Rick Steve's Best Of Italy Tour Hotels

You should start with checking tour scrapbooks created by past tour participants to get an idea of what the tour is like and what kind of hotels are used.

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/scrapbooks/tour-alum-scrapbooks

Also, search this forum for Trip Reports for this specific tour. Here are some to get you started:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/best-of-italy-video

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/best-of-italy-sept-30-october-16-2022

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/best-of-italy-in-17-days-hotel-list

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/my-way-italy-may-2022-snippets

Concerned about type of hotels included in package since we've never traveled using a tour.

What is your 'concern' ?

Not done a My Way tour, but have no reason to believe there would be any substantive difference in the hotels used on the 'regular' tours

Thank you Mary! Great ideas I didn't know existed!

Joe32F, No specific concerns just not sure what to expect. We usually book small, clean, boutique type places. Concerned if these would be large, generic, etc.

I think Rick Steve's first choice is for smaller, family run hotels in locations that make it easy to walk out the door and be in the middle of things, and often they are. Over 10 tours, there have been a wide variety of hotels, some of them quite fancy, some of them "fine" , most of them somewhere in between.

I don't believe there is any difference in hotel quality between the My Way versus guided tours - they're both arranged by RS, just the style of the tour is different. If you've already booked the tour, you should have first/last hotel information on your tour account page. The full hotel list is usually sent out about 30-40 days prior to departure.

The links provided above will give you ideas about the type and style of hotels used on tours. The RS guide books will also give you ideas about styles and locations of hotels, though not all tour hotels are listed in the guides. I did the BOI tour in 2004 and several of the hotels I stayed in are still being used by recent tour groups. I have noticed over the years the hotels are skewing toward business style hotels with more comforts, but that may or may not be the case on your tour. I think this is mostly due to the demise of the small family owned hotel (Cameron Hewitt discussed this topic in his recent Monday Night Travel talk).

We've done two RS tours in Italy -- Village Italy in 14 Days, and Southern Italy. Both times we stayed in smaller, older hotels in the "city center" (except of the lovely villa in the Tuscan countryside). Of course, the location is the best, but some might not have air conditioning or an elevator and in most of them you are walking as far as a half mile because the bus can only get so close. But it's all part of the Italian experience.

Haven't done a My Way tour, but I would assume that the hotels would be similar.

Concerned if these would be large, generic, etc.

That is last description that would apply to a RS tour hotel

If I remember correctly, we stayed in the Hotel Royal Victoria in Varenna, Hotel Cavallino D'Oro in Castelrotto, Hotel Pasquale in Monterosso, as examples. You do get your first and last hotels after you register and the complete list, I think, 30 days out. Hotels can range from so/so to very nice but on all our RS tours, the hotels have always been clean. If you are looking for 5 star accommodations, this isn’t the tour for you. He seems to base his hotel selection more on cleanliness and proximity to sites.

A great way to learn about Rick's type of hotel is to check out the Italy book from your library. You'll receive your own copy of the book before your tour, but not right away after you sign up. Borrow the book now to set your mind at ease - you can read in depth how he describes the hotels, look them up on line, and know that he's very likely picking from among his suggested hotels for your tour.

Thank you everyone! First timer with RS and guided tour so appreciate the help.
No more help needed but not sure how to turn off comments :)