John Kettley Is A Weatherman

Oh, the insecurities of the Internet. The paranoia of so much and too much information that has users permanently attached to their keyboards. Take weather. Somewhere, I read someone say that Alcúdia's weather forecast shows showers and fog over the next ten days. And this someone then asked if this is correct? The Internet has bred whole cyber-campuses of experts who are not, but unless, for example, John Kettley happened to be passing this particular forum, how on Earth can anyone respond to this insecurity? I was tempted to respond if only because I looked at the same link and it said sunny and hot, but I didn't bother as the enquirer would doubtless have already consulted all possible weather sites in search of reassurance. I know the weather is important, but the Internet has caused a state of panic, which brings me to another example, this one related to the Continental Park Hotel in Playa de Muro (and take note of those words Playa de Muro, as I shall return to this).

There was a whole exchange in which, based on, as it turns out, an error in the brochure and some plain ignorance, there were thoughts of changing to another hotel and terrible fears that a holiday would be ruined. Because of all this, the Continental Park, which had hitherto languished in Division 1 of local hotels when it came to enquiries, was not only promoted to the Premiership but was also challenging for Europe alongside the usual suspects - Bellevue, the Macs, Lagomonte and Lagotel. But there was salvation for those seeking alternative all-inclusive havens to take the place of the Continental, and this was in the form of reviews on yet another site which gave the place good marks. So, all was good in Continental-holiday land as someone somewhere unknown had said that all was fine and so extended an arm of reassurance around the quaking and anxious shoulders of the Internet.

But something else struck me in the Continental discussion. Someone said that she was surprised to learn, because someone had said so during this discussion, that the Continental was not in Alcúdia. I am not surprised, having looked at Thomson's website. If one goes there, under Alcúdia are listed a number of hotels, some of which are indeed in Alcúdia, but the following are not - in addition to the Continental Park and Apartments, Alcúdia Suite, Amapola, Parc Natural and Rio Mar. They are all in Playa de Muro. And it's not as though Thomson don't recognise the existence of Playa de Muro as they list one hotel if you click on the resort, that hotel being Los Principes, on the beach side of the road opposite the Continental.

How can they be so inaccurate or misleading? How can, for example, the blurb for the Rio Mar, which is before the canal going towards Alcúdia Pins and Can Picafort, state: "then walk your dinner off with an evening stroll along the sands or head for one of Alcúdia's bustling bars"? Which bars might these be? Those of Bellevue? Then the stroll would be, how long, 45 minutes? An hour? The blurb does at least locate the hotel "a hop, skip and a jump away from the shimmering sands of Muro beach" (for God's sake, and now you might know why I have a problem with "brochure talk"), but the Alcúdia reference is way off-beam. For Alcúdia Suite, which is opposite the Laberinto Giant Maze, the site says that the apartments have "the added bonus of being within easy reach of all Alcúdia has to offer". Yes, if you don't mind a trek or a bus. For the Continental, there is no reference to either Playa de Muro or Alcúdia from what I could see, apart from the fact that it is located under Alcúdia on the site.

Apart from anything else, when I was talking about Muro town hall's thoughts about some plan for promotion, I said one of the biggest challenges lay in creating an identity that is separate to Alcúdia. And the Thomson website shows just how much of a challenge. The Muro worthies should start by telling the tour operators to make damn sure that they know what is Alcúdia and what is Muro.


QUIZ
Chain - Paul Young covered "Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House. (See here for the better version, i.e. the original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZZfuCJ970w) And who, basically, were Crowded House before they became Crowded House? Yesterday's title - Fifth Dimension, "Up, Up and Away". Today's title - who did this? They didn't do much else.

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)