Dear Alan
I have had a look at the web site; our details are no longer on there system due to the lack of business I did with them last year
1. To find Spean Bridge is not possible due to the fact they ONLY the larger towns are listed.
2. No small village is listed so anything out side the area of Fort William is not included.
3. So from Fort Augustus - to Fort William there is well in their hundreds of business not included, from B&B's, Guest Houses and Hotels.
4. This distance is something like 45 minute drive, more if driving from Fort William.
Hope this helps
Hi Alan
I had decided not to subscribe to visit scotland again but changed my mind (regarding the web site only) after seeing the improvement. I could never find my lodge in the past but now I can so I'm hoping I will get some custom now.
I think your efforts have caused a change for the better. Thank you
- time will tell!
Comments re Visit Scotland website from Ravenstone House B and B, Nr Whithorn We appreciate some of these comments come from looking for our own accommodation listing but are possibly representative of other areas. 1. The Guide to Scotland still pushes accommodation. 2.We feel that the changing pictures on opening the page (Edinburgh, Fife and Highlands) should be more representative of Scotland - possibly one from each region. 3. In the Visitors Guide when you seek accommodation in the Machars only Wigtown shows up on a map and gives only Wigtown accommodation. This possibly happens for other areas as well. It should bring up a larger map of the area with additional locations. 4. In the Visitors Guide, looking at the South Rhins shows nothing south of Stranraer. Comments as for 3. above really. 5. In Travel Shop our B and B (which is between Whithorn and Port William) came up for Whithorn but not Port William. There appears to be no mechanism for providing a listing for accommodation nearby, only for the specific postal address. This is important for rural locations. 6. The map locations are not necessarily accurate - what did they use for positioning? If it was post code ours is certainly incorrect. 7. Finding specific information for D and G is not too easy, nor is the link to the VisitScotland D and G website. 8. In some instances D and G is lumped with Southern Scotland which includes Ayrshire and the Borders. 9. When we tried to view picture gallery for D and G it would not come up - it just timed out. We hope these comments are useful.
Another quick comment. I'm not sure if you are accepting any points about the Tiscover website for updating our property and bookings data, but I still find it completely un-intuitive and difficult to master. Only today I searched the Tiscover online help section only to be told when I rang for assistance that the information was in the manual - so it's a case of knowing your way around once you have wasted far too much time getting lost. I'm not looking forward into my next venture into Tiscover!
I'm sorry this is so late - if still worthwhile my comments are:
1. Much better.
2. Happy that my contact details are easy to find on my entry (6 Braichlie Buildings, Ballater).
3. Happy that my entry can be found from an article on Ballater.
4. Not happy that the visitor is immediately encouraged to do a search on availability, which I doubt has ever been a fully functional part of the website owing to a time consuming and (in my view) needlessly complicated data input system. This search on availability did not find my property, presumably because I gave up on that particular time sink (was it IONA) a while back. Since only one property in Ballater came up on this search, I expect this goes for more than myself.
5. Liked the ease of finding information on Cairngorms and Ballater, but feel that a great deal more could be said about the area.
May I add my thanks for a much needed and very well run campaign.
Hello
I received a copy of your email about the changes to the V S Website from another member of ADGAP and hope that I am not too late to add my comment on a feature which I find annoying and descriminatory.
If you initiate a search by clicking on the map for region 13 - D&G the regional map shows only some of the destinations - mostly the towns.
If e.g. you click on Stranraer which is nearest to Portpatrick (which isn`t on the map) you get a speil about Stranraer and a list of VS clients in Stranraer but not any of the surrounding villages.
The only way to get info on where to stay in Portpatrick is to type that word into the search. This may be all very well if the tourist has already researched the area and is specifically looking to stay in Portpatrick but for someone who wants to stay a few nights in say the west of D&G, they may well assume that the only VS accommodation is in Stranraer.
I did raise this myself with VS and while my comments were supported by the Dumfries office, they had to refer to Inverness who said that they couldn`t possibly show everywhere on the map and in any event, most enquirers didn`t use the map facility!
I for one would definitely click on the map if I was looking to visit an unknown area and I find the position unacceptable as we are paying the same fees to VS as those in Stranreaer.
I am sure they could easily add other villages eg Portpatrick, Sandhead, Drummore etc even if it means spliiting the region in into two sections- east & west.
The same sort of thing applies elsewhere in the region eg Kippford is not shown whereas Dalbeattie is.
In summary, I really don`t think the town names should be clickable if everywhere is not included.
I hope that you will have more success than I have had
Dear Alan,
I have looked at the website and I am still very unhappy with it. It is not possible to put in Kirkcaldy or the name of the accommodation. If you want to stay in Kirkcaldy which is where my accommodation is you have to trawl through all of Fife. Also they have attempted to reroute my email by going directly to a book accommodation window which I certainly do not want them to do. My mobile number is now available but it looks as though they have attempted to hide my email address which is how I do most business. I am still not happy and look forward to seeing all feedback when available. Regards
Greetings Alan,
Very many thanks for this alert/reminder to the new look Visitscotland. On my initial browsing I would say that it is very much more "user friendly"
and has a more professional image and appearance to it. I went into Dumfries and Galloway accommodation and apart from a the first two entries showing the same Was and Now prices all looked in order and access to our own details readily available. Let's hope that in keeping with the improved image service efficiency will also improve!
Here's to a good season.
Kind regards and best wishes,
Alan,
Thanks for your email. Some comments:
As a provider - its worse than the last one. Whithorn is not shown on the map of Dumfries and Galloway therefore there is no easy way anyone is going to find accommodation which comes under a Whithorn address. Wigtown is shown and that is the nearest town to Whithorn but no Whithorn accommodation is listed under Wigtown (which has in fact fewer B & B's than Whithorn). The only way anyone searching for accommodation near to Whithorn (only the cradle of Christianity in Scotland) is by searching for Whithorn amongst all the other towns. That's simply not good enough.
Dear Alan
As an example: Self Catering.Breadcrumb trail: Scotland / Dumfries and Galloway / West Dumfries and Galloway / Newton Stewart / Stable Cottage
I note the website link (and email) although shown in 2 places (one at very bottom, one in left sidebar and are very very small)
The EMAIL ENQUIRY is in red/yellow in a prominent position on the page and I believe implies that you are contacting the cottage owner.
Hi Alan
- thanks for the e mail. Our hotel is in Carrbridge in the highlands. You click on the map for the highlands and aviemore is listed as the nearest to us. You go in and there are 4 hotels listed - other hotels in the area do not follow on. There are no options to refine your search like star ratings or smaller areas. You then go into accommodation and there are
69 pages. If you are not in the 1st 15/20 you will not be looked at. For people who do not know the area it will be very confusing and they would need to refer to a map at every turn as all the accommodation is mixed in together. Great if your business is in aviemore but crap for the rest of us who remian invisible. Just when you think things cannot get any worse. This is yet another example of complete incompetence on behalf of visit scotland.com. Visually I also did not think the site looked as good as it could - we have stunning scenery which again seemed missing.
Congratulations on your endeavour on getting this far and for changes to be implemented. I have had a very brief look at the new website and will do so again but, meanwhile, I have had problems in finding my listing for B & B. I did not find it on Sunday, although my listing for self-catering was in. I phoned the local TIC - they said they could find it 'sometimes'!!!! I said that was not good enough - they phoned Oban admin. who said they had found it today Monday. I don't know what is going on, so will persevere. I seem to have to get the message through to them that 'sometimes' is not enough!! I had also noticed another B & B member, who I know definitely is a member, was not listed - I have advised her. Other quick comments I have to make: The site seems simpler and easier to use and is much clearer than the last site. Also seems to be quick at moving around the different sections - but ..... The accommodation is listed A - Z or Z - A for Location, but I see no box for typing the name of the town in - (for speed) !! That means that you have to trawl through to find the property - not very user-friendly for foreigners, especially. The town should have been in capitals or stand out, in my estimation. The name of the property appears first at the top in a different colour - then the town. People looking for accommodation do NOT usually know the name of a property - they look for the location first. I think there should have been a clear gap or line between towns or at least areas to simplify. As I say, I only had a quick look, so maybe I have missed something?!! I am now going to look and see if they have listed my tour guiding! I will have further looks and report back to you on what else I find.
Dear Alan,
As requested, here are some of our observations on the updated VS website:
1) Booking form very confusing (persons, all, per room/unit etc on Travel shop page), particularly for a non English speaker.
2) Providers contact information is still tucked away at the bottom of the page and unless you scroll down, it is easily missed . The large red EMAIL ENQUIRY button is obviously there as an attention getter.
3) I have asked friends to make Email enquiries through the website and as yet none of these have reached me, one was sent last night (Sunday).
4) Very little information is given about Nairn in the way of attractions and events. No mention of Ecuador Castle, Brodie Castle Culloden Battlefield, Fort George, Whisky trail etc.
5) The Fisher town Museum has been incorporated into the Nairn museum so no longer exists as a separate entity.
6) Information given regarding the Nairn Book and Arts Festival shows the festival as taking place in April whereas it is in fact taking place in June. Also there is no mention of our annual International Jazz Festival or our Highland Games both of which take place in August.
Whilst most of the above effects us locally, the VS website is supposed to be the Scottish Government approved providers of visitor information, it is obvious that they have not researched Nairn as a travel destination, and I assume the same applies to many other locations. There is nothing on the website to encourage visitors to want to come to Nairn.
I could go on, but I just despair.
Hi
I visited the Visitor Guide tab
- I thought I was in a travel shop not a travel guide!
- Every time I went to look at an accommodation or a selection of accommodation I got smacked in the eye with “call the travel experts 0845 number” (research shows – the exact spot people look at most when viewing a web page is top left -please take it off)
- I got just another feeling of something “corporate” trying to make money out of me that I thought VisitScotland.com owns all the providers in Scotland – bit like a supermarket.
- I want information and an easy way to connect and communicate quickly with the community I want to visit not some “travel expert supermarket checkout till”
- Why do we need another layer of “wage slaves” to book accommodation? I think we are better and more enthusiastic at selling our own then some telesales company in Delhi, India.
I think it is a fantastic travel shop – but they just can’t seem to get the point.
Providers are individuals and not a can of baked beans sitting on a supermarket shelf.
Much improved, expecially in information about Scotland. One thing which needs improvement is the search for accommodation facility, it's a bit too blunt at the moment with just 'Area' and 'Type of Accommodation' selectors. They should also have 'Sleeps', 'Grading' 'Rent Band' and 'Town/Village' selectors. I'm happier with the way my contact details now show although I feel that my email website address should be more prominent. Thanks for all your efforts,
Dear Alan
As much as I hate to admit it, the site now does what it is supposed to, and I guess pretty much full marks should be awarded for the massive improvement that has been made. My only minor criticism would be that operators such as Travel Inn are listed with Backpackers which makes the number of listings overly long.