growwild Wrote:Scotland should pull it's finger out too, the ski club here and the resorts would be recognized by Neanderthals and the Victorians would think aliens had landed and the transport and accommodation is shit, this thing at Nevis looks awright,though it's years too late...
I think that is entirely correct.
Holidaying in Britain - be it a seaside resort in the South West, of skiing in the Highlands - can be, if you don't know your way around, a dismal experience. Take out the crap weather, and we are often left with a terrible Fawlty Towers experience. Cold, 70s decorated B&Bs, expensive food - which is often crap -, expensive beer; and then you have the infrastructure of the resorts, which are often old, decaying and unreliable.
A mate of mine visited from Australia last winter, and we went on a tour of the Highlands, and it was embarrassing. We turned up at a hotel (in the Kyle) - we were the only guests, spent £100 each to stay, bought a few beers, and then asked for some food. NO was the answer. He didn't start cooking until 7pm (it was about 5pm). Can he turn the channel so we can watch the football while we wait for food? No, he only had one signal and his missus upstairs was watching. So, we had spent £250 quid in this place, we are the only customers, and the miserable old basket wouldn't make some fish and chips (he wouldn't put the fire on either, and it was freezing). It seems he would rather we were not there. My mate was going to lamp him! Luckily, it became a running joke. Sadly this sort of customer experience was not uncommon. By the time we got to Cairngorm mountain, I had given up apologising. We are used to crap service, littered streets, crap food etc. so it becomes invisbile to us: no wonder people go abroad.
But it is difficult, because of the feedback effect. Its a shame that when the ski areas have bumper years, that the money is not invested in upgrading infrastructure. What can be done? Would it be better for a big area to go out of business to allow more money to be concentrated somewhere else? Unfortunately, Cairngorm tends to be the most snow sure, tends to have the most skiing throughout the winter, but also has a terrible lift system. In this day and age, somewhere like Cairngorm really needs hi-speed 8 seater chairs, and several of them. Sure, they will be closed in the winds, but when the mountain is open, you need to get people around.
Edited 3 times. Last edit at 16.36hrs Sun 11 Jan 15 by WeeSam.