When should a hotel charge you for your booking?

15 Thursday Sep 2016

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Back on the 15th June this year, I made a reservation, via the Accor Hotels website, for the Mercure Hotel in Tokyo. The booking was non-refundable and for October this year.

There were a couple of reasons for making this early booking:

My first choice, Hilton (where I have Diamond status), was too expensive.
Accor had a sale and a deal that included breakfast.
I was pretty sure that the UK would vote to leave the EU (Brexit) and that the British Pound would fall against other currencies.

Brexit happened and the Pound fell – I was happy that I’d locked in the price of my hotel. Well I was happy until my card was debited on the 23rd July (over a month later) at that day’s exchange rate. That left me almost £50 worse off – in fact I miscalculated and thought I was over £100 worse off.

Had I booked a cancellable reservation, I wouldn’t expected the amount to be charged until I arrived/departed. With this reservation, I might have accepted a charge made on departure but not at possibly the worst time – advance payment but at a bad exchange rate. I booked a non-refundable stay at the Sydney Hilton on the 23rd May – they haven’t charged me yet and although I would have preferred to lock in the rate, if they don’t charge me until I depart in November then I’ll probably be okay with that.

19th September update: Hilton just charged my card and I’m £68 worse off because of the change in exchange rates. I’ve written to them and let’s see what they do.

I wrote to Club Accor (where sadly I have basic status). Club Accor used to give Platinum status away like sweets until about a year ago when they decided to stop status matching.

Club Accor said they’d pass on my complaint to the hotel. I waited a few weeks and chased. After another week I received an email from the hotel where they looked at the exchange rate:

Theoretical difference based on this analysis is 622.99-576.77= 46.23 British Pounds.

We shall proceed to the reimbursement of 46.23 British Pounds that will be converted into Japanese yen according to the most favorable for you rate, that of June 15th , as soon as you accuse the reception of this explanatory e-mail.

We wish to reiterate our sincere apology for the delay in charging your card for a prepaid reservation.

I’d already decided that they weren’t going to refund me anything. I was planning to ask for a full refund based on the that fact. So I’d re-checked the rates for the Hilton and found they had become less expensive. I booked the Hilton (on a cancellable rate). Plus I also altered my flights to arrive one day later.

But actually the hotel were pretty nice about it all. I decided to ask for a full refund anyway. Their next reply wasn’t so friendly:

I regret to point out, but your reservation tariff is a prepaid one and thus it cannot be a subject to any change or cancelation according to the sales conditions.

However, taken into account the situation, I can offer you to move your booking for another period and leave the choice of dates up to you.

Please be kindly informed that should the room price be lower than your original booking, the difference will not be reimbursed and should the room rate for the dates you will choose be higher, we shall charge you the difference after comparison with the room rate for your initial stay. Please kindly advise me of your decision.

Finally, may I also inform you that there is no legal obligation for the hotel to process the prepaid booking on the very booking date. We shall not take any responsibility for exchange rate fluctuation with regard to your future bookings. Thank you very much for your kind understanding and cooperation.

So I decided to accept the offer of a change of booking date. I asked for my reservation to be moved forward for one day. That fitted my new arrival date and although I am flying to Sydney on my departure date, that isn’t until 22:00 and so having a room right up until we needed to go to the airport would be handy.

They replied:

Thank you for your kind response. Your request for booking change has been well noted and is now processed.

We will soon send you a new reservation confirmation e-mail.

The refund of 46.23 pounds (6951 JPY) has been ordered and will be processed shortly.

I thank you for your kind understanding and cooperation.

We all look forward to welcoming you at Mercure Tokyo Ginza in October.

So back to being nice and everything looked good.

Unfortunately today I received an ‘updated’ booking – when I checked the dates were exactly the same and there was no mention of breakfast.

The hotel have since sent an updated confirmation and my dates have been updated and breakfast is still included. So I cancelled my Hilton reservation and I’m looking forward to staying (and reviewing) the Mercure Tokyo.

But what do you think? Should a hotel debit your card immediately for a pre-paid reservation at the prevailing rate? Would you prefer that they debited your card at the end of your stay and take a chance on exchange rates?

Five Guys Burger Restaurant

08 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by bugadvisor in Restaurant Review

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Burger, Five Guys, In-N-Out, Restaurant, Watford, Wendys

Five Guys sells itself as a high-quality fast-food burger restaurant.

Five Guys started out in Arlington, Virginia 1986. The name Five Guys comes from the father and four brothers who founded the chain. They now have over 1000 locations in the USA and now 27 in the UK. Obviously they have done this via the franchise route as opposed to my favourite quality burger place – In-N-Out Burger – who own and run all their outlets on the West Coast of the USA.

I recently tried the newly-opened location in Watford, Herts, UK – but my comments apply to all Five Guys locations. I’ve also visited the US outlets.

The PR about quality: The food is expensive and this is the PR to support those prices:
No freezers. No microwaves. No timers. No can-openers.

The prices vary from location to location but are generally these:

Hamburger UK £6.75 US$ 6.49
Cheeseburger UK £8.00 US$7.19
Bacon Burger UK £8.00 US$7.49
Bacon Cheeseburger UK £8.75 US$8.19
Little Cheeseburger UK £5.50 US$5.29
Little Bacon Burger UK £6.00 US$5.99
Little Bacon Cheeseburger UK £6.75 US$
Little Hamburger UK £4.75 US$4.59
Little Five Guys Style Fries UK £2.75 US$3.09
Five Guys Style Fries UK £4.00 US$3.99
Milkshake UK £4.75 (not sold in the USA)

The UK stores are charging significantly more than the US – for example a UK Cheeseburger is the equivalent of US$10.66 as opposed to the US version at US$7.19.

The fries are ridiculously expensive – even if they are hand cut daily and cooked in peanut oil. I’m guessing they are pretty good but I’ve never ordered them as I think they are disproportionately priced.

You can choose from a variety of toppings when you order and these range from ketchup to grilled mushrooms. You can choose to go ‘all in’ and have all the toppings, but I’ve found this makes for a pretty sloppy burger – the bun can’t hold everything and the whole thing falls apart.

The Cheeseburger is a pretty big burger and really should be sold as a double- or half pounder. The Little Cheeseburger is a more than adequate size (like a quarter pounder) and I’m surprised that Five Guys haven’t been criticised for encouraging obesity.

If I was really hungry, I’d order two Little Cheeseburgers as these hold together well when you eat them.

The Little Cheeseburger is a good burger, but then you would expect that for the price. In the UK the competition are McDonalds and Burger King and Five Guys are definitely better. However, in the US there is also Wendys and I would say that they are just as good for a much lower price.

You can order and pay for your food online, set a collection time and just pick up from the serving area. This works really well and also allows you more time to choose the toppings you want.

The take-away bag is just plain brown paper and I think that’s a nice touch.

The staff all seem friendly and smile at customers.

It’s certainly worth a visit to a UK Five Guys outlet and I’ll likely pick up a Little Cheeseburger from them again. I wouldn’t bother to seek them out in the USA, especially in California where you would do so much better finding an
In-N-Out Burger.

https://www.fiveguys.co.uk/

58 High Street, Watford, Hertfordshire, WD17 2BS

01923 804 175

Opening Times:
Mon-Thu: 11:00-23:00
Fri-Sat: 11:00-23:30
Sun: 11:00-23:00

Pictures from Třebíč, Czech Republic

07 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by bugadvisor in Sightseeing

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Czech Republic, Třebíč

We were invited to a friend’s birthday party and the venue was the garden of the Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou chateau about 15km from Třebíč. Our friend recommended we stay in Třebíč. We found a good place to stay – review here.

Třebíč has some UNESCO World Heritage historical monuments; Basilica of St. Procopius, the Jewish Quarter and the Jewish cemetery.

I took my electronic bug zapping racquet in case of mosquitoes in the night. But I found it was more useful in the day as there were quite a few wasps in Třebíč.

Wasps aside, Třebíč is a picturesque quiet little town and worth a visit if you are touring the Czech Republic. Below are some pictures:

Apartment Holiday, Třebíč, Czech Republic

02 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by bugadvisor in Hotel Review

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Apartment Holiday, Czech Republic, Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou, Třebíč

We were invited to a friend’s birthday party and the venue was the garden of the Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou chateau about 15km from Třebíč. Our friend recommended we stay in Třebíč.

Třebíč has some UNESCO World Heritage historical monuments; Basilica of St. Procopius, the Jewish Quarter and the Jewish cemetery.

I did a quick search on hotels and there weren’t any that stood out. They were also quite expensive. Then I found a website that showed three modern apartments – the price was around 2800Kc for two nights with breakfast. There was no air conditioning and so I took my electronic bug zapping racquet in case of mosquitoes in the night.

It took about 2.5 hours to drive from Prague to Třebíč on a Friday evening. The apartment manager asked us to call when we were about 30 minutes away so she could be there to meet us. The apartments are in the main square of the town and that has a large parking area. The entrance is a corridor between two shops – but don’t let that put you off.

The picture above is really just to help you find the place.

Parking was free, except between 8-11am on a Saturday. But you could pay (90Kc) at the meter on Friday night and get a ticket to save having to get up early and run down for one.

There is an entrance door, two flights of stairs (no lift), then an entrance door to the three apartments. The manager was really friendly and spoke English. She showed us the apartment and asked what time we’d like breakfast and what we’d like. We chose 10am, tea coffee, juice, yoghurt, croissants, scrambled eggs.

The apartment was clean and modern. There was free wi-fi, a large flat-screen TV and a fridge containing some very reasonably-priced snacks and drinks. A bottle of beer 35Kc, half bottle of sparkling wine 85Kc, Jameson whiskey 50Kc.

We were given a bunch of keys; two for the apartment, an electronic key for the upstairs entrance, another key for the downstairs door – there isn’t a manned reception like a hotel.

Venturing out into Třebíč, I found that there were lots of wasps around. I was surprised as this year there haven’t really been many wasps – looks like they came to live in Třebíč. I decided to take my zapper racquet to the party the next day as we’d be eating outside – I’m so glad I did as I used it throughout to zap the evil monsters.

The double bed was a little bit hard – so if you are looking for a super-soft bed then this isn’t the place.

Breakfast was delivered to our room at 10am and was pretty good. We met up with some friends and enjoyed wandering around the town and visiting the historical sights before travelling to the party.

Check out is officially 10am but they were fine with us ordering breakfast for 10am and checking out around 11:30am. I guess if there was another guest arriving then you may have to leave at 10 – which is too early I think.

I’d definitely recommend this place if you find yourself visiting Třebíč – in fact I’d choose this over the more expensive hotels.

Apartmány Holiday
Karlovo náměstí 33/44
674 01 Třebíč
Czech Republic

Phone:+420 774 059 059

mailto:info@apartmanyholiday.cz

http://www.apartmanyholiday.cz/index.php?lng=en

Czech Olympic Swimming Team make Baywatch spoof video – Czechwatch

16 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by bugadvisor in Travel News

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2016, Barbora Seemanová, Baywatch, Czech, Czech Republic, Czechwatch, Jan Micka, Jana Závadová, Lucie Svěcená, Martina Moravčíková, Olympic, Pavel Janeček, Rio

The Czech Olympic Team are well known for their sense of humour. You may remember how they wore low-cut blue Wellington Boots and held umbrellas during the opening ceremony in London 2012 as a poke at British weather.

The Czech Olympic swimming team have now made a spoof Baywatch video while in Rio – called Czechwatch. The video features Lucie Svěcená, Jan Micka, Barbora Seemanová, Pavel Janeček, Martina Moravčíková and Jana Závadová:

There should be a Gold Medal for best sense of humour – and maybe another for best-looking swimming team!

You can check the medal progress of the Czech Olympic Team here: https://www.rio2016.com/en/czech-republic

The Grumpy Mole Restaurant, Cheam, Surrey, England

14 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by bugadvisor in Restaurant Review

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Cheam, England, Grumpy Mole, Restaurant, Surrey, The Grumpy Mole

The Grumpy Mole, Cheam, is one of three Surrey-based gastro-pub-style restaurants; the others are in Tadworth and Brockham. We’d heard good things about this place and wanted to visit as an impromptu family outing. However, my Sister is vegan and the online menu didn’t show anything suitable – that’s not a criticism as they aren’t purporting to cater to vegans.

We called and asked what they could do. The waitress was really helpful and said that she would talk to the chef and call back. She actually called back and said that she hadn’t forgotten us, but that the evening chef was due to arrive at 5pm and she wanted to wait until she had spoke to him. Another call and a number of suitable options were offered – don’t actually ask me what as I’m not an expert on veganism!

To really put this place to the test we also took my 88-year old Mum along! I was almost tempted to pretend I had a nut allergy! Yes, I know this is serious for some people and feel free to comment on this if you have nothing else to do.

The place is on a winding road just outside Cheam Village. The most obvious sign was ‘The Inn on the Park’ but we spotted the smaller ‘Grumpy Mole’ sign. We wondered whether the larger sign was from the original pub days. However, I’ve since looked at the other two restaurants and see that they both use a similar ‘The Inn on the Green’. I think this dual-branding is a little confusing but maybe they have some marketing people who feel differently.

The single disabled parking space wasn’t really ideal. It was no wider than a standard parking space and there were bushes overhanging to the right. So we used a standard space that didn’t have an adjacent car parked.

There are two entrances to the restaurant; the main has a few steps and the side is wheelchair accessible.

There was a rear garden area with nice seating – it was a little too cold for an evening dinner and that was empty. But would make a good lunch venue.

The interior was cosy and welcoming. We found the waitress who had been so helpful on the phone and were taken to our table.

There was some further discussion about vegan food and a starter of avocado and tomato (charged as a soup £5.95), plus side of olives was agreed, followed by a vegetarian stroganoff without cream.

My Mum had a large Malibu and lemonade £8.85 but there was too much lemonade and so she added another shot at £3.95 – obviously the secret to a long life.

A bottle of Sauvignon Blanc was £17.95 – I noticed that they had my favourite red Malbec on the menu but went with the majority vote.

I had scallops (4) at £8.95 and a Venison Wellington £16.95 – everything was delicious.

My Mum had some of the vegan starter, followed by Salmon £14.95, followed by a creme brûlée £6.95 and announced that all were lovely.

My sister enjoyed her stroganoff £13.95 despite my questions about how it could be called that if there wasn’t cream included.

I had a glass of Laphroaig single malt whisky – good value at £3.95.

The waitresses were really helpful and dealt really well with our special requirements.

Total before gratuity was £107.10 which I think represented good value.

There was free wi-fi.

The toilets were clean and spacious. My only criticism would be that there was only a hand dryer and no paper towels available – after all it isn’t just a pub now.

The Grumpy Mole
Inn on the Park
Ewell Road
Cheam
Surrey
SM3 8AA
Tel: 0208 394 2000
Mail: CHEAM@THEGRUMPYMOLE.CO.UK

http://www.thegrumpymole.co.uk/

4500 Avios for £30 – enough for a one-way reward flight

07 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by bugadvisor in Travel News, Travel Tips

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Avios, BA, British Airways, Magazine, Sunday Times, travel

5th September update: My 4500 Avios were finally credited to my BA Executive Club account. The deal is still alive and so I might gift a subscription to a friend and grab another 4500.

If you’re a member of the British Airways Executive Club or the Avios Travel Rewards program, then you can earn 4500 Avios for £30 – plus you’ll get 12 issues of the Sunday Times Travel Magazine.

4500 Avios is enough for a one-way reward flight within Europe – although you’ll likely need to pay £17 fees. But that’s still only £47 for a flight, for example, London to Prague, that would cost at least £70. Avios bookings also include a free luggage allowance.

Open the following page: https://thesundaytimestravel.subscribeonline.co.uk/Subscription/the-sunday-times-travel then ensure that you enter the following promo code: STTM0916

If you plan on sending the magazine to an address different to your billing address, choose ‘For someone else’.

You’ll be asked for your BA Executive Club details on the subsequent pages.

There doesn’t seem to be any limit on the number of subscriptions you can take – just don’t forget to cancel the subscription later.

London Luton Airport, United Kingdom – avoid flying in or out of this place

31 Sunday Jul 2016

Posted by bugadvisor in Travel Tips

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Airport, London, Luton

Luton Airport calls itself ‘London Luton Airport’ but it’s actually 34 miles from central London. The airport serves mostly budget and charter airlines such as Easy Jet, Wizz and Monarch.

I previously wrote about this poor excuse for an airport back in November 2014 – who knew that it could get so much worse?

Luton Airport is currently undergoing a £110 million transformation. They even have a website that celebrates the changes they are planning http://transforminglla.com/ And who knows, it may be much better in the future – it certainly can’t be any worse than it is now.

Dropping off at, or picking up from, the Airport is Terrible

The building work, lack of clear signage and restricted space in the drop-off area mean that there are cars queuing from the roundabout at the entrance to the airport. You could be waiting 30 minutes to get to the drop-off point, which then charges you £3 for 10 minutes. There are two entrances next to each other, the one on the left is £3 drop-off, the one on the right is £7 short stay – often drivers realise too late and then the whole queue stops as they try to reverse out and back to the drop-off line.
Top Tip: The best option is to use the free mid-stay car park and let your passengers walk 15 minutes to the airport.

Airport Security takes longer and the fast-track is now £5

Airport Security has been re-located downstairs. The lines are longer. The Fast Track, that used to be quite good is now quite slow and the price has gone up to £5 per person. There are also now only a couple of machines available from which purchase fast-track tickets.
Top Tip: Pre-book fast-track for £3 online here.

The Terminal is even more overcrowded than before.

With one of the large food and drink outlets closed and more flights departing, the terminal is overcrowded. There are long lines for the only table service restaurant, Frankie & Benny’s. There are two main toilets in the main terminal area, plus a few smaller versions dotted around near the gates. Most are pretty busy and grotty.
Top Tip:
For around £18 you can buy entry to the Business Lounge – but you’ll need to do this online. I found that www.executivelounges.com will let you book the same day – so if your flight is delayed, you could go online at the airport and book yourself a lounge pass.

Expect to wait over an hour to clear immigration/passport control on arrival

Passport control at Luton has always been a mess. They have some e-passport gates now, but even with these you could easily wait over an hour to clear immigration. The whole place is understaffed and the flight schedules mean that three flights often arrive all at once. Here are some pictures taken this week:

This is actually a line waiting to get to the passport control area.

And this is what you find when you reach the front of that line

and then it’s just more waiting

It’s a complete disgrace.
Top Tip: Avoid flying into Luton. Just choose to fly in to another airport.

Some more tips for if you do have to fly out of Luton

There is a marks and spencer store landside but not airside. So if you want a decent sandwich, buy there before proceeding through security. You can also pick up some shopping there after you land and exit customs and immigration.

A sandwich in the airside Boots is only £1. Usually chicken mayonnaise or egg mayonnaise – but can’t be beaten for value.

Summa Cum Laude Restaurant, Vinohrady, Prague, Czech Republic

24 Sunday Jul 2016

Posted by bugadvisor in Restaurant Review

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Casa De Carli, Czech Republic, Eggs Benedict, Lenka Hermanová, Matteo De Carli, Prague, Summa Cum Laude Restaurant, Vinohrady

The Latin term ‘Summa Cum Laude’ (with highest honor) is traditionally used by American Universities to indicate the highest level of distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This restaurant loosely translates this as ‘Eat with Honor’.

The interior design continues this theme, with wallpaper reflecting mathematics, chemistry and English Lit. degree-level chalkboards. At the rear of the restaurant is a well-ventilated open kitchen.

The whole layout is simple, modern, with good air-conditioning.

Now to the menu: I’ve walked past this place numerous times since it opened in May 2016 and also checked the menu a few times. I found the menu confused and it was difficult to work out what sort of restaurant this was trying to be – there seemed to be traditional American items mixed with dishes and flavours from around the World and not in the usual ‘fusion-food’ way. It was almost like looking at a mash up of several restaurant menus – for example, there are two variations of mashed potato available as sides, but I couldn’t spot a single menu item where I would order mash as a side.

One thing I did spot was Eggs Benedict at 145Kc and as that is my favourite breakfast I knew I’d have to try it.

Mid afternoon on a Saturday, with outside temperatures around 29 degrees, the place was empty. I chose a seat by the air con outlet and it was really cool. The waiter was friendly and spoke English. I ordered a bottle of Pilsner Urquell 45Kc and Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon, not ham 145kc – something you often see referred to as Eggs Benedict Royale. It was probably the best Eggs Benedict I’ve had in Prague – even beating my usual choice, La Bottega Di Finestra where it costs 195kc.

The quality of the Eggs B made me think again about the chef and the menu – so I returned for dinner with my girlfriend that evening.

The wine list is a little expensive compared to the food prices. We chose a Chardonnay for 525kc – a make I recognised as retailing around 200kc. A carafe of tap water was 35kc. To be fair, the waiter was always there to refill our wine and water glasses.

To start we had ‘Asia de Cuba’ tacos with Peking Duck 95kc. This is the duck that typically arrives shredded with vegetables, pancakes and hoisin sauce – I sort of expected that the tacos would be soft and we’d be making them ourselves. They were actually hard-shell, which always fall apart on me after the first bite – but they tasted great.

Our main was a Marinated chicken tikka masala, mango and cucumber wrap 145kc. These wraps were also delicious – although again we were eating with our hands and I started to think about calling the cuisine ‘gourmet junk food’. But that would be unfair as the food quality was really good.

With 80s disco music, the US University references and the casual dining menu, we decided that the owner must be an American, in his 50s. We asked the waiter and to our surprise we found that the owners are Matteo De Carli and Lenka Hermanová – the Italian/Czech couple behind the well-reviewed Casa De Carli Italian restaurant in central Prague. Their history has been one of working around the world; Dublin, Dubai, New York – now the theme and the menu made a little more sense – although I still think it’s more confused than eclectic.

We enjoyed our visit and will definitely return – although I’d like it if there were; more menu items that required cutlery/silverware and more curry choices with meat – currently only vegetable curries available.

Apparently they also do a breakfast buffet for 125kc – I’m not sure of the times or whether it is just weekends.

The bathrooms were modern and clean. There is free Wi-Fi.

So if you’re looking for something different to eat in the Vinohrady area, or just can’t make up your mind what food you fancy – this place is worth a try.

http://summacumlaude.cz/

Belgická 26, 120 00 Praha 2

t +420 211 1333 129

eat@summacumlaude.cz

Monday – Friday
8.00 – 22.00
Saturday – Sunday
10.00 – 22.00

Splitsville Bowling, Walt Disney Word, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA

19 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by bugadvisor in Travel Tips

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Bowling, Florida, Lake Buena Vista, Splitsville, USA, Walt Disney Word

Splitsville is a large bowling alley that is part of Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney), part of Walt Disney World in Florida. Disney Springs is a large shopping and entertainment district that is currently free to enter and free to park.

Splitsville is a relative newcomer to Disney Springs – there wasn’t any bowling available in Downtown Disney. Like many of the places there, it isn’t a Disney operation, more a concession operating on the Disney property. I can see that Splitsville has seven other US locations, including Miami and Tampa.

Disney Springs is always busy and so I decided to try and book our bowling – after all how difficult could that be? The Splitsville website has a button for booking a lane. My local bowling alley in Europe has an online system, where you can choose a lane, time and duration – with availability shown. So I was disappointed to see this message:

Followed by an online reservation form. Some time later I received an email:

Thank you for your interest in Splitsville! Our Walk-In and Priority Bowling Rates are outlined below. Due to the large amount of reservations we have for this specific evening we cannot book a lane at 7 p.m. as all our lanes have already been purchased. We are more then willing to accomodate you before 4 p.m. on Tuesday the 15th or any other day this week:

WALK-IN RATES:

(Only valid on a first come first served basis.) Bowling time allotted is based upon number in bowling party, 4 people receive an hour and 15 minutes on the lane.

MONDAY-FRIDAY (Pricing includes shoe rental.)
OPEN-4PM: $15 per person
4PM-CLOSE: $20 per person

SATURDAY-SUNDAY (Pricing includes shoe rental.)
OPEN-CLOSE: $20 per person
EARLY BIRD BOWLING (Walk-in only):

EVERY DAY Open-12:30PM:
$12 for Adults/$8 for 9 & Under (Pricing includes shoe rental)

PRIORITY BOWLING:

*Priority bowling must be set up a minimum of 24 hours in advance.
Additional $10 per person, based on walk in rates and times shown above.

A couple of emails later and I realised that the only way to book was to accept the Priority Bowling rate for an additional $10 per person – making $30 per person. Well what a complete rip off that is! I would probably pay $10 to reserve a lane, but not per person. I’m also still amazed that what purports to be a modern bowling alley doesn’t have a modern reservation system to match.

We decided to just turn up early one evening and see what happened. As it was there wasn’t much of a line and we were allocated Lane 1 pretty quickly.

The seating area was pretty comfortable and our server arrived quickly and took our drink orders. We didn’t order food although there was a full menu service that looked good quality and the area at our lane was suitable for eating. I’m sure Splitsville would like it if you simultaneously bowl and dine – but really why would you do that when you are paying $20 per person for lane time and could easily eat before or after?

A coke was $5.25 with free refills. I can’t remember how much a beer was.

There was an odd sign to remind bowlers not to overdo their ‘victory dance’. I guess they have to protect any kids from inappropriate gestures, but I’m not sure why pregnant women were included in the list:

There were plenty of balls available, all highly greased – so much so that they tended to slide, rather than roll, down the lane. The floor was also slippery from the grease and I nearly fell over on my first bowl. The pins reset really quickly which meant we could have more games.

Lane 1 is probably the worst lane if you don’t like spectators as it’s right by the window. There was usually a few random people watching our play.

Our hour and 15 minutes was almost up and we still had a few frames left. We were given an extra 10 minutes to finish our game which was great. That meant that our party of four played three full games.

So this was a pretty mixed experience. I’m not saying I’d never go again, but I wouldn’t rush back.

Splitsville Luxury Lanes
AT DISNEY SPRINGS™ WEST SIDE
1494 East Buena Vista DriveLake Buena Vista, Florida 32830

http://www.splitsvillelanes.com/location/orlando/

407.938.PINS (7467)

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