Hotel
Ask the concierge? Having spent the last week travelling around Switzerland and openly weeping at the cost of, well, absolutely everything, I’ve made unusually frequent encounters with people I don’t usually trust. Common consensus has it that hotel concierges are an excellent source of knowledge about the city they work in. They know where the [...]
Close encounters of the guidebook kind This morning, I had what I thought was an extraordinarily encounter. Guide book writers may be more acquainted with it than I am. But, to me, it just didn’t make sense. I am currently in Bath, researching a city guide for a major Australian newspaper. As part of that, [...]
Continue reading about Lesson for hoteliers: How to disappear from the guidebooks and lose customers
In recent weeks, I have been writing a few city guides, which means that I have had to visit a lot of hotel websites in order to get contact details. On the way, I have encountered some phenomenally irritating sites, but that of the Hotel De Las Letras in Madrid was the straw that broke [...]
Continue reading about How to make a really bad hotel website in ten easy steps
I’m sure many travel writers have encountered a situation where they have been offered a ‘media rate’ by hotels, airlines and tour operators. And I’m sure many of us have struggled to know how to word the most appropriate response. Well never fear – just alter the details on this template letter to suit your [...]
Essen business hotel Last weekend, I stayed in the InterCityHotel in Essen, Germany. It was a perfectly pleasant business hotel, handily located for the central train station. But it did one thing differently that pleased me enormously. Fruit juice for breakfast Call me a glutton, but I like to drink more than a thimbleful [...]
Continue reading about Petty Gripes: #3 – Little glasses at breakfast in hotels
I’ve been a little slutty recently, and contributing to a couple of other blogs. Ironically, given my little hissy fit about ‘character’ accommodation yesterday, I’ve picked out a place I’d happily pay to stay at for 101Holidays.co.uk. My choice is the Hunter Valley Cooperage in New South Wales, Australia, which I visited last November. It’s [...]
Twitter confessions An interesting bout of shame-faced confession broke out on Twitter a week or so ago. A few travel writers – most of whom spend their time tracking down stylish design hotels or character-heavy, family-run accommodation – admitted where they actually like staying. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t the ‘boutique’ pseudo art installations or quirky, personality-packed [...]
Information from hotel This morning, I received a reply from a hotel. I’m currently researching a feature on getting away from the whole family Christmas thing and thought this resort might be a good possible inclusion. But I needed a bit of information on it first before I could assess. The response The response, pasted below, [...]
Continue reading about Hotels: How not to respond to information requests from journalists
Travel media and budget hotels I have come to the conclusion that people working in the travel media are in some kind of fantasy land. Recently, I have seen so many stories about the best budget hotels in various locations and have had the same reaction every time. Simply put, the travel media definition of [...]
Continue reading about What is a budget hotel? The travel media doesn’t seem to understand
Tipping for good service? Or all the time? I’m fairly sure that this one will open up a can of worms, but let’s run with it anyway. Cards on the table – I hate tipping, hate the fact that I’m expected to tip, and hate the attitude I’m given when I don’t. And yes, this [...]