Eye on the tigers in India
Wildlife experts have opened a new eco-lodge in India that offers comfort and calm, as well as a chance to spot big cats
The early morning sun is bright on the long grass, the shadows are shortening and my wife Anne-Sophie, and our 10-month-old son Victor are sitting beside me on a small sandy spur above the placid river Ken. We are at a new eco-lodge, the Sarai at Toria, 400 miles east of Delhi, near the Panna national park and the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. The journey overnight on the train from the capital to the town of Khajuraho (famous for its 11th century temple complex) and the taxi trip through 15 miles of deep rural India, were smooth. We are relieved to be away from the traffic-choked, polluted, often angry city where we live. Breakfast is being served, there are birds in the trees and buffalo in the river. In the background I can hear that classic sound of rural India: the soft repetitive hoot of an irrigation pump in the fields behind us.
The lodge opened last year and is the creation of wildlife photographer Joanna Van Gruisen, originally from Northumberland, and Raghudandan Singh Chundawat, one of India's best-known wildlife biologists.
"We chose the place because of our 10-year association with the area," says Joanna. "It had immediate potential as a lodge site because it is in an under-recognised but tourist-destination-rich beautiful part of the country; besides this there is plenty of potential for research – on wildlife and on climate change – and great need for development and economic stimulation." Profits from the venture are being channelled into local projects.
Six spacious cottages with thatched roofs and open verandas have been built just behind the small spur. Trees, a few paths, a small creek and enthusiastic and conscientious local staff make the nine-acre plot seem larger than it is and homely.
Many of the "eco-lodges" springing up around India are nothing of the sort. In cut-throat competition for foreign tourists, hoteliers soon worked out that a bit of green marketing works wonders. So dozens of establishments claim that, because they are in rural settings, have a lot of local textiles draped over the beds and offer trekking, they are "ecologically responsible".
Joanna and Raghu, however, are very serious about conservation and the environment. Both have devoted much of their lives to the study and preservation of India's wildlife, and they are not the sort to slap a green label on anything that does not deserve it, however much it might help with marketing.
Solar panels are planned for next season, water comes from a well, heating is designed to minimise consumption, biogas is used for cooking and the thick mud walls of the cottages mean there is no need for air-con. The Sarai shuts for the hottest part of the year – April to early autumn, when temperatures climb well above 40C – and reopens on 1 October, two weeks before the Panna Tiger Reserve.
Joanna has sourced the soap from a women's cooperative in neighbouring Bihar state. Only local ingredients are used for the excellent food, mainly variations of the classic north Indian dishes of spiced, boiled vegetables but using, for example, a wild herb that grows only in these parts.
Almost every evening we take a short walk, baby strapped to my chest, through villages near the lodge. This is a dirt-poor part of India, with worse poverty than in much of sub-saharan Africa, but the men and women squatting to cut the chickpea plants offer them to us with a smile. Victor, as ever in India, is quickly surrounded by curious crowds.
If you want to understand what is happening on the ground, nothing beats walking in rural India. We pass a ruined fort, a more prosperous village, with houses of brick, the all-important "tank" or reservoir, then the settlement where the lowest castes live, away from the others, in homes of mud.
On the other side of the river from the lodge is the national park, a long forested ridge that rises in stepped plateaux. Indian national parks are not very visitor-friendly: there are few of the activities you find in their European or US equivalents. The infrastructure just isn't there – and anyway, much of the Panna national park is unreachable or off limits to tourists, to allow the wildlife space to roam without disturbance. Visitors can take jeep or elephant rides into the north-east of the park, starting from the villages of Madla or Hinouta.
Raghu is the author of one of the most detailed investigations of tigers recently published in India and knows the story of the park's big cats better than anyone. His opinion of the local forestry department officials is largely unprintable. Only seven years ago, there were around 40 tigers living in the park, fewer than in the past but a sustainable population. Since then they have all died, many poached, in one of the worst local examples of the continuing failure of India's tiger preservation policies. More recently, a pair of tigers have been reintroduced, one of which we miss by minutes on our first morning in the park.
No matter. The focus on tigers distracts from everything else there is to see. From my perch atop a jeep, protected by a blanket against the chill of early morning, the forest is spectacular in itself. Then there are the long-tailed langur monkeys, deer, antelopes, mongoose and boars. And the birds: shockingly blue rollers, majestic vultures, peregrine falcons and more – all pointed out with enthusiasm by guides armed with binoculars, books and tea in a Thermos.
But the place where the birds are most impressive is not in the park at all. I've never been much of an ornithologist – too distracted by the easy excitement of bigger game – but here I am converted. When my son is sleeping and the surface of the river at dusk is as smooth as the pebbles by its banks, I am paddled between the rocks and the storks, the herons, the pair of giant owls, the cormorants, the snake-necked darters and the kingfishers in their coats of colours that would put a Punjabi pop star to shame.
It is a moment of tranquillity that is rare in the chaotic country that I cover for the Guardian. Even the horns of the country buses rattling through the villages along the bank of the river seem to have fallen silent.
Jason Burke is the Guardian's south Asia correspondent
IndiaAsiaGreen travelConservationEndangered speciesWildlifeJason Burkeguardian.co.ukMy travels: Judith Schalansky on remote islands
The author found the idea of islands impossibly romantic – until she discovered that they can also be hell
Opening an atlas at a random page or spinning the globe and picking out a destination with eyes closed – who hasn't done that? I grew up in East Germany – on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall. Before the wall fell, living here meant most of the world was out of reach. I was desperate to travel when I was a girl, but the only way I could escape was through the pages of my atlas. The first time I did this was after watching a television documentary on the Galapagos Islands. I looked for them in the atlas. Then I tried to find my home – the German Democratic Republic. I realised for the first time how small my country was when compared with the rest of the world. My domain ended at the shores of the Baltic Sea, with seemingly insurmountable barriers separating me from the outside world.
I spent my childhood holidays on the shores of the Baltic with my grandparents, who lived on the island of Usedom. Two bridges chained it to the mainland – and to my romantic, girlish mind, it didn't feel like a proper island. After all, I reasoned, surely an island should be a place that can only be reached by ship? Like the island's lighthouse on a tiny rocky outcrop near the coast. But I couldn't get to it because it was frontier territory for my country and as forbidden as the Berlin Wall. I just had to imagine what it might be like.
Islands, especially those that seem the most remote, are perfect places. After all, most island societies were originally set up by people desperate for a new beginning, for a chance to do everything differently. The idea for my Atlas of Remote Islands grew out of my childhood belief that there must be somewhere in the world that is truly beautiful. Three years ago I stood in front of the huge globe in the Berlin State Library, and wrote down the names of all the tiny little spots of land that looked most forgotten in the vast spread of the seas. I was well aware, of course, that any such arbitrary list could only be a question of perception or position: the inhabitants of Easter Island call their home Te Pito O Te Henua – or "the navel of the world". My work on the Atlas of Remote Islands took me on an adventure, an expedition through dusty tomes, travellers' journals and obscure scientific reports on tiny islands. I drew 50 maps all to the same scale, and I researched and wrote 50 stories.
What I did not expect was that so many of the island stories I would dig up would be so horrendous: shipwrecks, failed expeditions, prison colonies, megalomaniac conquerors, cannibalism, murder and mayhem. Most of these islands are barren, without drinking water. In fact, many islands are unsuitable settings for finding paradise: hell is an island too. Sooner or later, man's will to survive turns him into a beast, and his dream into failure. Men go mad, start rebellions or choose to drown themselves in the sea.
And I realised that all our perceptions of freedom are to do with living on the mainland. If a ship calls only three times a year, there can be no freedom. Freedom means choice. I will never visit any of the 50 islands I wrote about. Mine is a book for the armchair explorer, describing places that exist in reality, but only come to life in the imagination.
A couple of years ago, I finally visited the small lighthouse island I had so longed for as a child. The lighthouse was made of red brick; the vegetation was lush, overgrown and wild. Wherever you stood, you could hear the sounds of the sea. It was a lovely place. But I wouldn't have wanted to stay there any longer than I had to.
Germanyguardian.co.ukHotel review: Small Hotel of the Year
A Cotswold hideaway with plenty of olde worlde charm lives up to its new status as Small Hotel of the Year
It won't just be guests indulging in bubbly at the Bay Tree Hotel today. The 21-bedroom, three-star hotel was named Small Hotel of the Year at the Enjoy England Awards for Excellence 2011 in Birmingham.
Interested members of the press (such as me) are alerted ahead of awards night and sworn to secrecy, so we can swoop in to review before the winners get booked up (as they inevitably will be) from now until Christmas.
Burford is a Cotswold town of almost fairytale appearance. It is a beautiful spring day, daffodils are bobbing in a light breeze, and sunlight bounces off the golden stone of the cottages along Sheep Street. Goodness, reception is busy – the phone rings constantly. I see what the Enjoy England assessor meant in his report – the receptionist is going the extra mile with every inquiry.
The doubles amid the olde worlde charm of the main hotel being fully booked, I've gone instead for a Superior Garden Room in an outbuilding by the car park – what we in hotel reviewing circles like to call "the barracks" (usually while pulling a face). This turns out to be no such thing – if I overlook the teddy bear on the bed (who does like those apart from five-year-olds?), this is a very good room. Fresh, light, with no one to make a noise above it, and French doors to a Juliet balcony.
I love the garden view, modern chintz, big bottles of Molton Brown, the fact I have a lined curtain and a blind at the window which looks out on the driveway (though not a single car disturbs). Less keen on thief-proof hangers, though, and annoyed that Wi-Fi isn't free.
Back to the main building, parts of which are 16th century, to settle in the cosy confines of the library for tea and shortbread. This could almost be a National Trust stately home – not because the sofa is so well-worn, but because I can see two little notices asking me not to do things. "Please refrain from putting wood on the fire", "Please do NOT sit on the bench", they say. Nothing award-winning about decorating a hotel with those.
A pre-dinner drink in the softly lit bar is accompanied by canapés while I choose from the nicely balanced menu. Back through the library to the restaurant, in which a sense of occasion accompanies dinner. Tables are well spaced, and service is friendly and helpful. There is sensitivity in seating the solo diners, too (not under everyone else's gaze, but not hidden away either).
I could eat a vat of the chilled cucumber soup, which tastes like tzatziki and comes with a red chilli kick. Perfectly seared Hereford beef fillet, a dark, oozing rillette and a creamy stack of dauphinoise potatoes follow (just wish the kale had come minus the cream).
My room is in darkness – that's funny, I'm sure the info said turn-down service. The tray charge for room service is a very reasonable £1.50 (so many hotels take the mickey) so I take the plunge and order breakfast in bed. It comes right on time next day. Good job I packed a nightdress, though – when I need to answer the door I can't locate a robe.
It's just lovely in here this morning. Blackbirds sing in the walled garden. I throw open the French windows and sit, nibbling on locally smoked salmon and tiny fresh croissants, looking out at cherry blossom.
sally.shalam@guardian.co.uk
HotelsUnited KingdomShort breaksSally Shalamguardian.co.ukIf you’re inspired by the London marathon…
A new holiday for runners in Kenya's Rift Valley offers top-notch facilities and a schedule that will leave you breathless
Iten is an unlikely runners' paradise. High up in Kenya's Rift Valley, it's a small, chaotic town, typical of the region. The mitumba (secondhand clothes market) spills out by the side of the only tarmac road, as matatus (small buses) drive by day and night, beeping and touting for passengers. Donkeys and cyclists struggle by piled high with crates of chickens or sacks of charcoal, and sheep, goats and cows roam freely.
The surrounding countryside is dotted with round mud huts; in hand-ploughed fields, children in torn clothes stand and stare, and dusty roads crisscross the fertile land in every direction. It is along these roads, usually early in the morning, that you will find the runners. One after the other after the other they shoot by, dressed in Lycra, the latest Nike running shoes and Gore-Tex jackets. It's an incongruous sight, but to an athletics fan, it makes perfect sense. Because from this tiny corner of Kenya hail most of the world's greatest distance runners.
Lacing up your trainers and heading out for a run in Iten is a daunting experience. There don't appear to be any joggers. Every single person is fast. Even the other foreign runners who gather here are all international athletes. Luckily, I'm staying in Iten as part of a group – the only one, it seems – of non-elite runners. There are seven of us, ranging from someone hoping to run a half-marathon in two hours, to someone hoping to run a full marathon in precisely two hours, 24 minutes.
We're in Iten as part of the Kenya Experience, a holiday for runners recently set up by English couple Gavin and Lauren Smith. A budding coach, Gavin knows the town and the Kenyan runners well. He regularly points out the various Olympic champions and world record holders we pass as we're running or walking around.
"That's the steeplechase world record holder," says Gavin, as a group of runners, including Saif Saaeed Shaheen, charge past. "The one with the yellow shoes." There goes the women's world half-marathon record holder, Mary Keitany, on the other side of the road.
Gavin gives us all a personal training plan when we arrive and offers to take us out for runs, or – if we're brave enough – to find Kenyan athletes for us to run with. Although I like to think of myself as a fairly decent runner (my half-marathon time is one hour, 26 minutes), heading out with the Kenyans is a hair-raising experience.
With another member of our group (the two-hour, 24-minute marathon hopeful), I join up for a Kenyan fartlek session – which is basically a long run with fast bits and slow bits. From our base at the High Altitude Training Camp (HATC), owned by former world half-marathon record holder Lornah Kiplagat, it's a 20-minute jog just to the starting point. At the bottom of a long hill, by a bridge over a stream, we find a group of about 200 athletes, milling around and stretching. One man stands up on a mound like a preacher and explains what happens in the session. Spotting us in the crowd, he repeats the instructions in English. I give him the thumbs-up, to much mirth and giggling among the other runners.
The plan is to run gently for one minute and then hard for two minutes. And then to repeat that pattern 17 times. I don't have a watch, but after a minute of jogging, a swarm of beeping watches tells me it's time to go hard. It's uphill, hot and we're running at 2,400m – those are my excuses anyway, because almost instantly I'm drifting backwards, like something heavy falling through water.
People ping by on both sides until I'm watching the main group disappear into the distance. Fortunately, though, I'm not the only straggler, and I manage to keep pace with the backmarkers until the end. The final stretch takes us up a ridiculous hill that has me almost walking.
Afterwards, the Kenyans are smiling and friendly, telling me I did well. All the runners here are welcoming, with no one apparently concerned that I'm like a tortoise to their hares.
When we're not running, we lounge around the upmarket facilities at the HATC. The place is crawling with international athletes, including six top British middle-distance runners. The camp has a lovely swimming pool, although as it's the rainy season, the air temperature is a little too cool to make the water irresistible.
One day we get to visit a typical Kenyan training camp, which is more than a few notches down on the comfort stakes. Here, the athletes sleep in tiny dormitories, and their food is cooked over a wood fire in a kitchen that's a corrugated iron shack. The camp houses about 10 Kenyan athletes and top British marathon runner Tom Payn. He seems to be enjoying life in the camp, despite the basic conditions, although he does say that the one thing he misses is a sit-down toilet.
Gavin and Lauren have arranged a packed schedule of visits and activities for us, some of which work better than others. We visit Iten's famous St Patrick's High School, which has produced dozens of Olympic and world champions and world record holders. Along one wall in the dining room, where beans are being dished out of huge vats for lunch, is the school's wall of fame. Among the star names are the former world 800m record holder and three times world champion Wilson Kipketer, and the 2010 IAAF world athlete of the year, David Rudisha, who still lives and trains on the school campus. Unfortunately, he's away competing in Australia when we visit.
One famous runner we do meet is former world 10,000m champion Moses Tanui, who comes to give us a talk. He spends most of the time telling us why Kenyan runners are not as good as they should be, as torrents of rain batter the tin roof outside, making it hard to hear his soft spoken voice.
By the end of two weeks, we have had a taste of life in Kenya's cradle of champions. It's a mad, bustling place, full of warm, welcoming smiles. Everyone is sad to leave, but thanks to Gavin's training programme and the high altitude, we're all going home fitter than we arrived.
Read Adharanand Finn's running blog at guardian.co.uk
KenyaHealth and fitnessAfricaAthleticsAdharanand Finnguardian.co.ukFamily outings for spring
If a pink cartoon pig doesn't do it for your kids, there is lots more that's new at Britain's family attractions and theme parks this year
Madame Tussauds, BlackpoolThe world's 12th Madame Tussauds (0871 282 9200, madametussauds.com) opens in Blackpool on 21 April. Take the kids to see heroes including David Beckham, Cheryl Cole and Ant and Dec. Adults may have to explain who "Blackpool Originals" Barbara Windsor, Benny Hill and Ken Dodd are.
• Book online and go before 8 May for £7.20pp, or before 1 July for £9.60pp
Several characters are making the leap from screens to screams at Nickelodeon Land (0871 222 1234, nick.co.uk/nickelodeonland) opening on 4 May at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Try SpongeBob's Splash Bash, the Avatar Airbender, or the Rugrats Lost River.
• Wristbands for a family of four £86 online at blackpoolpleasurebeach.com
The new King Arthur's Birds of Prey Centre at this park near Chorley (01257 453044, camelotthemepark.co.uk) will wow young ornithologists. Eagles, owls, vultures and hawks take to the skies in two displays a day. As well as rides, there are daily jousting displays, and magic shows with Merlin himself.
• Tickets for a family of four £64 online, £70 at the gate
Explore this wetland centre (01704 895181, wwt.org.uk/martin-mere), by boat this year. Three people take to a Canadian-style canoe on a self-guided journey around reed beds, woodland and swamp, spotting wildlife.
• Tickets for family of four £26.50. £5 per canoe; groups can pre-book
Little wizards and witches will love a new ride, Merlin's Apprentice, at the Legoland Discovery Centre (0871 222 2662, legolanddiscoverycentre.co.uk/manchester) in the Trafford Centre. Each pod goes faster and higher the harder the kids pedal.
• Minimum ride height 90cm. Tickets for a family of four from £30 online
Painted Dogs is a new African-themed area at Chester Zoo (01244 380280, chesterzoo.org), with porcupines and a pack of seven African hunting dogs. Later they will be joined by sociable guinea pig-like rock hyraxes.
• Tickets for a family of four are £55, including an optional £5 donation to conservation programmes.
Ben 10: Ultimate Mission is a new roller coaster based on the cartoon show, from 23 April at this park near Tamworth (0844 472 1950, draytonmanor.co.uk). And the fun starts while you're in the queue.
• Ride opens on 23 April. Tickets for a family of four £98
As well as all the rides, Alton Towers (0871 222 3330, altontowers.com) has arts and science offerings for children over Easter. The Go!Go!Go! show in the Cloud Cuckoo Land Theatre is a live pop musical, and Mad Science is an interactive range of explosions and experiments – don't miss the water rocket launches on the front lawns.
• Tickets for a family of four from £102
Children with a scientific bent will like All About Us, a new permanent exhibition about the human body at At-Bristol (0845 345 1235, at-bristol.org.uk). More than 50 exhibits bring biology to life, and there is even a real human brain to examine. Activities in the Live Lab over the holidays include dissection and DNA extraction.
• Tickets for a family of four, £35.50, including voluntary Gift Aid donation
The snappy new attraction at Blue Reef (01637 878134, bluereefaquarium.co.uk) is Mini-Crocs, a South American habitat home to two dwarf caimans. Over the holidays, there is a series of predator-themed talks and workshops.
• Tickets for a family of four £31.60
The two Crealy Great Adventure Parks (01395 233200/01841 540276, crealy.co.uk) boast indoor and outdoor rides, and friendly animals. New at the Devon site are meerkats, marmosets and alpacas, plus the Crealy Show Dome, a big top with daily shows. The Cornish site has a new Dizzy Dina ride, and a pony area where everyone wins a rosette.
• Tickets £14.45pp for four or more
Longleat Safari and Adventure Park, Wiltshire
Jungle Kingdom, a new attraction at Longleat (01985 844400, longleat.co.uk) this year, boasts a walk-through meerkat enclosure and miniature monkeys. Visitors can now hand-feed rainbow lorikeets, giraffes and fallow deer. New arrivals include wildebeest, white rhinos, giant anteaters and cape crested porcupines. • Online tickets £23.40 adults, £16.65 children; 10% more at the gate
The London DungeonOn 28 May, the London Dungeon (0871 423 2240, thedungeons.com) launches Vengeance, a "5D" laser ghost ride. Riders are taken back to a séance in what was said to be the most haunted house in London. And new for Easter is an enhanced version of the Jack the Ripper experience.
• Minimum ride height 1.1m. Tickets from £17.33pp online
Pre-schoolers will be excited about Peppa Pig World (02380 814442, peppapigworld.co.uk) new at Paultons Family Theme Park in the New Forest. As well as rides and various buildings from the show, there is Daddy Pig's Big Tummy Café and Miss Rabbit's Ice-cream Parlour. The Guardian's three- and five-year-old reviewers gave a big thumbs-up to George's Dinosaur Adventure ride and the Muddy Puddles mini-water park. Dad's advice: bring lots of towels.
• Tickets for a family of four £74 online at paultonspark.co.uk or £80 on the gate; children under a metre tall free
Chessington (0871 663 4477, chessington.com) is celebrating the 21st birthday of its Vampire rollercoaster until 1 May. The new Twilight Zone is an interactive dark walkthrough with screams around every corner. The first 21 children to arrive in vampire dress each day get in free. Over in the Sea Life centre, Azteca is a new display featuring sharks, rays and parrotfish.
• Tickets for a family of four £88.80 online, £102 at the gate
This is Enchantment weekend in Southend's amusement park (01702 443400, adventureisland.co.uk) with Shaolin monks, stilt walkers and more. New rides include a Kiddi Koasta at the end of April, and the terrifying Time Machine roller coaster in summer.
• Wristbands from £7.75 to £23
New at Thorpe Park (0871 663 1673, thorpepark.com) is Storm Surge, a sky-high spinning ride involving a life raft, a 64ft spiral descent and a line of water cannons. Last one down's a sissy ...
• Minimum ride height 1.1m. Tickets for a family of four £96 online or £105.60 on the gate
This Easter at Northern Ireland's award-winning discovery centre (028-9046 7700, w5online.co.uk), kids can try out a new Race the Rainbow egg race. At the Sense exhibition they can see if they've got what it takes to be the next Alex Rider – dodging detectors, cracking a safe – and they can learn about slime or make edible explosions in regular interteractive floorshows.
• Tickets for a family of four £23
Folly Farm (01834 812731, folly-farm.co.uk) is also a zoo, a funfair, an adventure playground and a classroom. Its new ride, the gentle Big Wheel, is suitable for all, from baby to grandma. Folly Interactive is a new sensory exhibit where visitors can get up close and personal with snakes and birds. But most memorable will probably be the "Whose Poo?" challenge.
• Adults £9, children £8
Every child loves a good story, and there's no better place to hear one than the Scottish Storytelling Centre (0131-556 9579, scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk). Over the holidays, it is hosting events as part of the Science Festival and Puppet Animation Festival. Among other delights, kids can learn why snot is green and meet the Big Bad Wolf.
• Entrance free, book for storytelling sessions, £4; performances from £4.50
Taking liberties: a jailbreak to San Diego
Every year, rag week students compete to get as far across the world as they can. Here's how the Guardian helped two of them to go to the west coast of the US, 5,500 miles away
It was around midday when I picked up the phone to an eager, breathless voice. "Hello! Is that the Guardian travel desk? I'm Sarah Malik and I am a student at Cambridge University and I'm taking part in a competition for charity. I'm in reception and I wondered if you could help – we have until 9pm tomorrow to get as far around the world as possible!"
Something about the excitement in her voice spurred me down the stairs to hear them out. Sarah and Alice were taking part in a rag week "jailbreak" stunt. Teams had 36 hours to get as far from their start point as possible. Last year's winners had made it to Washington DC, about 3,600 miles. The clock was ticking.
Using industry contacts I tried to get them last-minute flights to the world's furthest-flung destinations – New Zealand or South Africa. To no avail – but then Hotels.com came to my rescue. "How about San Diego? The flight goes from Heathrow in two and a half hours – can they make it?"
Course they could … and here's their story …
Gemma Bowes, Guardian travel editor
At 9am, 122 teams were gathered in a mock "jail" in Cambridge. We would all have 36 hours to blag, beg and busk our way around the globe. Each year the imagination of the teams reaches new heights. One year a team got to the Med without taking off their banana costumes; others were cautioned at the Parthenon in Athens for photographing each other dressed as cows.
In 2010 the prize was taken by a pair of amateur magicians who spent the weekend frantically busking to buy two tickets to Washington DC. When the go signal was fired, we joined in a mass stampede heading directly to the train station. We gamely rattled our purple collecting bucket until we'd collected enough coins to buy two £15 tickets to London. Once at King's Cross we felt braver – we had escaped Cambridge and a world of possibilities lay before us. We spent two hours trying to get sponsorship from firms before landing at the Guardian offices, where travel editor Gemma Bowes was our "Guardian angel". She eventually told us she had found us a flight to San Diego. We got to check-in with minutes to spare and boarded our United Airlines plane euphoric. San Diego is 5,500 miles from Cambridge, and as it was still just a few hours after the start, we were sure we were in first place.
Changing at Washington DC, we finally landed in San Diego, to sunshine and palm trees. A text told us that Hotels.com had found us a room, at the Hard Rock Hotel. The much-needed drink was illegal (the hotel cleared the mini-bar in our room), as we are under 21, so we explored. On 5th Avenue we found a Mexican restaurant – Tequila 100 (+1 619 233 2838, tequila100.net) – and ravenously consumed our American-sized portions.
The aim of the jailbreak is to do as much as possible without using your own money. We had £50 in dollars for security. We decided to spend the day checking out the area and were delighted to find that most of San Diego's interesting shops were on 4th and 5th Avenues, right by our hotel. We were smitten with the Bettie Page store (bettiepageclothing.com), which sells 1950s-style dresses. The shop owner found us perfect dresses to try on (with matching shoes and belts) and we posed in the window like pin-ups.
But there was plenty to see without spending a dime. The Exclusive Collection Gallery on 5th (ecgallery.com) was showing fine art from artists such as Michael Flohr, and at the Horton Plaza Mall (westfield.com/hortonplaza) we browsed in American classics such as Abercrombie & Fitch.
Our age and lack of funds (or smart clothes) meant the city's reputedly brilliant nightlife was off-limits, so we made do with a mountain of frozen yoghurt, piled high with fruit and sugary toppings, for just $5 at the
Are hotel comparison sites a good deal?
As the OFT examines allegations that the hotel booking industry is breaching competition law, we investigate whether comparison sites still offer value for money
Laterooms.com promises hotel rooms at "unutterably low prices". Lastminute.com guarantees the lowest prices, while Booking.com offers a "best price promise". Yet when Guardian Money tested prices for a two-day getaway to Edinburgh over the royal wedding weekend they were nearly identical – and significantly more expensive than on rival comparison websites.
To test the hotel sites we selected three different hotels: a Sheraton in New York, a Hilton in Berlin, and a Malmaison in Edinburgh. We sought prices for two nights for two people, on the weekend of 29 April to 1 May.
The good news is that shopping around works. In Edinburgh, while the major booking sites all wanted £260 to £280 for two nights at the Malmaison, the surprise winner was Asda, whose hotel booking site found us the same hotel for £229.57 – a saving of more than £50. The price also included breakfast, which is unusual when most websites sell at "room only" prices.
Our survey suggests it is best to bypass sites such as lastminute.com, Travelocity or Expedia and instead go to websites that scan every travel website for the best deal. We found Asda's cheap price on the Malmaison by going through travelsupermarket.com. It also found the cheapest deal at the Hilton in Berlin – the underlying provider was travelrepublic.co.uk – and at the Sheraton in New York, where the underlying provider was lowcostusa.co.uk
Hotelsearchengines.net and kayak.co.uk use a similar model, and also found us better value deals than Expedia and Travelocity. But it pays to spend time looking at two or more websites – although Kayak turned up decent deals in the Hilton and the Sheraton, for instance, it found us the most expensive room at the Malmaison. Examine carefully the prices quoted; some headline deals did not include tax or were for the wrong dates.
Generally, we found that going direct to the hotel's own website failed to pay off – prices were the same as those charged by the big operators and higher than on the comparison sites.
The similar pricing by the Hilton and Sheraton hotels was striking. In part, this is because websites have common owners: lastminute.com is in the same group as travelocity.com; Expedia controls hotels.com, hotwire.com, tripadvisor.com and venere.com. Booking.com is owned by priceline.com.
The gap in pricing between the major players was just £1-£3 which, arguably, could represent price competition as they chase prices down. But the Office of Fair Trading is examining allegations of price fixing at hotel websites. The investigation began last September but, in a statement last week, the OFT said it is now an "administrative priority" and that it is "pursuing the investigation further".
If the hotel booking industry is found guilty of breaching competition law the fines could be substantial. The OFT can fine companies up to 10% of their global turnover for breaches of competition rules. Last year it fined cigarette makers and retailers £225m for price fixing.
The OFT investigation follows allegations by a small Brighton-based hotel booking website, Skoosh.co.uk. Dorian Harris, founder of the site, said his business started to be squeezed by big US hotel chains insisting they were removed from his site as his prices were below that of competitors.
"It became more of a worry when it moved to Europe, and by March last year I was getting as many as 10 complaints a day from hotels, from major chains through to small independent hotels. The hotels told me they were being put under huge pressure by the big hotel booking websites to ensure what's called 'rate parity'." Unless he raised his prices, he would be prevented from offering the rooms.
As an example, Harris showed Money an email from a hotel in Prague. Booking.com had warned the hotel that it wasn't at parity with Skoosh.com, saying: "You can only succeed in online sales if you have ongoing parity." The hotel owner, who copied Booking.com's warning to Skoosh, said this was a "very big problem" and asked him to change the rate quoted.
Harris has consulted competition lawyers who told him that enforcing rate parity could be illegal. The sites argue rate parity does not constitute anti competitive behaviour or infringe any law.
Harris does not claim that in each and every case his site could offer lower prices than the major players. He acknowledges that as much as 70% of his quotes could be beaten. But in the 30% where he was cheaper, he came under pressure to charge the same as competitors. "It could be that we were selling the room at £100, but elsewhere it was at £130. But I had hotels telling me they wanted to come off the site if we were even £1 cheaper than the majors. It's been cripplingly difficult to run a business."
Hotel booking websites hire individuals to act as rate monitors to check that no one is undercutting them. A current job advert for Booking.com, shows that the company wants to hire a "rate parity associate" in which "you are part of a team that is responsible for finding and solving any rate inconsistencies between Booking.com and their competitors". The person will be expected to "solve rate parity issues" if they arise.
Harris has passed a dossier to the OFT of the emails and letters, and says he has been in touch with the watchdog regularly. "The price comparison sites have been a great thing for consumers, but now as people are not seeing different prices there's almost no point in going to them," he says. Harris adds that, typically, booking websites don't buy rooms direct from the hotel chains or even the independents.
"Distribution of hotel rooms is handled by wholesalers as no hotel group wants to deal with thousands of agents all over the world. The wholesalers give us a net rate and we add a margin, usually around 25%. The wholesaler itself takes around 10%-15%. We don't make huge profits on these margins. Sometimes we sell below 25%, sometimes above."
Money asked Booking.com and Expedia for comment on the OFT investigation and the allegations by Skoosh.com. Neither had responded by the time we went to press.
The guessing gameAre "top secret" hotels the best way for budget-conscious travellers to save money? Lastminute.com pioneered the concept in the UK, and in recent weeks Hotwire.com, a large US operator of secret hotel deals, has launched in Britain. It promises savings of up to 50% by selling off, at bargain prices, the four out of 10 bedrooms that are left vacant in hotels every night.
The drawback is you don't know precisely what you're getting until after you buy. All you're told is the general location and star rating. This has provoked consumers to try and guess the hotel before committing. Martin Lewis of moneysavingexpert.com says: "Copy and paste all or part of the hotel description into Google. Often, it just uses the hotels standard description text that also appears on its website." If that doesn't work, try secrethotelsrevealed.co.uk, although it's a bit hit and miss. The biggest discounts come from the four- and five-star hotels – you're unlikely to find 50% off a hotel that only charges £60 a night.
Unfortunately, you can end up paying more than booking in the conventional way, as one London couple discovered. Planning to spend a few days in Paris, Jon Law and Helena Bonett, who live in Highgate, north London tried Expedia's Secret Saver Hotel option. They were, attracted by the promise of savings of "up to 50%".
"The hotel we chose was advertised as a four-star in the Latin Quarter and we paid £555 for a room for four nights. However, once we'd made our booking we found the 'secret' hotel was in Montparnasse – over a mile from its advertised location – and wasn't four star. The hotel's website didn't appear to show any stars at all."
Worse: rather than saving 40%, they had paid 53% more than if booking the room in the normal way.
"A direct booking via the hotel's website was substantially cheaper than our 'saver' rate, and double rooms were also being sold on Expedia at almost £200 less than what we paid for the so-called 'saver' deal," says Jon.
They printed screenshots to show over-payment, but despite emails to Expedia, no one responded.
A spokeswoman for Expedia apologised for the problems the couple experienced.
"We have investigated Mr Law's issue and a fix has been implemented to resolve the rate issue he experienced. Mr Law has been refunded in line with our best-price guarantee and has been issued him with a gesture of goodwill. With regards to location, the postcode of this hotel is exactly on the border of two 'arrondissements', so is categorised under both areas on our site." Miles Brignall and Patrick Collinson
Consumer affairsConsumer rightsSaving moneyHotelsPatrick Collinsonguardian.co.ukTravel insurers offer hollow promises
Eurostar sold a reader a pricey Mondial travel insurance policy, and him the runaround when he tried to claim
You behave impeccably, filling in forms, answering questions and despatching certificates swiftly. They fail to answer phones, ignore letters, put up obstacles and delay payments. Welcome to the world of making a travel insurance claim.
It's around this time of the year that I receive press releases from travel companies urging Brits to buy cover, with the usual synthetic concern over travellers heading abroad without proper insurance.
This one, from Mondial Assistance, is typical: "MAKING THE MOST OF THE EGGS-TRA LONG EASTER BREAK? But don't cut corners on travel insurance."
One Guardian Money reader took Mondial at its word. While buying a short break in Paris and Luxembourg, the Eurostar sales- person, acting as an agent for Mondial, convinced him to buy seven-day cover for his wife and himself at (a pricey) £57. The tickets, which cost around £400, were non-refundable, but if anything went wrong beforehand, and he had to cancel, Mondial would pay up.
Something did, indeed, happen. His wife's uncle died, and, with the funeral on the day they had planned to be in Paris, our reader cancelled and claimed £432.50. The policy was clear that cancellation as a result of the death of a relative, including uncles, was covered.
That was in September. Our reader has kept a diary since of his dealings with Mondial Assistance. It's a tale of intrusive demands, persistent delays and obstacles and, finally, six months later, a much-reduced payout. First, Mondial wanted details of all his bank accounts, including account numbers. It wanted to know if he had insurance through his bank, so it could bounce the cost on to that. It told him it would not pay the cost of obtaining a copy of the death certificate. It asked for any other insurances he may have, and demanded he fill in a complicated and inappropriate medical form.
It took until December before Mondial acted – it said it was "experiencing a high volume of claims", an excuse our reader encountered frequently. Then Mondial decided the death certificate wasn't enough – it wanted the uncle's GP to fill in forms, too. It also asked for more proof that he had not received a refund from Euro- star, even though the train tickets were clearly marked non-refundable.
Some weeks later, Mondial decided that the GP's letter was not sufficient. It wanted permission for free access to the dead person's medical records. All this for a £432 claim. Eventually, in March, it agreed a payout, but when the cheque did finally arrive, Mondial deducted two £50 excesses, one for his wife and one for him.
But our reader is no pushover. He's no less than a Professor of Law at the University of Cambridge, and his Mondial diary is eloquent testimony to the hollow promises of insurers.
When Guardian Money contacted Mondial, it said it followed standard procedures, and that everything was in the terms and conditions. But, in respect of the delays, it repaid the £100 excess as a "gesture of goodwill".
A final thought. Why are the likes of Mondial so keen to establish that you have cover through your bank account when you make a claim, but so quiet about it when selling you a policy?
Travel insuranceInsuranceConsumer rightsConsumer affairsPatrick Collinsonguardian.co.ukHeathrow plans underground heating to tackle winter freeze
Heathrow airport operator BAA working on plans to use geothermal energy to stop parked planes getting stuck in ice
When temperatures plunged below zero last December and Heathrow ground to a halt, the festive travel plans of around one million passengers were left in tatters. Now the managers of Europe's busiest airport have dreamed up a solution to prevent a repeat of the nightmare before Christmas: underfloor heating, but on a massive scale.
BAA, which runs Heathrow, is exploring technology to capture the heat of the summer sun as it beats down on the airport's asphalt and store it until winter to keep the planes moving. The idea, which combines the principles of Roman central heating with 21st-century renewable energy technology, is intended to stop planes becoming stuck in ice on their stands, which was the main cause of the problems last year.
Heathrow could not operate at full capacity for five days after an hour-long snowstorm dumped nearly 13cm (5in) of snow followed by a sudden drop in temperature. There was anger that Heathrow was so easily crippled and Philip Hammond, the transport secretary, ordered an immediate review. It identified "a low state of preparedness" for snow that was forecast many days ahead and a lack of specialised equipment to clear it. Hammond said climate change could mean more regular repeats of the extreme temperatures that forced thousands of passengers to sleep in terminal buildings.
"It is not the snow that caused problems last year, it was the ice," Steve Morgan, BAA's capital projects director, told Building magazine. "We are working on a concept to capture geothermal energy from the surface of the Tarmac … during the summer to then provide a heating capability so the stands don't freeze in the winter. We would store the energy underground and use it to gently heat water that would run through pipes in freezing conditions to warm the stands, which are the slabs of concrete directly beneath the planes, to just above zero."
The cost of the project is yet to be estimated, but Morgan said it could be paid for by postponing a facelift for one of the terminals, such is the level of concern at Heathrow's collapse in the winter.
BAA is working with an unnamed private company on the plan, which would require digging sump holes up to 10m deep to fit technology to store energy and pump warmed water under the stands. Only the areas beneath the wheels and where crews need to inspect and load the planes would need to be warmed.
Another option, which involves pumping water from deep underground, which is naturally above freezing even in cold conditions, up towards the frozen surface, is also being explored.
Heathrow has 200 stands, but to limit costs the idea could be rolled out to just a few to at least keep some flights moving.
Morgan said he believed the project was viable, adding that Heathrow would probably be the first airport to try it.
• This article was amended on 15 April 2011. The original referred to British Airports Authority, which runs Heathrow. This has been corrected.
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