ITALIAN HOTELS

Hotel structures in Italy are definitely one of the strengths of the service industry and of the Italian economy. Hotels in our country are classified into five categories ( or “star”) ranging from “one-star hotel”, which are the cheapest and the most scarce to “five-star hotels” which are the most expensive and the most luxurious, this kind of structure is characterized especially for the services they offer and for wonderful facilities that differentiate them from others hotels.

Inside four and five stars hotels can also be found thermal resources (waters, muds, sulfur springs, etc.), wellness centers, and SPA. In addition to hotels, which are accommodation establishments open to the public, which, usually provided in rooms or suites located in one or more buildings or even in parts of them, also offer their customers food and other ancillary services there are other hotels facilities for tourists like “bed&breakfast” that are hotels in private homes. In various Italian regions there is the possibility for private individuals to exercise a family-run accommodation business, offering tourists accommodation and breakfast service, in no more than four rooms of the housing unit for residential use and with a maximum of ten places; “agriturismo”, located in rural buildings, equipped by agricultural entrepreneurs to welcome tourists. They are farms in countryside, hill, or mountain locations, in which the normal agricultural activities (crops, breeding, artisanal food production) are accompanied by hospitality. Furnished in an essential but comfortable way, these very particular hotels offer the tourist food of their own or local production, motels, campsites, tourist villages, and holidays house.

According to the needs of the tourist, there is a huge choice of hotel in any place: on the mountain, near the sea or in cities.

Hotels still remain the first choice for 6 out of 10 foreign tourists, while 10% choose rented accommodation. For 52% of travelers, hotel reservations are made via the internet, an incidence that even rises to 67% for those who sleep in rented accommodation. The data of the Italians who have chosen the Peninsula for their holidays are also significant: 30% of the holidays took place in hotels and tourist villages (23% of overnight stays), 15% in other collective structures, including bed & breakfasts ( 12% of nights). On the other hand, houses and rooms for rent represent about 8% of holiday trips and 11.5% of nights.