For our first visit to Scotland we bought The Good Hotel Guide 2015 to help us plan our tour.
Using one of the maps provided in the handbook we selected a hotel at Uig on Skye. The location is clearly identified by a black triangle on the map. The evening before we set off we entered the postcode on Google maps and only then discovered that the hotel is, in fact, on the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.
At very short notice we had to cancel the booking and find alternative accommodation on Skye so as to be able to continue with all the other bookings and travel plans we had made. Despite the fact that our cancellation was solely attributable to map error, the hotel has taken full payment for the two-night stay we were unable to complete. LF, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire
The Good Hotel Guide apologises for the error which is says arose because there is an Uig on Skye as well as Lewis. It points out that the actual entry for the hotel gives the correct address as Uig, Western Isles and that Skye is not part of the Western Isles.
True enough, but the Isle of Lewis is not mentioned in the address and those not familiar with Hebridean geography, or without ready access to the internet to check postcodes, would have no reason to assume that the map was wrong. Nonetheless, a spokesperson for the Guide blames you for not checking the hotel website when booking your stay, rather than its editors for not checking its maps, and declines to compensate you for those unused nights. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do about it, according to Andrew Leakey, head of dispute resolution at Stephensons solicitors, because your contract was with the hotel – which did not misrepresent the location – and because the listing was correct elsewhere in the guide.
If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number.
