1) When did your property first open? How many staff do you have working with you?
I opened on September 2000 and I have an employee.
2) How many rooms are available at your property? How would you classify your property’s target (luxury, tourists, students)?
We have 5 rooms and our target is mainly tourist looking for a luxury experience.
3) How many tourists do you receive each year? What are the most popular nationalities (and in what percentage of guests, roughly)?
Most of our guests are Americans. The remaining are European citizen, especially English, German and Spanish but also Australians and Canadians.
4) Why would you recommend a tourist should stay in a B&B rather than a Hotel? What is the best time of year to stay at your property?
The strengths of a B&B are the warm welcoming and the value for money. The B&B offers a quality like a 3 or 4 star hotel at a reasonable price with the acceptance and assistance that only a friend could reserve.
Every moment is the right one for staying at Cimatori and is always a good time to visit an art city like Florence; our great effort should be toward fall / winter time when the influx of tourism usually falls and competition, especially the big hotels, makes war on falling prices. Moreover on Fall and Winter you can visit the city better and there are less queues at museums.
5) What is the added value of the service offered by your B&B? What top three reasons would you give a potential guest for staying with you?
The position is an advantage because every tourist attraction is just a few minutes walking.. The quality that comes from the ongoing effort on our part to learn and grow, thanks mainly to our guests. The acceptance and willingness to assist the guest from his arrival and throughout his stay, reserving everything we expect when ourselves become tourists on holiday in the rest of the world.
6) …And 3 reasons to visit Florence…
The art, the food and… the Cimatori
7) 5 restaurants, 5 bars, 5 monuments, 5 tourist spots that you would always recommend to your clients (at least to the nice ones!…)
Restaurants: Birreria Centrale , Trattoria da Mario, Anita, I 13 gobbi, Anita, La pentola dell’oro
Night club: Noir, Negroni, Jazz Club, Golden view Open bar, Zoe e Flo Lounge Bar .
Momuments: Uffizi Gallery, Accademy, Bargello Museum, Medici Chapels, Medici Palace, San Marco Museum, Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens and Brancacci Chapel.
Tourist Attractions: Siena e San Gimignano, Pisa e Lucca, San Miniato, Fiesole.
8) What are the main communication tools you use to promote your property? How importante is the Internet? Do you also use Web 2.0 (social networks, facebook, flickr, youtube)?
First of all the ” Word of Mouth” focusing on quality of service by making our customers our best advertising. Secondly, but not least, Internet, used with constancy and care supported by reliable professionals. We also use several social networks including Facebook and YouTube.
9) How has your website evolved over the past few years? In your experience what are the fundamental tools required to best manage a tourist site?
Improving and updating constantly the web site contents and by following the evolution of internet and visitors.
10) Have you ever considered the idea of a blog with updated news on your site or a presentational video showing your property and services?
I am currently taking in consideration the blog idea; we already had on line a presentation video.
11) Could you briefly describe the movement of the bookings at your property in recent years? Are you optimistic for the future? Why?
Over the last years tourists have decreased, accommodations available increased as well as
Internet users; the coincidence of these factors requires more effort to get, often, lower results.
Optimistic? Ever!
Visit the website of B&B Cimatori: www.cimatori.it
Find a B&B in Florence with www.bedandbreakfastflorence.com
