The apostles of cyberspace would have us believe the Internet provides all the answers, that there is no want or need which cannot be most effectively fulfilled by the mysterious power of this new medium.
Unfortunately for them a comparative study recently conducted on one element of the World Wide Web by a team including Dublin Institute of Technology IT lecturer Patrick Horan showed technology does not have all the answers.
The study compared hotel booking reservation facilities on the web and by telephone to central reservation units. It found that, on average, web rates were 12 per cent higher than those available through central reservations.
With travel being the second-biggest selling product on the web after PC hardware, it is discomfiting to learn that not only do you fail to get the best value on the web but that some of the information, whose accuracy you take for granted, is bogus. Of the central reservation bureaux contacted, 23 per cent denied availability although their websites had processed orders.
All this and you don't even get to haggle and pitch for corporate rates.
Dominic Coyle can be contacted at dcoyle@irish-times.ie
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