Travel & Vacation Guide

While vacationing in Barcelona, there is no doubt, a number of places to see and travel around. Romancing Barcelona requires time and commitment which can be fulfilled if you make your stay memorable with the right selection of accommodation in hotels and apartments available just for you!
The question that comes to the mind of the traveler is where to stay and what alternative to select from the whole lot of available options. One can rent a room, an apartment, or stay in a hotel according to what suits his/her pocket. The choice is all yours!
Barcelona is full of hotels and luxury apartments all year round. Hence the choice has to be made on the basis of some important factors such as:

•    If you are planning for long term rental, then it is advisable to do proper research before renting an apartment. The reason being that you are moving to a new city and hotels would be expensive to your pockets. Choosing an apartment instead of a hotel room would be cost-efficient, providing you more privacy and self catering services. You can make your apartment feel just like your home wherein you can have all facilities that you require, at an affordable price. You can choose the location according to your choice.
•    If you are planning for a holiday apartment in Barcelona, it would be another best choice as you can easily bargain over the rental fee. Traveling with a group minimizes the total accommodation expenses. Typical rent ranges between 80 to 350 euros per night depending on the location, the size of the apartment etc. It is thus suggested to make arrangements before the peak season starts i.e. booking in advance to avoid any inconvenience or non-availability at the time you reach your dream land.
•    While signing the contract of the apartment, one should check in for the location, type of house whether furnished or unfurnished and of course the budget. Try out some best websites that provides genuine deals for renting an apartment. Some apartments do provide terrace and garden to help you live in a peaceful environment.
•    If money is not the criteria, there are ample numbers of holiday apartments available in Barcelona. In that case, you need to click the right landlord. If, however, your aim is to look for the best holiday apartment, you need to be patient enough, as every close vicinity in Barcelona vary with its unique appealing factor.

One can look in for best holiday apartments in Las Ramblas, Eixample, Barcelona beaches, or the old town Barcelona. While the Eixample and Ramblas are known for their street noise, old town is famous for its historic beauty although it has very small roads. It gives you the feeling of living in a historic and charming neighborhood.

A large number of people visit London every year for leisure or business purpose. London offers them rich culture, varied cuisines, high fashion and huge financial markets. London is a highly expensive city in the U.K. Food and accommodation can cost a huge amount of money. So, if you are planning to visit London for a short duration or for a longer period, rent London apartments to save your money and feel at home.

London has some of the best hotels in the world. London hotels offer the best facilities to their guests and ensure they have a memorable experience. However, most of them charge exorbitant rates. London apartments are extremely good alternatives to highly expensive London hotels.

For those of you who want all the facilities of a modern hotel, London apartments are a perfect choice. Apartments in London are completely furnished to make your stay comfortable. They have all the essential features like warm and spacious bedrooms, well-equipped kitchens, large dining rooms and living spaces, bathrooms with bath and shower, towels and linen. You will feel as if you are staying at your own home. You also get direct dial telephones, color TV’s with various channels, Internet connection and central heating in most of the apartments in London. Those of you who want modern facilities, there are London Flats designed specially for you. Build in unique and elegant architectural style, such apartments in London offer parking, laundry and proper security arrangements other than the basic amenities.

London apartments provide all the facilities of hotels and all at very affordable rates. Apart from being a cost-effective alternative, London flats allow you to enjoy the privacy and flexibility that you cannot find in the hotels. You are neither disturbed by hotel staff nor are you compelled to go out for expensive dining in London. London Apartments are all yours. You can cook whatever you want to eat in your own kitchen, watch your favorite channel or sleep in your comfortable bedroom. It is like a home away from home.

You can find suitable apartments at various locations in London like Hyde Park, Belgravia, Mayfair, Chelsea, Knightsbridge, Kensington, St. James, The City and more at the most competitive rates. Whether you are traveling alone or with your family, as a couple or with a group of friends, you can get London apartments as per your requirements and budget. To get the best London apartments at affordable rates, log on to londonchoice.

A few weeks ago a secretary telephoned me in absolute desperation. She was desperately searching for accommodation in central London for some VIPs from abroad. She stumbled onto my website, not really understanding what the service was about. I think the words ‘free service’, ‘apartments’ just helped her to figure out that Quality London Apartments had something to do with accommodation. Apologies for my long opening, but it is a prime example of how little travelers in the UK and Europe know about the serviced apartment industry. After explaining the concept of serviced apartments and helping her find an apartment, I realized that I needed to share this knowledge further afield. Thus, this article is my contribution to open up this elusive industry and offer tips to travelers.

What is a serviced apartment?

A serviced apartment is a flat in a block, which has a separate bedroom, sitting room/lounge, fully equipped kitchen, your own private keys to own door. Serviced apartments can be in the form of a studio flat (all in one room with a kitchenette), one, two or three bedrooms.

All apartments enjoy maid service, utilities and a management team to help….just like a hotel. Guests only pay for a nightly rate and can live in a flat with everything they would have in their own home.

Pros: Serviced London Apartment vs Hotels

 More value for money and cheaper. In a hotel, no matter which star rating, you pay per night for one room which will have a TV, bathroom, sofa and a bed. This is similar to a studio apartment! In an apartment there is a separate bedroom, kitchen, sitting room, bathroom and dining table (exception is studio)

 Pay per apartment and not per person. An example would be paying £250 per night for a two bedroom apartment, which could accommodate up to 4 people, that works out at £62.50 per person.

 Freedom and privacy. An apartment is like being in your own home and there is plenty of space. You have your own keys to your own door.

 Booking is easy, just like hotels. The majority of apartments require a credit card to guarantee, pre-payment before you arrive and that’s it. No deposits, no tenants’ contracts.

Cons: Serviced London Apartment vs Hotels

 Apartments lacks the buzz and services of a hotel such as restaurants and Room Service. Albeit some apartments are owned by hotels and offer you the use of their restaurants and other services.

 No 24-hour service around the clock. The apartments are ran by a small team who work Monday to Friday 9:00am – 6:00pm, so you are on your own during the weekend. There are emergency numbers to call should you suffer an electric cut, but no 24-hours hotel Duty Manager to run to your room.

 No pool, massages, saunas like hotels

What to look out for when booking a serviced London apartment?

1. Quality of the apartment – make sure you find out if they are clean, well furnished and well maintained. How? Check the photos, and ask if you can book an appointment to view the apartment. This is very important if you are staying over a long period of time.

2. Do they have a friendly and efficient management team? If you need the comfort of a welcoming face to greet you on arrival, then ask for an apartment with a reception. Some apartments provide key boxes, so you can arrive any time, but there is no-one to meet you. A friendly and small team will be able to give you a very personal touch.

3. Opening time of the apartments office – doesn’t sound important? Well it is because the majority of apartments’ operations team open Monday to Friday 9:00am to 6:00pm. If you arrive at your apartment during office open hours, then fine, but any other time and weekends will mean that you will need to pick up the keys from a different location.

4. Key delivery by car at the airport? – If you are flying from abroad to London, and do not fancy traipsing throughout London at night to pick up keys, the majority of apartments will hire a taxi to deliver your keys to the airport upon your arrival. Convenient for a small charge.

5. Payment procedure and cancellation policy – every apartment vary in their guest terms and conditions. All will accept a credit card as a guarantee of reservation, some will ask for 100% pre-payment at least 7 days prior to arrival and cancellation can range from 12:00pm on the day of arrival to 28 days. So, before you confirm the reservation, be very clear about the terms and conditions. Ask your apartment agents to explain the procedure to you and read the terms and conditions on your confirmation emails. It will save you a great deal of trouble and headache later.

6. Apartments are always allocated on arrival. This policy is the same as any hotel, so unless you are a regular guest to a specific apartment, apartments are on allocations. In the same breath, some apartments only have a small number of flats, so if you are reserving the only 3 bedrooms penthouse in their collection, then you are guaranteed that specific apartment.

7. Rates become more competitive the longer you stay. In this, we mean you have more bargaining power if you are staying for one month or longer. This is when your apartment agent can really help you by negotiating with a variety of apartments to get you the best deal.

8. Using an apartment agent will also save you time searching, but most importantly they will work with your budget and negotiate a great deal for you. Of course, you also need to be realistic about what you can book, don’t expect to spend £80 per night for a luxury apartment. For example, one of our clients had £300 budget per night for a two bedroom apartment and he wanted something luxury. For those readers who know London well, also understands that this budget is actually very small. Despite that, we booked him and 3 friends into the Victoria Park Plaza luxury apartment (£150 per night less than the usual price) for £300 per night with free breakfast, gym and access to the executive lounge. Any apartment agent worth their salt can and will move mountains to help you.

What if I don’t like the apartment when I get there?

If you really feel that you have been hard done by, tell the apartment management team and ask to be moved to another apartment. All of the apartments that we work with are very customer focussed and try to help guests enjoy their stay. If this does not work, talk to your apartment agent, if that is how you booked. Best advice though, is to ask all the right questions before you book an apartment.

Your appetite for apartments is now whetted – how do you find London apartments?

1. As already explained, you can choose a free search and book service of an apartment agent or go direct to a specific apartment that you know. Both methods are absolutely fine, dependent of your knowledge of London apartments. Using an agent will mean that they will search far across their portfolio and present you with a variety of choices…all within 10-15 minutes. Agents are impartial and will only (good agents anyway) recommend the quality apartments for your needs.

2. You can use search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN to find apartments. Type in keywords like ‘London serviced apartments’ or ‘quality London apartments’ and so on.

3. Stating the obvious but, ask for a recommendation from friends and acquaintances.

4. Check on Tripadvisor and other customer review websites.

Summary

If you have read this far, then thank you for your time. I have tried to make this article clear and as helpful as possible, but I welcome your comments and any further information that you feel is very important.

Book your accommodation in Prague online!

Do you plan your business trip or holiday trip to Prague? We have solution of your accommodation in Prague. Prague has lots of options of accommodation. We offer the best quality Prague hotels and apartments in this town. On our site you can choose from hunderts Prague hotels, apartments, pensions and hostels. In our offer are three, four and five stars Prague hotels and apartments too. Every hotel has got short description and some photos. Also you can  book your accommodation online and, when you came to Prague, you will not have any sorrows.

5 stars hotel Esplanade

Right at the centre of Prague, just a few steps from the Wenceslas Square and close to the State Opera House there is the 5-stars Esplanade Hotel, Prague. The Hotel was built in the Art nouveau style and is attractive particularly for its peaceful and quiet environment. The hotel supplies requirements even of the most exacting tourists as well as businessmen.

Services: elevator, phone in room, cable TV, dryer, fohn, washing machine, own bathroom, own WC, parking, breakfast, restaurant, credit card acceptance, wifi internet, internet

Abut Prague

Prague is the capital city of Czech republic. 1,2 milon people live there, but in historical city center live only 40 000 people. Other people live in estats of Prague. Local tenantry call this city “Hunderts tower Prague”. Prague has got very interesting centre with historical tone. Prague hotels are in this center too, and you can live in hunderts yars old building with luxury accessories in interior.

Hotels have traditionally been the first port of call for most companies when doing business in another city. They provide a place for employees to rest and often a city-centre base from which to go out and perform whatever working duties are required. But what are the alternatives? Is there anything that can offer the same comfort and convenience but with a more homely atmosphere? Well, serviced apartments could well provide the solution.

When doing regular business trips between major cities, going from hotel room to hotel room can be a draining experience. Aside from the very best and very worst examples, there’s an inherent uniformity to the layout, style and atmosphere of almost any hotel. With serviced apartments, every place is unique. There are additional facilities at your disposal, including extra living areas and even kitchens, which all go together to make them a real home away from home.

The popularity of these serviced apartments has increased exponentially in recent years, with companies and individual travellers becoming far more aware of their benefits. Whether in London, Liverpool, Manchester or Birmingham, there are plenty of places available catering for varying individual requirements, budgets and city locations.

They can be particularly useful when staying in large groups or over an extended period of time. If there are a number of delegates from a company or even a gathering of friends needing to stay overnight in a city, then a serviced apartment can provide a great focal point and also really help to cut down living costs. If you know you’re going to be in one location for a reasonable duration, apartments can also be a fantastic chance for you to have a homely base from which to work from.

Serviced apartments cover the full spectrum of modern accommodation. You can find basic, affordable options just as easily as you can a sophisticated luxury pad. So whatever your budget and personal taste, you shouldn’t be short of options when it comes to choosing a property.

As with any hotel, serviced apartments tend to be available on a day-to-day basis; giving you the freedom to stay as long as you need. This managed service is often regulated by a travel broker, just as with booking a hotel. Many of these companies have built a wide-ranging portfolio of accommodation options to fulfil the vast majority of customer’s needs. In turn, this ensures better service, increased competition and a standard quality code to meet with your expectations.

As they are serviced, all apartments are kept clean and have maintenance available to deal with any issues. This cost is ordinarily tied in with the rental price, ensuring you don’t get any nasty surprises down the line. So in many respects these apartments aren’t a million miles away from what you can expect from a hotel, certainly in terms of service, but the facilities and other associated benefits give them a whole new dynamic.

So if you’re off to a major city, be it Manchester, Birmingham, London or Liverpool, and fancy trying something new in terms of your accommodation, then why not give serviced apartments a go? You can be right at the heart of things with a comfortable base from which to go about your business. Offering great facilities across a wide range of properties, it’s a versatile industry that is really on the move.