Beware They Have Tentacles! (octopustravel.com)

Member Name: Machair1

Product:	octopustravel.com
Date:	19/02/09 (143 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to book

Disadvantages: Cancelled far too late.

I have just returned from a short visit to Glasgow which I made to celebrate one of my daughter's birthdays. One daughter lives in St Andrews and one in Glasgow at the moment, so we all met up together to catch up.

I planned the trip several weeks ago taking advantage of an inexpensive plane ticket with Ryan Air. This airline serves Prestwick which is situated about 30 miles from Glasgow. I prefer to fly to Glasgow International which is more convenient, but it is an easy link from Prestwick by train which takes 45 minutes and arrives into Central Station.

It was for this reason that I decided to book a night at The Central Hotel which is actually at the station itself, as I thought this would minimise the carrying of heavy baggage, which I find difficult due to a medical condition I have.

I decided to try Octopus Travel for this for the first time as they were offering a good rate, in fact a bargain at £44 for a twin room with full Scottish Breakfast.

Now I wasn't expecting much as I am no stranger to this hotel which has stood on this site for over 100 years. It is the place where many Celtic Connections goers hang out after the shows in January, when a 2 week long celebration of Celtic music brightens up the whole of Glasgow. They offer good deals and music goes on in the impromptu fashion it always has for many years well into the night in the Festival Club held here.

However I have known for some time the hotel has had a flagging reputation, but for location and nostalgia it was perfect. Plan was to fall off the train and into the hotel- easy, simple, straightforward -if only!

I booked through Quidco and so I was due to get a further discount of £4 which so far has evaded my account, so I have submitted a ticket and the outcome of that awaits me.

All was going well. I was packed and ready to leave the following morning when I received a late afternoon call on my mobile from a sales representative from Octopus Travel. He explained that the Central Hotel had gone into administration, and that my booking had been cancelled. Such short notice I could hardly believe it! When I asked the question "How long have you been in possession of this information?" to my horror he said "8 days!" He then went on to say it was due to the number of Valentines bookings generally they were dealing with that no one had been able to be available to advise me of this at all. In other words they had been too busy.

This really did nothing to impress me and there was also no apology or any kind of empathy shown to me at all in the voice of the representative. Although to them I am sure a cheap one night in a hotel is not what keeps them in business, far from it, but I actually do a lot of travel, some international, and this was my first experience using the company. It has left me with a bitter taste and a bad first impression.

On the positive side I was given 2 options.
Firstly to receive a refund. This I declined for 2 reasons. Firstly the credit card I had used to pay has been the recent victim of fraud, so a refund to the card number I paid with was not possible. My replacement card had a different number which I was not about to disclose to this telephone sales person, who could have been anyone. Secondly getting a room at this short notice would prove expensive. I could have stayed with one of my daughter's but she has no spare bed and lives in Anniesland, which is not convenient for where we wanted to be.

The agent offered me a solution which was to stay at the Express by Holiday Inn Riverside which was about 5 minutes walk from the station. They would cover the difference in cost. This hotel whilst I have not stayed in it before, I have stayed in many of these so knew what they were like. I could have booked this myself originally, as I have a loyalty card with them, and if you book ahead the price is only marginally more than the Central, but walking up would cost £99 on the night. There is no hot cooked breakfast though, so a self service canteen style menu is laid on instead. I am not going to describe the hotel in this review as it would deviate from the subject too much but it was adequate for our needs but a million miles away in style from the hotel I had booked. The Central was a traditional Scottish hotel with tartan and porridge, whilst this hotel is the same as any other Holiday Inn Express as they are centrally designed; it's just not the same product at all.

So for a first impression taking everything into consideration I am not impressed by the way I was treated so late in the day by Octopus. They certainly should be praised for rebooking me the alternative, but I feel I was left with no other option that to accept it.

I would be vary of committing a lot of money to them for a more substantial package, as I always feel dipping your toe in the water saves you from getting your whole foot burnt.

Maybe I was unlucky booking somewhere the week after Valentines' day, I don't know, but the facts of my experience don't really point to a company who pay attention to detail or make you feel valued. I felt like a booking not a person, and what is more they had wrapped their tentacles around me so tightly that it was impossible to escape at the final hour.

Summary: A mixed feeling from me but wouldn't personally use again.