Accommodation

Your accommodation depends on your location. In some areas we base our costs on hostel accommodation in an effort to keep prices down. City style hotels can often seem more basic than those in a smaller town. Many, but not all of the hotels we use have a 2 star rating. Students’ rooms are multi-bedded and usually have 3 sometimes 4 people to a room. Teachers will be in twin rooms when possible. Where three staff are travelling, a single room is unavoidable and we will cover the cost. A supplement will be charged if staff require additional single rooms.

Usually rooms can only be opened with a key from the outside. Additional security locks and chains are often provided. Hotel reception desks are manned as a rule, 24 hours a day. Very often the night porter speaks very little English, if any. The front doors to hotels are rarely locked overnight.

We do not have control over the allocation of rooms, but request groups are kept together when possible. This does however depend on the season and other bookings at the hotel. The locations of the hotels within the resorts and the resorts we use do vary. We are however always mindful of the requests we receive from party leaders and safety is of paramount importance to us.

Youth Hostels

Youth Hostels have improved greatly in recent years and many are now particularly designated for youth groups. Rooms are basic with combinations of from three to twelve bunk beds. Larger rooms sometimes have en suite facilities and most rooms have washbasins. There are adequate toilet and washing facilities on each floor. Twin rooms are available for party leaders. Sheets are included for group bookings. Meals are self-service. You will need to take your own towels.

Spain

We use an agent based in Spain to find our accommodation. We usually use 2 star hotels in coastal resorts. They are basic but comfortable. Rooms are en suite, but often have either a bath or a shower. Most hotels have a pool, a bar and a television lounge. Accommodation is usually provided on a full board basis. Packed lunches are provided for day trips. Meals are very often self-service buffet style, catering for most tastes, but not particularly English cuisine. Most rooms have balconies and certainly one of the hotels we use has rooms on the ground floor with direct access to the pool area.

France

Paris

The hotels we use are classed as city style hotels and tend to be from chains such as Ibis, Comfort Inns and Campanile. They are usually about 30 minutes coach drive from the city centre. Most of our tours have a coach available to the group for the whole of the stay. Traffic congestion can increase the length of the journey. Breakfast is a continental breakfast with bread, jam, croissant or similar. Tea and coffee are available and usually fruit juice. Many hotels offer a buffet style breakfast, which may include fruit, cereals and cold meats. Although some hotels have bars and restaurants, this is not always the case. Sometimes a small ‘bar’ is available in the reception area, which is manned by the reception staff. If there is a restaurant, a booking is required if the whole group intends eating there.

UK

London

Here we use either the purpose built Youth Hostel in Rotherhithe, where all the rooms are en-suite or the beautiful old hostel at Hampstead Heath. These are by far the best option for accommodation in London. We also use the university accommodation during June to September. This is however often only available on a bed and breakfast basis. Central London hotel accommodation is usually too expensive for school groups. We can offer excellent accommodation near Heathrow and in other out of town locations.

Stratford upon Avon

Our choice of accommodation here is Hemmingford House, the Youth Hostel a short ride from the town. Set in its own grounds it offers rooms for hire where workshops can be held. Few of the larger hotels in Stratford upon Avon will take school groups. For smaller groups, often travelling by train, we use guest houses in the town. Although these have few rooms, we can work with several guesthouses in the same street to provide sufficient accommodation.