Today I’m joined by the UK’s leading hotel critic, Fiona Duncan. Fiona has been writing about and reviewing hotels for 35 years. She began her career writing travel guides before launching her own book series with her husband The Charming Small Hotels Guides back in the 1980s.In the late 90s she was asked to write about hotels for the Telegraph, which she continues to this day, with a weekly hotel column in the Sunday Telegraph. They call her the Hotel Guru, Country & Town House Magazine call her the Hotel Wizard, for which she is also travel editor and the editor of their great British hotels guide.I spoke to Fiona last week in London, and it was so lovely to reconnect with her - Fiona has been a real mentor to me as a travel writer, which has been life changing to be honest, and I’ve learnt so much from her, so this episode means a lot to me. It also means a lot to finally have a female guest on this season, I wanted to have a completely gender balanced season this time, and just the way things have panned out annoyingly with people’s availability and covid, that just hasn’t been possible. But next week also we have fantastic female guest joining us which I’m really looking forward to as well. This is an episode for hotel lovers, Fiona has visited well over 600 of them just for her column alone, and if you’re looking for recommendations here in the UK and in Europe, she has some great tips to share, and ones that won’t break the bank too.DESTINATION RECAP:Orient Express to Venice Le Sirenuse, Positano, Italy Seaview, Isle of Wight, EnglandMallorca, SpainAntigua and the CaribbeanFormentera, SpainGecko Beach, Formentera, SpainHambleton Hall, Rutland, EnglandGravetye Manor, West Sussex, EnglandLangar Hall, Nottinghamshire, England The Lamb at Shipton-Under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire, EnglandGlebe House, Devon, EnglandThe Goring Hotel, London, England Howtown Hotel, Ullswater, England Santa Catarina, Amalfi Coast, ItalyLocanda Cipriani, Venice, Italy Limewood, New Forest, England Lake Nagin, Kashmir, IndiaGulmarg, IndiaVilla Mahal, Kalkan, Turkey The Fish Shack, Kalkan, TurkeyKathmandu, NepalTiger Tops, NepalMexicoRavenna, Italy GeorgiaTransylvaniaKoufonisia, GreeceAmorgos, Greece Thank you so much for listening today. If you’re enjoying the podcast, then it would be wonderful if you could leave a rating or a review on your podcast app - it really makes a big difference because it helps other people to discover the podcast. And to hear future episodes as soon as they’re released don’t forget to hit subscribe.To find out who’s joining me on next week’s episode, come and follow me on Instagram, I’m @hollyrubenstein - I’d love to hear from you. If you can’t wait until then, there’s always the first four seasons to catch up on, with guests from Michael Palin and Heston Blumenthal, to Sir Ranulph Fiennes to Hugh Bonneville. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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