Maybe I shouldn’t be, but I was surprised to learn that apparently, when you use a hotel booking site they are not responsible if there is a issue with the booking. I find that worrying because I have used this type of site before and I could have been left stranded.

What if the hotel haven’t received my booking and we’ve all heard of hotels overbooking. The last thing I would want to do is be wandering around a unfamiliar city trying to find somewhere to stay, especially when I have already paid for my hotel room.

It seems from reading various terms and conditions that the hotel booking agent basically wants to wash their hands as soon as you’ve paid for the room. The point of a short break is that you can unwind, not get stressed at the thought that you don’t have a hotel room on arrival.

Read part of the terms and conditions of hotel booking site, Late Rooms.

“Late Rooms is a booking agent for the hotels and other service providers advertised on the Site. Your contract for the room and/or other services advertised on the Site that you wish to book or purchase will be with the applicable hotel or service provider and not with Late Rooms.”

I’m sure other hotel booking sites have a similar paragraph in their T&C’s.

My advice.

It is worth spending time researching the hotel, and even give them a call a few days after you’ve made the booking and also before you depart to ensure that your not going to have any issues on arrival at your holiday destination.

I am starting to think that booking with a travel agency is much more safer than booking independently. Has anyone had a bad experience when booking a hotel room online or being left stranded by the hotel and the hotel booking agency?

An interesting day, at lunchtime I had a telephone interview with a reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post regarding my Travolution consumer blog award. Then just after lunch I received a phone call from Sky News asking if I would go on television and talk about Heathrow Terminal 5.

Unfortunately, it would have meant a trip to one of their studios during work so I had to say no. On Saturday morning I have another interview, this time with BBC Radio Leeds regarding the state of the public transport system in Yorkshire and particularly in Leeds.

Watch Sky News, tonight at 7pm to hear more about the lessons to be learnt from Heathrow Terminal 5
It seems that no lessons have been learnt. BAA have to report back to the government in 2 months time, but BA have said that the T5 opening should have been delayed. It took them how many years to plan the opening?

This travel consumer blogger is being kept busy.

I’m becoming fed up of ranting about airlines, so I thought for a change I would rant about hotels on behalf of a friend who asks why they charge so much for room telephone calls. She made a call home using the hotel room phone because her mobile battery had died on her.

When she looked at her bank statement she found that the 3 minute conversation cost her £3.75. Okay, so it’s not a massive amount of money, and had she been more observant when signing out of the hotel she should have queried this with them.

On a recent stay at a London hotel, if I wanted room service it would have cost me an extra £5 for them to bring the food to me, up one level. Thankfully, I wasn’t in need of room service, and even if I was there’s no way I would have paid this extra charge – what will be next.

Is it just me or are hotels taking travel consumers for idiots with their ridiculous rates for services.

We’ve been talking about Americans visiting England, but how have your experiences been the other way around. I’ve flown into the United States three or four times and each time I’ve sworn I’ll never do it again.

There are plenty of great places to visit but just the process of getting through the immigration checkpoints is so stressful and threatening that I want to avoid it. Immigration and passport control officers, as I understand it, are trained to be unfriendly so that they have a better chance of catching the bad guys.

They’ve always treated me in such a way that I start to feel like a criminal, even though I’ve done nothing wrong and have legitimate reasons to visit the US. This weekend The Times had an article about some changes to the airport procedures in the US which they say will help make it a “stress-free airport experience”.

It turns out that the intimidating procedures they’ve been using until now have made even innocent passengers look so nervous that staff have been suspicious of them, and that’s made it hard to spot the passengers who really were doing something wrong.

Starting off at Washington DC’s international airport, they’re making security checkpoints more user-friendly and relaxing - even purple mood lighting is involved! However, these checkpoints also include the new body-scanning procedures.

The scanners apparently project a kind of naked image of each passenger onto the screens in the control room, to check you’re not carrying anything you shouldn’t be. I’m not sure that I’ll be feeling any more relaxed knowing that’s going on.

Are there any good or bad stories about landing in the US?

Apparently, the government are looking at introducing travel cards on every train, bus and coach network so when I travel to Edinburgh I would swipe my travel card, this would show my travel activity and help MI5 and other security departments monitor mine and other residents travel movements.

It’s bad enough that we have CCTV every where we walk, and the over the top security at airports. I know that we have to be security conscious in an age where terrorists have the UK high on their most wanted list, but there’s taking it over the top and I think this is.

I was surprised to learn that in London, the Oyster swipe card, covering the Underground and buses, already records the details of around 17 million travellers automatically. Similar travel systems are planned across Britain, including Leeds and Edinburgh, within five years.

Anyone else think that this is outrageous?

Well, not quite, but apparently, over 25 million American’s will visit countries abroad this summer despite the credit crunch and poor value of the dollar. Surprisingly India is one of the countries expected to see the biggest increase of American tourists.

This isn’t an anti-America blog post like you may have read on numerous other blogs, but what annoys me are American tourists that spend all their time in London, and never venture north to the historic city of like York or the scenic Lake District National Park.

Yes, London has those cute red telephone boxes, home to the Royal family, but there’s more to England and I’d like to hear more American accents up here in the North of England. You can take a train from Kings Cross to York in 2 hours, or a cheap internal flight to Leeds in less than an hour.

Am I wrong, do American’s venture to other destinations in England, let me know your opinions.

Every day I receive an inbox full of travel questions and I love helping consumers – some I can answer confidently, and some I have to refer to other travel resources and experts. This week has been especially busy, so I thought I would feature the ten most popular travel questions this week.

What is the best package holiday site?

That’s a difficult question to answer because they are so many holiday sites, but Travel Republic recently won an award for best travel agency website. Then you have Thomson and Thomas Cook. Independent travel agencies, Co-op Travel and Barrhead Travel, both reputable companies.

Do you have advice for finding camping sites in the Lake District?

Good question – I have stayed at a few National Trust campsites in the past when camping in the Lakes. Great Langdale was my favourite, and it’s cheap, but it’s in the middle of no-where and whilst it has a bus service, it’s not regular – also try Find a Campsite.

Where is the best place to exchange foreign money?

I usually choose between Marks and Spencer or the Post Office but no matter where you go to exchange currency, you’ll find the rates are pretty much the same, and for the amount you save it’s not worth the hassle of wandering around the high street for the best deal.

Do I need travel insurance for a weekend in Amsterdam?

Yes. It doesn’t matter if you are travelling abroad for 2 days or 2 weeks, anything can happen; your baggage may be lost (especially if you fly with BA), you might have your passport or possessions stolen, or end up in hospital, especially if it’s a boozy stag weekend.

How do I reclaim tax from cancelled flights?

I am assuming you are referring to the air passenger duty. Initially, contact the airline direct by telephone and back it up with an email or letter, bear in mind though that most of the airlines will charge an administrative fee for refunding you the money, which I know is outrageous.

Does the National Express free Wi-Fi access actually work?

I’ve travelled twice with National Express since they took over the East coast line from GNER, and in both occasions I was impressed with their customer service and the fact that the Wi-Fi is free of charge. I had no problems with the Wi-Fi but remember that technology isn’t 100% reliable.

Do you know of a hotel at Royal Ascot?

I usually start off by searching Google but one of my favourite hotel sites for sporting events is Match Hotels – Late Rooms and Active Hotels are hotel booking sites with a good selection of hotels, alternatively search on comparison sites Travel Supermarket and Kayak.

Why are holiday prices so expensive during school holidays?

Travel companies will say it’s simply because of supply and demand, but they don’t realise that parents are backed up into a corner and have no option but to take a holiday during the school holidays as they can now be fined for taking their child out of school during term time.

What is so good about booking holidays on line?

For me it’s for convenience because I only have a 30 minute lunch break, so it does not give me time to run around the city centre and book with a travel agency, so instead I go online and research, plan and book my holiday online. The downside is that you loose human contact which is important.

What is Barcelona like for wheelchair accessibility?

I struggled to answer this question because I have never been to Barcelona, but whilst wheelchair accessibility in most European cities has improved, there is room for improvement. The best site I could find for information on wheelchair accessibility is Tourist Guide Barcelona.

If you have any travel related questions then please complete my contact form and I will either respond to you personally, or mention your question on the blog. Readers, please feel free to leave your responses to any of the questions above.

In the past few weeks I have received emails from consumers asking me if a number of holiday rental companies are reputable enough to book a holiday through them. It’s worth remembering that the rental company is advertising the accommodation on behalf of the owner or an agency.

Whilst the holiday rental company will have their own terms and conditions with regard to the usage of the site, the booking terms and conditions is with the actual owner or agency. As I have experience of this type of holiday I thought it would be a good idea to provide some general advice.

Speak with the owner or agency

You can tell a lot about a person when you speak to them on the telephone, ask them plenty of questions about the holiday accommodation and the location and make sure you remember their responses, in fact write them down if you can.

Trust your gut instinct

If there’s something just not right about the person or what they are saying then always go with your gut instinct, the last thing you want is to find out that the accommodation doesn’t exist or that it’s a scam to get money out of you, not that I am suggesting this happens a lot, but I am sure it does.

Booking terms and conditions

Any reputable owner will send you a booking form and their booking terms and conditions. Usually you have to sign the form to say you agree to the T&Cs so make sure you read any documentation and if you have any queries contact the owner or agency. If there’s no documentation then question why this is the case with the owner.

Check the location thoroughly

Most owners and agencies will not send you the actual address until full payment has been received and processed, which you can understand, but make sure you check the destination out on travel guides and Google Maps and ask the owner questions about the area.

Read accommodation reviews

Whilst you won’t find many rental companies providing accommodation reviews, a few of them have started to provide this service, and whilst it’s controversial with the owners, it’s important that consumers have confidence. Holiday Rentals provide this service, so it’s a good place to start.

Pay for the holiday with a method of payment which is traceable

Under any circumstances do not pay with cash or cashier cheques – I know this sounds like common sense, but you’d be surprised to hear it does happen. Ideally, pay by a bank cheque, debit or credit card if the owner or agency provide that service. It’s important that the money can be traced back should anything happen.

Plan your holiday well

You do not have the luxury of a holiday rep to deal with any issues that you may come up against, so it’s important that you plan your holiday well. Make sure you keep a copy of all email communication, and if you have any issues with the accommodation then take video and photograph evidence.

Breakage issues

You will more than likely have to pay for any breakages, so it’s important that you notify the owner or agency should you find any breakages when you arrive at your accommodation. Otherwise you could be made to pay for them – remember that the accommodation will probably not have been visited by the owner for some time.

Use the Holiday rental company

If you have any complaints lodged which the owner will not respond to then contact the holiday rental company and ask them for advice. Any reputable rental company will have a complaints procedure which deals with badly managed holiday accommodation.

Popular holiday rental companies

Whilst I have not booked holiday accommodation off any of these sites, they are popular, and have been established a number of years. They seem to have a good reputation with travellers but follow the advice above before booking.

Holiday Rentals
Owners Direct
Holiday Lettings
Holiday Lets
My Villarenters

Hopefully these holiday rental tips will help ensure that your holiday is hassle free. Have you booked a villa or self catering holiday accommodation with an owner or agency – I’d be interested to hear good and bad experiences from readers.