I was trying to book some spa treatments today for an upcoming trip to FS Hampshire.

I rang the spa yesterday to ask for the brochure (which they send me every time we go) to be e-mailed across. It never arrived. I thought I would e-mail the hotel directly to chase it.

However ... [email protected] is now dead and the e-mail bounces back. If you go on the website, there is no hotel e-mail address offered. You have to e-mail the central worldwide reservations office.

So, I e-mail Worldwide Reservations. I get an e-mail back saying that all of the spa prices are on the website (which they are, but its not the same as the full brochure). I know they still do the blinkin' brochure because they told me yesterday they would send it.

I then get told that if I want to book I now need to e-mail Worldwide Reservations. Instead of just e-mailing the spa directly, which I have always done in the past, everything is now filtered through the Worldwide Reservations desk. And this involves filling in a convoluted form on the FS website. Presumably they then e-mail the hotel, who e-mails back Worldwide Reservations, who e-mail me. A complete waste of time.

They also want me to pinpoint the date and time I want, which I know from experience is pointless as they are always 75% full within 2-3 weeks of arrival. E-mailing the spa directly lets us bounce around potential times and days until a combination click.

This seems to be a complete waste of time and effort, and makes FS look like some cheap chain with a Philipine call centre. I can't seriously believe that they have fired the people in Hampshire who deal with e-mail requests, restaurant bookings, spa bookings, reservation enquiries etc in order to make you deal with the outsourced e-mail centre.

What I don't understand is that the direct hotel phone numbers are still on the website. I can ring them up to get stuff done, but I can't easily fire off an e-mail at my convenience. Very odd.