Shoulder Season Is the Real Luxury

There is a fortnight either side of every high season when a hotel is at its absolute best and almost nobody books it. The weather has not really turned. The staff are rested rather than run into the ground. The restaurant can take you at eight. And the rate is often close to half.

This is the single most reliable piece of travel advice I have, and the one people are most reluctant to take.

What peak season actually buys you

In August on the Amalfi Coast you are paying a substantial premium for the privilege of queueing. The terrace is full, the boat is booked, the staff are on their ninetieth consecutive day, and the town you came to see is largely other people photographing it.

Late May or the second half of September give you the same coastline, the same lemon groves, warm enough water, and a hotel that has the capacity to actually look after you.

The staffing argument nobody makes

Service quality is not constant across a year. A hotel running at full occupancy for eleven straight weeks is a hotel where the best people are exhausted and the seasonal hires are still learning. The same property in the quiet weeks is calm, experienced and attentive.

You will get the head concierge rather than whoever is covering. You will get a table without a negotiation. The difference is larger than any amenity.

Where this works best

Alpine hotels in late March, when the snow is still good and the school holidays have finished. Venice in November, cold and half empty and completely itself. Rajasthan in early March, before the heat arrives. Sri Lanka's south coast in the shoulder weeks either side of the monsoon.

The exception is anywhere that closes. Some seasonal hotels shut entirely, and the fortnight before closing can mean half the restaurants are already dark. Ask before you book, and ask specifically what will still be open.

The one real trade

You are accepting weather risk. Some of those days will be grey, and a beach hotel in the rain is a different proposition. Choose places that have something to offer indoors, or somewhere the landscape is the point regardless of the sky.

In exchange you get the hotel as it was designed to be experienced, rather than the hotel at maximum extraction. That seems to me a very good trade.