Places worth staying, at rates only members see.
We check every place ourselves and negotiate the rate in advance. What you get is a short list and the local knowledge to go with it.
A members' lodging network across Europe. Membership opens soon. Join the list and we'll write to you when it does.
- Perks, local tips and reasons to go, in one place
- The founding member price, published before we open
- Nothing to pay, nothing to commit to today
We'll only email you about ElGrato. Unsubscribe any time.
You can go anywhere. That's the problem.
Flexibility sounds like freedom. In practice it's:
- Hours of comparing prices that change while you're deciding
- Working out which reviews are relevant & reliable
- Still guessing at the end of it
Often enough, that's where the trip stops.
A network of vetted places, at rates already agreed.
Private rates
Up to 30% off public rates, agreed in advance and fixed for the season.
Chosen, not collected
Independent places, each one personally vetted, then reviewed by members after every stay – so the standard holds.
No commission
The places pay us nothing. Our only income is the membership – so we only include places we'd recommend, and we tell you what for.
Direct booking
You book with the place and pay them directly. No booking fee, no deposit held by us.
One fee. Everything under it.
Prices you can plan around
Published ahead and held for the season. The price doesn't change while you think about it.
Perks
Breakfast, late checkout, and the kind of extras usually reserved for premium credit-card holders.
Places we've checked
Personally vetted against the things that matter – including the ones solo travelers ask for.
Reasons to go
Why this place, this season. What's on, what's good, what's actually worth the trip.
Local tips, in one place
So you're not starting from a blank search every time.
A letter each season
Where to go and why – including places you didn't always think about visiting.
Join the list and we'll write to you when we open.We'll send the founding member price with your invitation.
We'll only email you about ElGrato. Unsubscribe any time.
Cities you already want to visit, and places you've never heard of.
Across Europe – starting on the Iberian peninsula and moving outward. Some of it is the kind of place you'd walk past because the name meant nothing to you. Some of it is exactly where you were already going.
And a lot of it will be where members tell us they want to go.
Traveling is one of my biggest passions. I love finding places off the beaten path, and I started traveling solo because I got tired of waiting for the right people to go with.
What I didn't love was everything around it – hours searching, comparing prices, reading reviews, trying to work out whether a place was actually any good. And, as a woman traveling alone, whether it was safe. That last one you can't Google. Believe me, I've tried asking ChatGPT.
Reviews can tell you a lot. What they can't do is save you the hours of looking in the first place.
Then there's the cost. I'd like to go away every month or two and spend a few hundred for the whole trip. Lodging alone eats that in two nights. And most of the lists of beautiful places I'd read looked like they'd cost a fortune – I'd read them, and not go.
So I'm building the network I always wanted to book through. Places chosen and checked personally – including against the things solo travelers ask for. Rates agreed in advance. Pick what you want to spend, and see where that takes you.
This isn't my first company. It's the one I most wanted to exist. If any of this sounds familiar, then come with us.
Natalia
Founder, ElGrato
Nothing to pay. Nothing to commit to. Just first in line.
Join the list and we'll write to you when we open.We'll send the founding member price with your invitation.
We'll only email you about ElGrato. Unsubscribe any time.