“Half-price Caribbean” is a headline in the Sunday Times Travel bit. Hotels are discounting and they are discounting early, is the theme for hotels in far flung places.

The question is, is it really the “recession” which is causing hotels the problem? Interestingly, it is noted, that prices for a hotel room in places such as Rome, Amsterdam, Barcelona and other European places have actually risen by as much as 9 if not 13%. I wonder why!

There is another reason why hotels in certain places are suffereing – and it has nothing to do with any recession, perceived or otherwise. It is simply this: The actual experience of getting to these hotels, for many, is so traumatic that they just can’t be bothered to go at all.

This would also neatly explain why European cities are enjoying room night price increases. If you live in the UK you do not have to fly to get to Amsterdam. If you live in, say, Germany, you do not have to fly to get to Rome. You can drive, you can let the train take the strain – hell, you can even get a coach.

Air travel is no longer a pleasure – especially to those countries which really, really give you a hard time getting in (such as America). You are treated like something the cat dragged in by most airlines and treated the same way by the immigration authorities of many countries. Now, we all respect that they want to know that you are not a homicidal maniac bent on global domination or determined to fly an aeroplane into a tall building, but we do have the technology to check these things and they can be checked with a smile, a “Good Morning”; more treating people innocent until proven gulity rather than the other way around. As Churchill once said “If you have to shoot someone, it costs nothing to be polite”.

So, “long haul” hotels, if they wish to improve their occupancy, should club together and try and do something about getting to an from their locations. Work with immigartion authorities and airlines to try an improve the “holistic holiday experience” .

Seems to me, they are barking up the wrong beach!