I'm an impromptu kinda chap

[Orcade-Ian]

Christine and I have been motorcycling (and less regularly in the car) in Britain and Europe since the early eighties and in those early days we would use the Hull to Rotterdam route when travelling to Europe, with an 'open date return' ticket.  That facility is no longer available but you can pay extra for a flexy ticket and pay again to move the date - assuming someone answers the phone (all of our operators are extremely busy but your call is important to us, please stay on the line!)
We never booked accommodation in advance and didn't have a problem.  True, very occasionally we would have to try somewhere else in our chosen village if they were full but that was often arranged by them on our behalf.  On more than one occasion we were escorted to the next gasthaus with vacancies.

So what changed?  There may be a great number of different aspects - #@%$ and Covid didn't help but my own gut feeling is the widespread use of the Internet and the proliferation of sites like Booking.com, Air B&B and Trivago, who do what, exactly?

A couple of years ago I wanted to stay at a place on one of my motorcycling trips near Bannockburn.  I found his site (where I had stayed previously) via Booking.com but still had the chap's mobile number, which I rang.  "Oh, I'm pleased you rang direct - I have to 'front load' the cost by 50% if you use the web site!!"
Now, I'm all for people making a living but this seems excessive and I realise that the advertising and web sites have to be paid for but the accommodation providers were making a living for generations in the past, weren't they?  Has this change brought about widespread benefits for all?  Certainly not for us and judging by the number of establishments in Germany and Austria, as well as many in Britain which are now permanently closed, some of which had been run by 3 generations of the same family, not for them either.

Answers on a German beer-mat

Ian

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Wendy used to work at a local Hotel on reception, mainly at weekends & evenings as she also had 9-5  a day job.
It is only a small Hotel with about 8-10 rooms half being suites.

Like many such smaller hotels they were busy in the weekdays, less so at weekends unless there bookings for Weddings or Club functions.
When Bookings.com came along they had to blank of a number of rooms that they would pay for at a very reduced rate & Bookings.com would sell on through their site. Better to have a reduced return on an unused room than nothing at all. Also the Restaurant would be busier as well.
With the advent of cheap Travel Lodges many small hotels struggle to make a profit as the rooms become tired as there is not enough income for major refurbishment.

We used to stay at a lovely private B&B in Mickle Trafford over many years. It was family run by a father & daughter. Sadly they converted to Holiday Letts, not sure if they are still in business.

[Athame57]

Before my biking days I used the Harwich-Hook of Holland route to go to visit family in Germany but that too is gone, I think cheapo flights and more airports and the channel tunnel caused that to vanish. If you use the Calais-Dover route back be careful nobody is hiding in you top box though!  

[Skoti]

Before my biking days I used the Harwich-Hook of Holland route to go to visit family in Germany but that too is gone, I think cheapo flights and more airports and the channel tunnel caused that to vanish. If you use the Calais-Dover route back be careful nobody is hiding in you top box though!

Will be using the Hook of Holland - Harwich ferry in a couple of weeks time.
Stena Line still operate on that route.

https://www.stenaline.co.uk/routes/harwich-hook-of-holland

[andy120t]

Hasn't the Harwich one changed now? Without looking at the website, I recall there users to be a quick, afternoon ferry, but is it now all slow-overnight....and probably costs far more,?

I'm just back from a (car-based,) week in Normandy and 'enjoyed' the channel tunnel again. ....I used to like it but it's become more and more expensive, more likely to be delayed ...' because lots of people are travelling today' ( as if they don't know that from the booking info)....and, 'don't worry, if you miss your booked train we'll always put you on a later one' ( excuse me, I booked a time, I turned up well in advance, the thing that 'worries' me is your inability to get my car from the terminal to the train as I sit in a queue and watch all the other queues, with some cars booked on later trains than mine go past faster...). Oh how I hate it. I'm told newhaven-dieppe is nice, but it's really awkward for me to get to Newhaven.

[Skoti]

There's still a cheaper day sailing but it takes 6hr 30mins of sitting on your arse doing nowt.

So we've opted for the night crossing with a cabin. Arrives in Harwich at 6:30 in the morning so I hope it's handy for a decent onward journey.

Vast saving compared to Amsterdam-Newcastle or Rotterdam-Hull crossings.


First time on this crossing so we'll see what happens...