e appreciate that the quality of hotels is a major factor contributing to the enjoyment of your tour as well as being an important aspect of the cultural experience. Indeed, we often try to use smaller family-owned hotels, combining modern comforts with local character.

CHARACTER, COMFORT AND PEACE OF MIND... We always seek to combine convenient locations and local character with safety and security, and our standard range of 2 star Tourist and 3 star Superior Tourist Class hotels, always with private bathrooms, offer comfort, peace of mind and excellent value for money. However, we can only book individual hotels once we have received a group's Booking Form, so the sooner you can organise your group and forward a deposit to us, the better chance we have of confirming our first-choice hotels.

NO MULTI-BEDDED ROOMS, COTS OR SOFAS... Although many student tour operators describe themselves as 'the trendsetter in quality accommodation,' you might be surprised to discover in the small print of their brochures that they add sofa beds and camp beds to their twin rooms and will often cram multiple students in a room! We certainly do not consider sofa beds and camp beds to be quality accommodation, and we ensure that all the hotel rooms we use are spacious and have comfortable beds. Accommodation is mainly in twin rooms with the occasional use of generously sized triple rooms.

FLEXIBILITY TO SUIT YOUR BUDGET... As Casterbridge Tours has excellent contacts and buying power with hotels throughout Britain and Europe, we can provide any standard of accommodation required by individual groups at a competitive rate. Therefore, if your group's budget is restricted, we can provide accommodation in university halls of residence, superior youth hostels and one star hotels, although we never sacrifice cleanliness and comfort for cost saving. Alternatively, we can upgrade our Standard Tourist Class hotels to guarantee Superior Tourist or First Class hotels.

CONSTANT RE-EVALUATION... Our Group Leader and group member evaluation forms consistently award our hotel choices high ratings, but we never rest on our laurels and we continually evaluate and inspect new properties throughout Europe with your complete comfort and satisfaction our goal.