If you’ve been on the coach with us, you might have heard Sandie say, after she’s been into the hotel to let them know we’ve arrived, “Good news - they’re expecting us!” But there was that one time....

We’d planned a tour to the seaside resort of Hastings, to a hotel we’d used a few years prior which had been an enjoyable stay. Due to Covid there had been a few changes, and the booking had been postponed, in the end, to 2022

All was well in the run up to the departure date, we’d sent off the rooming list to the hotel via the agent that we’d booked the hotel through. All was good..... or so we thought!

At our last service stop before our arrival in Hastings, Sandie duly rang the hotel to give them our ETA. After a couple of attempts and getting no answer, she rang the agent to see if he had another contact number

“I’ll let them know, leave it with me,” he said

Twenty minutes later, the agent was on the phone. “I don’t know why, but they’ve deleted the booking and don't have any space. Don’t worry - where do you need to be staying?”

After half an hour of driving through the Sussex Countryside towards a resort we knew we likely weren’t staying in, but not knowing where to adjust the route to, he rang us back:

“I’ve got you in the Clifton Hotel in Folkestone,” he said. “Don’t worry, they’ve got the rooming list, the only thing is you might not have a full choice menu this evening.”

That was certainly the least of our worries, so we adjusted our route to Folkestone, explained the situation to the passengers and were on our way to our new destination!

We have to say, the Clifton Hotel in Folkestone did us proud that week - nothing was too much trouble and everyone had a fantastic stay - better in fact than if we’d been in Hastings!