accommodate the tour schedule. For the tours, they have to be big enough to provide 12-15 rooms, so they might not be the mom & pop places that he otherwise recommends. But they wont be American-style business class hotels with all those amenities.

Hi, Terri. I just responded to the thread on MyWay hotels where I noticed you had a comment. I won't copy my post here, but am glad to share my thoughts if you go to the earlier post: Hotels “My Way” versus escorted tours.