I am taking the Rick Steves Scotland tour at the end of April 2019. I would like to book The Bonham (tour start hotel) for a couple nights prior to the tour (and one after). Looking for advise on how to book this - their website shows rooms at about $225 per night, but the discount sites show low of $161 per night (Agoda), $200 (Booking.com). Does the Steves group get a discount, or should I just go ahead with discount site booking? Thank you.
Posted by
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
8293 posts
Maybe if you contact the hotel and ask?
Posted by
OP
Stevensville, MD (formerly Edmonds, WA)
32 posts
I did send them an email inquiry a couple days ago, and am waiting for a reply.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23269 posts
Who knows??? Call the hotel or email the hotel ask for their best rate to for pre and post. If the booking sites are less, then use the booking sites.
Posted by
SE Pennsylvania
2377 posts
I always email the hotel and tell them I'm on the RS tour. I want to make sure I don't have to change rooms. I never checked prices through other sources, but the price I was quoted seemed reasonable in each case.
Posted by
129 posts
terrilowe60 i wonder if we are on the same tour? April 29-May 8? Let me know what you find out about the Bonham as we want to be there the night before as well.
Posted by
East Peoria, IL
786 posts
We are on the April 29-May 8 tour. I've booked two nights pre-tour and two nights post tour at the Bonham. I contacted them via email and it did take a day or two for the initial response, but subsequent replies were within a day. They assured me that they do their best to keep you in the same rooms so you don't have to switch around.
In this situation, I prefer to deal with the hotel directly rather than a booking site, even if it's a few dollars, er, pounds more.
Posted by
OP
Stevensville, MD (formerly Edmonds, WA)
32 posts
Yes, I am on the April 29th tour. I will wait patiently for the hotel to reply! And then re-try if I don't hear.
Posted by
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
8293 posts
You could always phone the hotel.
Posted by
OP
Stevensville, MD (formerly Edmonds, WA)
32 posts
I did hear from the hotel last night, and have reserved my pre and post rooms with them. Like "stoutfella" I decided that booking directly and having them arrange for me to keep the same room for my extra days was valuable to me. The price was more than I would have gotten by booking via discount hotel sites. Happy to have this done! Excited for the tour and meeting you two tourmates who posted here!
Posted by
East Peoria, IL
786 posts
terrilowe60: Glad you got it sorted out. Looks like a nice hotel. Not sure if we'll actually do two extra days on each end of the tour, but we should get that settled in the next few weeks. I wanted to allow enough time outside the tour for us to visit with our son, who plans to spend his next semester at the University of Edinburgh. Once he announced his plans, we decided that, as responsible parents, we'd have no choice but to check up on him in Scotland. ;-)
Looking forward to meeting you all. This will be our third RS tour.
Cheers!
Posted by
129 posts
Our second RS tour, stoutfella---we did BO Ireland last May and it was fantastic! i made reservations online---I had not heard from the hotel in 5 days and was worried about rooms filling up. DH and I pack light so if we have to move no big deal. Excited about this trip and meeting new travel buddies!
Posted by
East Peoria, IL
786 posts
Our son received his acceptance to the University of Edinburgh yesterday!
We'd been holding off on plane tickets until we knew for sure that Scotland was the plan, so now we can move forward with our travel arrangements. Very much looking forward to this trip.