Next weekend we’re attending a long anticipated family wedding at the Tower of London (yes, really). Now of course we have lots of pals in the hotel industry in London, but no, contrary to public belief we do buy hotel rooms just like anyone else. You can’t keep asking friends whether you can stay in their hotel can you?
I digress of course; but we’ve had some very hairy times being put up for free in this and that Presidential Suite. A long time ago we were travelling across the USA with our young family and were staying in Palm Springs; a friend had arranged the accommodation. When we checked in it was embarrassing because of course they grabbed the car, opened the lid to the boot/trunk, and then stood back in amazement at the plethora of different plastic bags we had with various degrees of dirty washing waiting to be processed. How does a bell boy carry all those bags upstairs? When we eventually got to the check in desk (it was about a quarter of a mile’s walk from the front door) we were greeted with a wide cheesy grin and “do you know someone high up in Marriott, Sir, or are you related?”. No I replied. Of course that was because we had been allocated the Presidential Suite. This was replete with a packing case filled with straw which looked like it had just been jimmied open, very theatrically, and inside were some of the best French wines and cheese money could buy. Blimey! We were staying for four nights. We had no idea what the bill was going to be. 50% off, comp, or what? We didn’t have much money and so spent the 4 days trying hard to be frugal. Cheese and wine has its limits. They must have thought we’d got rich by not spending because at the end of the stay when we checked out our bill had virtually nothing on it. And yes the room was comp. If only we’d known it. On top of that the GM insisted on showing us round the whole place and then he and I had a business meeting in his office comparing turnover. His turnover? About $50M. My turnover was less than £1M.
Anyway, back to OTA’s. So we’d booked this hotel for next weekend back in January, near the Tower of course. Last week we rang because we needed to extend the booking by a day. They didn’t have it. It had been cancelled. By the OTA. Which, we discovered on Google, had gone bust and filed for Chapter 11. The people we booked through hadn’t told us of course so if we hadn’t wanted to extend the booking, we would have turned up to “no room at the inn”. Great! So what’s my tip?
Why not book with a human being, at the hotel. That’s what we all used to do. We believe, often onerously, that we may just get a better rate. And whilst sometimes you might, it may not provide you with a room!
Mike Bevans is the Owner of Linthwaite House Hotel in the Lake District.
It is apparently technically illegal to camp in England and Wales on land outside of a designated campsite, but as 
If you are looking for camping in luxury within the UK then Eurocamp’s new safari tents are ideal, nestled as they are amongst the great oaks and beech trees of Britain’s oldest forest.
Nestled near the village of Coleford in the Forest of Dean is a new concept in camping or even self-catering accommodation – the Dome Garden.
Personally I’ve never been a fan, but as Tim Dowling of the Guardian puts it “Why do I regularly, voluntarily, drive six hours to a wet field so that other people can hear me shout at my children? …. And yet, despite these warnings from history, I’m actually excited about the idea of putting up my tent. Again.”
Belfast and holiday might not be two terms you would normally associate due to the 30 years of political troubles the city has suffered, but according to the Frommer’s Guide the city is one of the top 12 destinations in the world!
The Samling Hotel – one of the most exclusive hotels in the English Lake District – is offering guests a £100 refund if it rains during their stay in September.
Glasgow has since Queen Victoria’s time had a reputation as a very industrial city and in more modern times was regarded as rather run down, but the city is now trying to change this image with significant success.
