Further to the article “We’re a bridge too far”, Hereford Times, May 5, I would like to respond to TripAdvisor’s comments.

The reported response from TripAdvisor that even B&B’s close to the Welsh Borders should be excluded from a search on a Welsh town because it is what ‘travel consumers expect’ when they research places on TripAdvisor is blatantly misguided. I suspect the only people Trip Advisor have consulted is their own Geo Team. People visiting Welsh border Towns expect to go in and out of England during their holiday. If they want the pure Welsh experience they surely go into the heart of Mid. or North Wales.

One would ask why TripAdvisor do not apply the same ‘Berlin Wall’ logic to their ‘holiday rentals’. There are some examples of Self-catering properties in Herefordshire, under “Hay-on-Wye Holiday Rentals”, that are many miles away from the border. Are these properties allowed to be advertised under ’Hay on Wye Holiday Rentals’ in order that TripAdvisor can make money from booking fees? Are their so called ‘travel consumers’ quite happy to self-cater miles away from Hay but will not contemplate staying in a B&B on the English side of the border yards away from Wales?

TripAdvisor started in the States and there are two American saying that come to mind ‘Hogwash’ and “they speak with forked tongue”.

Since the article I have been contacted by other B&B’s along the border whose businesses are suffering because of TripAdvisor’s refusal to list them under a nearby town.

We are just a small band of friendly B&B’s owners trying to make a living while sharing a home we love. Unlike TripAdvisor we are not out to make a vast profits, we like to meet people from all around the world and we love to have them stay with us. Are we such fierce completion to TripAdvisor’s ‘Holiday Rentals’ side of the business that they wish to drive us out of the B&B world altogether?

On a positive note, I walked 0.4 miles to the centre of Hay today and it took me a whole five minutes, there were no border guards on the bridge, I did not have to show my passport and would you believe it not one person in the shops spoke to me in Welsh.

Margaret Wesley Owner of York House B&B, Cusop, Hay-on-Wye