posted by Travel Cat on Mar 15
I am hoping to book an adventure holiday in Wales for later this year, so I had sent off for some information from the national tourist board from there, mainly regarding accommodation.
I got their pack this morning and it is very descriptive of areas and activities, but there was a leaflet enclosed that was supposed to detail about their new star ratings and accommodation ’styles’.
Star-Ratings - Basically they are now rating the individual accommodations not on cleanliness, attractiveness, or the local knowledge of the owner - because that would just be stupid, apparently.
They are rating them on what facilities you had and how many bedside tables were in each room! This is so much better for the traveller isn’t it!!
Why on earth they think that I am more concerned with how many chairs are available to sit on or how many inches there are between the dresser and the radiator I have no idea. Surely, the facilities are something that vary with every resort anyway - even the 5* resorts probably offer different things - and we know this fact - so we look for them before booking.
I don’t want a lovely beautifully presented traditional farm house bedroom ruined by the owner having to cram in 2 further bedside tables and 3 more chairs with another lamp for good measure just to keep their 3* rating. I’m only spending 1 night there anyway - I don’t need tables: I need a bed, a shower and a cup of tea in the morning!
Accommodation Types - They have even made it more difficult to actually find a property in the first place! We all know that Bed&Breakfast’s are generally cheaper than Hotels, and a farmhouse property will be more peaceful than one in town, and it’s all very simple.
However, they think they are helping out now by splitting hotels and B&B’s into - I cannot believe it - 11 different category types:
Small Hotel
Country House Hotel
Town House Hotel
Metro Hotel
Budget Hotel
Guest Accommodation
Guest House
Bed & Breakfast
Farmhouse
Restaurant With Rooms
Inn
The only thing the Farmhouse has to be is actually a farm to be classed as such, and there is nothing technically different in summary between the guest accommodation and guest house apart from guest houses TEND to have more than 3 rooms - but then B&B’s can have 3 rooms according to their descriptions too.
We all know that Bed and Breakfasts can either be a room in someones house where you have to walk through their kitchen or use their bathroom for example, others you have your own bathroom, but basically you are living in their house. In better B&B’s you have your own entrance, own lounge and en-suite facilities - why haven’t they split those up into different categories - it would make my life easier - I really don’t like using their own bathroom, but sometimes it just doesn’t tell you in their descriptions.
But no, they are splitting hairs here - I mean according to their descriptions, Small Hotels have less than 20 rooms and don’t offer dinner, (but I have stayed in B&B’s with up to 20 rooms that don’t offer dinner either). Anyway, a Metro Hotel seems to be just a Small Hotel in a town, but then the Small Hotels description does not say that they are not found in towns!
It’s all very confusing!!!!
I can’t believe someone was paid to come up with this as an ‘easy’ way to find somewhere to stay, but then not made their categories all to different after all. It’s a shame because it could have been really useful if done correctly without ambiguity.
I haven’t looked on their website to see how you search either - but if you have all those accommodation types and you can only select one or two at a time, then finding the right place for you could take ages!
I wish someone would create a search facility that offered you the choice to just select those features that you definitely didn’t want rather than all the ones you might want - it would certainly be easier in this case…. Not everyone cares THAT much about where they stay as long as it’s in their budget range and close to their destination.
How about just a cost scale search - well, sometimes you just need a place to stay near ‘A’ and you don’t care if it’s fancy or they don’t have a trouser press, you just need a pillow to sleep on. You could type in ‘between £25-£40 per night near ‘A’ please - what have you got in any accommodation type?’
That’s what I would call ‘easy’.
Personal recommendations:
One place I would definitely recommend you stay in for the Centre of Alternative Technology, with really friendly staff, beautifully converted barn and little terrace view would be: Marchlyn Cottage on 01654 702018 (no email)
One place I would recommend you stay in Betws-y-coed for the majestic house, voluptuous period features and a central location for activities would be: www.TanDinas.4T.com or email anntandinas@hotmail.com
One place I would definitely NOT recommend near Snowdonia for you stay in due to the difficulty in finding it in the first place and the rudeness of staff when you get there would be: Marie Briggs and clydfan@carmel37.freeserve.co.uk
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