I want two single rooms, en suite, in the centre of Oban, for the nights of 30th April and 1st May. Easy enough? Well, you would think so.

The first hotel site didn't tell me whether of not they had singles. But I didn't bother to take that any further it wasn't easy to find exactly where they were in the town either, and I don't think that Dad and I will want the included five course meal each evening either.

The second hotel site's booking page caught me out by having a default year of 2005, and then when I tried to book for this month insisted I should complete my stay by 30th March 2006.

The third site insisted that we wanted to share a room - kept knocking the "2" I entered back down to 1.

The Palace Hotel looked better, and I clicked through to reserve. "2 Rooms, Palace hotel, Ness Bank, INVERNESS" it came back. Err no - I want Oban. Clicked the back button. Sure enough, the Oban hotel description page links to the booking page for the Inverness hotel of the same name. Ach - what's a hundred miles of so between friends?

I take my hat off (or would if I was wearing one) to the "Falls of Lora Hotel" for a nice website that showed off the hotel, and the rooms, and gave me the details I wanted. No faffing about with on line booking - they've got an enquiry page and as I wanted to get this sown up tonight, I've phoned and booked. The phone answered in one ring, the lady I spoke to went through what she had (and hadn't) got for the nights, and I'm a happily booked camper. Oh - if you know that part of Scotland, you'll know we're not in the centre of Oban. Much better the experience of a caring hotel in a lovely spot that forcing our way through a system to stay in the town.
(written 2006-04-21, updated 2006-06-05)

 M401 - Well House Manor - Seeing how others do it
  [3368] Well House Manor hotel, Melksham - recommended to you by our customers - (2011-07-23)
  [3333] Honesty and a friendly welcome goes a long way - (2011-06-25)
  [3054] Longhope Hotel - (2010-11-16)
  [2911] Feeding the Grockles - (2010-08-09)
  [2885] Twenty Questions - (2010-07-24)
  [2502] Monday night, Tuesday night - (2009-11-13)
  [2441] Not your cup of tea? - (2009-10-08)
  [2413] Sanity checking the price, and selling up to increase income - (2009-09-21)
  [2311] Floor to ceiling - (2009-07-30)
  [2308] A new place in pictures - (2009-07-28)
  [2127] Call in the professionals! - (2009-04-12)
  [2105] Hire Car, from Atlanta Airport - (2009-03-27)
  [2007] Launch of Melksham Food and Drink Festival - (2009-01-24)
  [1915] Quietly putting prices up - (2008-12-02)
  [1758] Lindors Hotel, near St. Briavels, Wye Valley - (2008-08-18)
  [1672] The Composting Cone Challenge - (2008-06-10)
  [1597] Comparing hotels - as a guest and from the proprietors view - (2008-04-01)
  [1547] New bathing idea for hotels from Hotelympia - (2008-02-20)
  [1525] Just one thing let the service down - but that is my memory - (2008-01-31)
  [1458] The wrong way to put up prices - (2007-12-05)
  [1454] From Sunday to Monday, from Melksham to the Balkans - (2007-12-03)
  [1413] The little gestures that can really count - (2007-10-27)
  [1406] Away or home - which do I prefer? - (2007-10-25)
  [1374] Maidenhead Coffee Challenge - (2007-10-02)
  [1356] Crystal Ball - How long do I need to be online? - (2007-09-18)
  [1354] Match the Bedroom to the Hotel - (2007-09-17)
  [1347] Wireless Internet Access at hotels - an update and some pitfalls - (2007-09-12)
  [1333] Kasteel Elsloo - Michelin rated hotel. - (2007-09-05)
  [1301] Plastic or China - (2007-08-12)
  [1287] Work and play at Well House Manor - Football and Shell Shortcuts - (2007-08-02)
  [1205] Arrival and Departure experiences - another hotel - (2007-05-26)
  [1091] The Psyche is all wrong. - (2007-02-24)
  [1026] The Wheatsheaf 2, The Bell 0 - (2007-01-09)
  [1011] Well House Manor and Beechfield House, Hotels, Melksham - (2006-12-29)
  [966] CSL, KISS and RTFM - (2006-12-05)
  [736] New Tape Librarian - (2006-05-28)
  [714] Room for Octopuses - (2006-05-08)
  [699] Extremes costs of getting on line - (2006-04-25)
  [619] If its Sunday, it must be the Norland - (2006-02-23)
  [514] Crazy Day-sies - (2005-12-02)
  [17] Differing tastes - (2004-08-17)

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