It's in the Fine Print

As the much awaited summer holiday looms nearer I thought I'd sit and gloat over the booking confirmation to remind myself how many short weeks there are between now and when I will be forced to shrug off the yeti suit and shoe horn myself into a bikini (or tankini). 8 short weeks, give or take a rich tea biscuit, but what's a biscuit between friends?

I digress.

So I'm checking the booking is all in order and reading between the lines I question the logic of "double bed and space for cot".

No cot?

Hm. I email the holiday company, and they email me back after a few short minutes to reassure me that my booking is A-ok and that Grace will have somewhere to rest her pretty little head.

It reads:  "I can confirm that a cot has been automatically requested for your infant. However, we do advise this cannot be guaranteed. We are confident the hotelier will do their best to accomodate your family's request, however the availability of a cot is dependant on the number of infants travelling at the same time."

That's one big arsed caveat* if ever I saw one.

I'm sat here thinking through my options in case it turns out by chance that every cot available to the hotelier is otherwise engaged on our arrival. It's ok, Grace sleeps in a bed (assuming they have one of those at their disposal and they can squeeze it into the room) and nevertheless I find myself a wee bit miffed that what you book ain't necessarily what you get.

For instance, I buy a pair of running shoes (a bit far fetched, but stick with me) and I KNOW they will have laces in the box when I get home. I order a pizza with stuffed crust and I KNOW the crust will be stuffed - there's no small print that says "we reserve the right not to stuff crusts during peak times". So when I book a holiday for two adults and one infant, I expect there to be some small guarantee that there will be sleeping kit for two adults and one infant. Silly, silly me.

Worry not though. The email encouraged me to contact the resort representative on arrival if there are any problems and they will endeavour to assist. Well that's ok then.

Is it me, or is it crazy to do business like this? Do put me straight if I'm being unreasonable.



*that's caveat, not cravat. That said, I'm going to pack a cravat - super handy strangling aid for the unsuspecting resort representative who tells me there is...no...cot.