Hello,
We are working on our itinerary for a summer trip to Ireland. We were hoping to stay 1 night on Inis Mor, but can't find any availability when we search online. Will I have better luck contacting places directly? Are there better websites to search for places to stay? Are we too late already? Do most places require 2 nights? Our current date to be on the Island is June 25 (a Sunday), but things are still flexible. I'd love any suggestions.
Thanks!
We stayed at Clai Ban B&B. What I do when I'm frustrated by availability is look at Google Maps/Nearby Hotels and it shows available prices PLUS it shows a small black dot for each 'other' alternative. These include the 'booked' places, but also include smaller places that tend to avoid booking.com etc. because of the booking fees. So click on each dot, google it, then send them an email (or you could call, although I never have). Some places don't allow the booking.com etc. site have all the rooms, so it never hurts to attempt to book a place that shows "no availability on your dates". Also, Google "B&B Association" and you will find several sites that list more obscure B&Bs with email links.
A close friend that travels at least half her life swears by Momondo.com for the search portion. She often then contacts direct.
I just looked with Momondo and they list "no availability" but display 76 possible places, some with phone numbers. Most will have emails with a clever search.
AS an absolutely last resort, I once snagged a place in Oban by using Google Maps/StreetView and 'walking' the whole town looking for signs on places that weren't showing up by other means. Not a fast process!
Thanks for the tips... I'll start contacting a few places directly ASAP. I was hoping that was still a possibility. I love your Streetview method... very resourceful! :)
Excellent advice above.
I'll add one more thing you should consider -- though it's merely a potential explanation for what you are seeing, rather than a solution to that...
It's still early. It's just the middle of January. The places you are looking at are almost all small, low-key, family-run operations, not the Hilton. They are in a sleepy, fairly obscure place -- sleepy and obscure by the standards of the tourism industry, which is a large part of their appeal. Inis Mor is sleepy even in high season, in January it barely has a pulse. But that sleepy-off-the-beaten-path quality also requires that we adjust our expectations a bit. Right now is the depth of their "low season." Some of the folks running these places may be away on holiday, or just not actively tending to their business every day. Some probably not have loaded their availability into web-based booking engines yet, because they're not in the mood to, or not ready to, or just don't feel like they need to. They'll get around to that later.
It's true that accommodations are limited there, but just because you are not seeing availability in June does not necessarily mean that every place is completely booked up already. Look for email contacts for the places you see listed with no availability. Email them and ask if they are booked up for your dates, you may find that they just have not started accepting bookings yet.
The travel industry is booming, it seems everyone is going places and demand is sky-high, so those of us who prefer to nail down our accommodations early (I'm definitely one of those) have a natural tendency to book everything super-early (to beat the competition for the limited places). But not everyone in the worldwide tourist industry has adopted that cut-throat, competitive approach. Some folks are still taking things easy, because they are confident that once summer arrives, the people will come.
Don't give up, try and ping places via email and see what that yields.
(Afterthoughts: Some places might have a two- or three-night minimum in high season...try different dates and see if anything magically opens up for 2 or 3 nights, during different weeks; also, don't know how many are in your party but if you are looking for more than 2 people that is always harder, so try looking for just 2 and see if anything appears open....if you try for just 2 people for 2-3 nights and you see absolutely nothing available all summer, that would be a strong indication to me that they are just not taking bookings at all yet...a hopeful sign).
Thanks so much, that's super helpful. I feel like I'm getting mixed messages about how soon I need to start booking and I got worried that I was way behind. In an ideal world, we would book a few longer stays and then leave gaps to explore in between (We have 3 weeks in Ireland), but my understanding was that things book up and leaving even 1 night to chance would be too risky, especially in a place as small as Kilronan.
I wanted to update to say I contacted a handful of BnBs directly via email or their online contact forms. All had availability for June. So it's definitely not about it being booked already, just the sites like booking.com, etc.. don't have up-to-date information. I'm happy to work one-on-one with them anyway!
Thanks for your reponses.
