A boarding house is a type of hotel that combines recreation and treatment. Boarding houses are located mostly in the countryside, in picturesque places near the shores of lakes, in the mountains or on the seashore. As a rule, rooms in boarding houses are not very comfortable. Rooms in boarding houses are single, double and rarely quadruple. Of appliances they have a TV, radio, refrigerator. The tradition of stingy furnishing rooms in many pension remained from the Soviet era.
The main advantage of the boarding house is considered not the comfort of the rooms, but the opportunity to relax in nature. Often boarding houses are located in special climatic zones, pine forests, close to mineral springs.
Many boarding houses, especially at sea resorts, offer a variety of medical procedures, including a fashionable course of spa therapy. Among the staff serving guests in such resorts, there are several specialists in different medical fields: a neurologist, nutritionist, psychotherapist.
The cost of rooms in boarding houses is often equal or lower than the price of a room in a 3* hotel. In addition to booking rooms at boarding houses is available and another option to order accommodation. This is the purchase of vouchers. They are often sold to their employees by state enterprises and organizations. Voucher to the boarding house is ordered in advance and paid in full at the time of purchase. In addition to the price of accommodation often includes the price of medical services and three meals a day. Given that the boarding houses are often at a decent distance from localities, do not count on your own food when ordering a tour firms advise.
In Western Europe there are pensions – versions of private hotels, which at a stretch can be called analogues of boarding houses. Kinship lies in the fact that the pensions, as well as boarding houses, do not offer much comfort. They are small houses with a dozen rooms and the necessary facilities, which provide a room furnished with a minimal set of necessary furniture, as well as a bathroom. Pensions are common in Germany, Spain, Italy and England. The exception is Switzerland, where hostels are owned by families with centuries of history. Swiss pensions can provide accommodation in the city, in historic mansions. Their rooms are distinguished by sophisticated design. An additional plus may be the willingness of their hosts to take guests on a tour of the picturesque foothills of the Alps.