If there is anything unique about the Hotel Europa, it's Gassime himself. In our brief stay in Florence, he charmed our socks off. First, he made a potentially frustrating experience, a miscommunication about our reservation that left us roomless on the first night, into a minor road bump and a memorable moment in our trip. He found two empty rooms, had them made up immediately while we waited, and constantly checked in to let us know 'they were working for us'.

Over the next 3 days, we watched him say a cheerful good morning in at least 4 different languages to the various guests. Gassime personified graciousness. By the time we checked out, we felt like we were leaving family behind. We left him with a small gift, a thank you card and the promise that if he ever comes to Canada, we'd love to return the hospitality. He thanked us, but said he never gets time, he's too busy catering to tourists to do any touring himself.

Apparently, our experience at the Hotel Europa is not unique. We picked it because of similar testimonials on sites like TripAdvisor. In fact, if you search for Hotel Europa online, you'll find a litany of kudos for Gassime. As we were checking in, a lady from the States asked me if we picked the hotel because of TripAdvisor. When I said yes, she said she had as well. She was traveling with a fairly large group. Although Gassime has never seeked fame, by quietly doing his job and providing exceptional service, fame has found him.

And there you have an essential quality of the internet. As we define community around topics of common interest, in this case trips to Florence, we join together to create our own celebrities. We make the Gassimes of the world heroes, and lay a trail so that others can follow in our footsteps. Through travel sites like TripAdvisor and others, we create our own recommendations.

And search acts as the connector to these nuggets of information. We gain the benefit of others that have been there and done that. It separates the good from the bad in a way that defies gaming the system and keeps everyone honest. Not every traveler does their travel research this way, but the number is growing every day. I picked every place we stayed through the recommendations of others online, and we didn't hit one dud. But better than just finding clean rooms, we found new friends, like Gassime.

Across Europe and around the world, diligent travelers are now finding these hidden heroes. They're the people that run the kind of places you used to have to know a local to find, and even then, you could never be sure if you were getting a bum steer to a cousin or friend.

Another hidden hero was family that runs the Donna Rosa Ristorante in Montperso, high up the mountain above Positano on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. This little gem of a restaurant is run by the energetic and talented Raffaello family, a wife and husband who drew their two grown up children back from successful careers in various parts of Italy so they could do something together. How do I know this? I found it online. Donna Rosa has also found a measure of fame online, including being one of the favorite haunts of Diane Lane when she was filming 'Under the Tuscan Sun'.

At this point, the guests that are coming because of these online reviews are probably still not great in number. I like to think that I'm somewhat unique in the amount of online research I do prior to a trip. But the number is growing, and I'm sure that people like Gassime are starting to notice their small but increasing online fame. I hope that Gassime's hotel continues to thrive, and that Donna Rosa's reservation book stays full. These are rewards that come from a job well done, and I for one think it's a very good thing that the internet can make down to earth, gracious people like Gassime and the Raffaello family heroes. All too often we make our heroes out of less worthy stuff.

Gord Hotchkiss
President and CEO
Enquiro Full Service Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Positioning by Searchengineposition
Blog: www.outofmygord.com

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