No refund in arguably exceptional case

This was something we were not expecting. Arriving at the Georgian Bay Hotel  (photo) in Collingwood last week we checked-in to the reserved room only to find the beds were too high. One of us is disabled and could not climb on to it. We had never experienced this problem before. Yes, we had earlier been offered an “accessible” room at a $30 upcharge – again, something we had never seen before at any accommodation. (Usually, accessible rooms are offered free of charge if available.) Was this charge discriminatory? Perhaps, or not. (I have complained to several industry agencies.) The hotel justified this by saying the suite offered “upgraded amenities, including a kitchen and features that contribute to a more comfortable and accessible stay” and yes, “a lower bed option.” When we told the front desk about the bed height they checked if an accessible room was available but was not. We had to find another hotel. We had booked through Booking.com, whose agent assured us we would get a “full refund.” But first we had to contact the hotel to inform it Booking.com, as a broker, would be requesting the refund. I thought this a bit strange but did so. About 12 hours later I got an email saying the hotel “is unable to make an exception in this case, and you will be charged the entire cancellation fee.” The fee was the full amount for three nights or $877.67. The alternative accommodation was $491.55. So, our total trip accommodation amounted to $1369.22. By the way, the alternate accommodation, Luxury Inn, proved to have an even better suite at just over half the price. Not only were the beds lower, the room larger but there were two armchairs where Georgina Bay Hotel only offered a desk chair (though there were two outside patio chairs). Georgian Bay Hotel Trademark Collection is a Wyndham property. In a follow-up email Ashleigh Levoy, VP of hotel operations, while offering no discount, did offer this: “We would be happy to provide you with a customized discount on your next visit as compensation for your experience.”

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller

If this is Lonely Planet's new format, count me out

I have been a fan of Lonely Planet travel guides for several years now, after I converted over from Rough Guides. Lonely Planet captured me with both a text-forward approach (like Rough Guides) but with more graphic appeal - wonderfully colorful charts, maps, section dividers - all in all a travel guide tour de force. So I was very looking forward to LP's 12th edition, published July 25 and pre-ordered it. I eagerly opened the Amazon package and sat down to look it over. Um, something different about it. The old layout was gone. The book is now way too graphic-heavy with color, photos and maps dominating. Detailed info about travel (i.e., how to get round England by train) was reduced to one graph. Something was wrong. LP has revised its guide (apparently all future guides will be like this?) for what I can only call the 'Gen Z' generation or people glued to screens and not print. Gone are the detailed text info about hotels, restaurants, visiting sites. I submitted a review to Amazon which has gone live: "Very disappointed in this new edition. I loved previous Lonely Planet guides because they were text heavy with complementary appealing layout and graphics. This edition is clearly for the Gen Z generation accustomed to looking at screens and with short attention spans. Very little text, graphics and maps heavy. In a phrase, dumbed down."...So I've packed up the book, put it in a new envelope, printed out a return label, and will drop it off tonight. I've ordered the 11th edition (2021) instead. Maybe I'll have to go back to Rough Guides.

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller