Johannesburg - I’ve said this before and – despite an unnerving experience earlier this year – say it again: you need to be very careful believing the Internet is the best way to arrange your travel.
Not long ago, my son asked me to help him arrange accommodation in the Knysna area around Christmas, because he and his girlfriend will be coming out from Amsterdam in December.
Firstly, you can see he is already thinking like a European – because most South Africans know that there is more chance of squeezing the proverbial camel through the eye of the needle than getting accommodation anywhere on the Garden Route at that time of the year.
However, I decided to try. Finding this sort of thing cannot be done, generally speaking, through a travel agent, on his behalf I spent a few nights on the Net looking. And I came away angry and disappointed. Not because there was nothing available but because at least two sites led me on to believe there was.
On both safarinow.com and lekke slaap.co.za I looked at establishments which, according to the site, had accommodation available on the days we requested. I duly put in a note to them to book… but the next day, they came back to say they had nothing.
Why then did the sites (both of them and in at least two cases each) indicate that those particular establishments had space? Either to increase the number of clicks on their sites or because the establishments themselves were trying to squeeze as much as possible from potential customers and were veering close to double booking.
One would have thought that the sites and the establishments themselves would want to be as open as possible and provide information which is as up-to-date as possible. The fact that I was led up the garden path made me very angry – because in at least one instance I had e-mailed my son to say the search was over.
My consumer anger usually morphs into action – the only action I can take – and I don’t patronise those places which let me down. So those websites and those establishments will not see me again.
In the end, we got lucky through my sister-in-law in Knysna, who arranged a private flat rental for us.
It was a happier experience on the Mango website booking flights for the two of them from OR Tambo International to George. I first checked out the flights (and the days we originally wanted were booked up so we amended slightly) and then went back to book.
Surprisingly, Mango does not use the “cookie” system to see what you have been looking at and then jack up the price when you come back to book.
This is what happens with many other airlines and booking sites. If you are just browsing, the digital “cookies” on your device track what you looked at and then automatically increase the price… because the system knows you want that particular flight.
I have seen that in operation: in a matter of minutes while we were browsing the British Airways website looking for flights from Joburg to Heathrow earlier this year, the fares went up before our eyes… by almost 10 percent.
A tip: if you are going to surf websites looking for the best prices, either disable your cookies (and some sites won’t allow you to do that) or use a different device and a different Internet address.
That is not to say all websites are rubbish: they definitely can make things a lot easier when it comes to booking.
One I particularly like is hotels.com (which has a South African office, too). Every time I have booked with them to stay in hotels overseas, I have got what I was promised and experienced good service and efficient check-in at the establishments concerned. The site also enables you to compare prices.
Another good site, when it comes to assessing places, is Trip Advisor.com. You get a real, uncensored view of establishments… although you do have to bear in mind that some hotels are not beyond posting fake praise and disgruntled customers can make things seem a lot worse than they actually are.
l Have you had any bad experiences on travel websites? – e-mail me: [email protected]
Saturday Star