Galway Advertiser 2004/2004_04_08/GA_0804_E1_008.pdf 

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8 N E W S

Galway Advertiser

April 8 2004

Family left stranded because tourist office closes at weekend
BY SINEAD MCGOVERN A family of four was left high and dry last weekend as a booking they made through Ireland West Tourist went disastrously wrong. Last Saturday Frank O'Shaughnessy, his fiancee, and their two children arrived at the house in Caherlistrane that they had booked for a week through Ireland

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West Tourism, only to find that it had been double booked. A quick call to the tourist office would rectify the situation, or so they thought. But as the office is currently closed at weekends, with no emergency number at hand to deal with any situations which may arise, they were left stranded not knowing what to do. "I think it's just appalling that people are coming from all over the world to Galway, but at the weekends, when surely it is at its busiest, there is no one in the tourist office to help them," Mr O'Shaughnessy told the Galway Advertiser. "We were stuck high and dry with nowhere to stay. We managed to get a B&B in the city, but all I couldn't help thinking that if we had arrived next weekend when things were really busy, we wouldn't have had a chance at finding a place." But what enraged the Mancunian further was the attitude of the staff there when he finally made contact with them on Monday morning. "There was no number for us to contact. All I could do was leave a message on the answering machine at the tourist office, but after my breakfast on Monday I

An irate Frank and Irene O'Shaughnessy from Manchester with their children Laura and Tom pictured in Galway on Wednesday. Frank is pictured holding the Ireland West booking forms.Photo:-Mike Shaughnessy

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still hadn't heard back from them so I went down there myself. I spoke with the manager, but she wasn't apologetic at all. She was more dumbfounded and shocked than anything else, she just didn't know how to deal with the situation," he said. Two other houses were offered to the O'Shaughnessys but they were not suitable. "We are building a house in Woodquay near Tuam, and I had booked that house specifically because I wanted my family to get to see a bit of the area. We had brought a load of food with us as well, and that's all gone to waste now because we didn't get the self-catering accommodation we booked a month ago." Brian Quinn, senior tourism officer for Ireland

Tourism West, said they only act as agents for the booking of self-catering accommodation [as was booked by Mr O'Shaughnessy], and that the liability for double booking lies with the owners themselves. But he did concede that the incident brought to light the need for the office to be open at weekends, or at least for an emergency line to be set up.

Economic factors are the only obstacle, he said. "This really is the first time we have had such a difficulty as a result of the office being closed at the weekend, but starting an emergency line is something that we are looking at now as a reaction to this incident." Meanwhile the tourist office will have extended opening hours this weekend for the bank

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