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price matching

on tuesday morning, at the invitation of glenmorangie's brand home manager, i cycled the 16km from bowmore to port ellen, intent on having a look around the recently refurbished and renamed, islay hotel. purchased on behalf of ardbeg distillery, the building is now known as ardbeg house, and has received a controversial interior overhaul (see image above). unfortunately, the cycle along the low road was directly into a 60kph headwind from start to finish, not helped by the fact that it started raining heavily during the final 3km. i did have to apologise for dripping on the hotel's nice new floor. granted, i returned to bowmore in half the time it had taken to get there.

however, at least a part of the reason for such a visit was having missed the public open day on saturday 6 september, when i was at the other side of the island wandering aimlessly around kilchoman distillery which was celebrating is 20th anniversary. during that particular visit, during an interview with founder, anthony wills, he pointed out that one of the many reasons they had survived the slings and arrows of single malt, was by paying particular attention to their costs, subsequently reflected in the prices they were able to charge for their whiskies. though the headlines will almost always centre on the often ridiculous prices paid for reputedly rare bottles of the amber nectar, it's the core product that keeps the majority of distilleries in business, particularly during lean times such as right now.

ardbeg house, on the other hand has presented a number of conundrums to the paying public. firstly, its complete refit to transform from the islay hotel to ardbeg house, has taken several months and cost 'millions. many, possibly including yours truly, are of the opinion that the money has not necessarily been well-spent, particularly if you are not in favour of bedrooms, bars and dining rooms that are a cross between steam punk, gothic and grunge. the interior of the hotel is very dark, a far cry from its previous existence, and many have said that they'd be likely to suffer nightmares, were they to wake up in any one of the twelve rooms. a sad indictment if you consider how much you are likely to have paid for that room.

at present, there are two price points available: £420 per night, or £520 per night. according to the gent to whom i spoke during my visit, the rooms are likely to be a tad more price-friendly in the winter months (around £230 per night, i believe). the prices, he told me, had been designed to be comparable to similar accommodation, but admitted that those were on the mainland and not on islay. though i'm hardly someone to whom you'd turn for economics advice, particularly relating to accommodation, it's an undeniable fact that there is a premium to be paid by island visitors, who still have to account for the cost of sailing, or flying to islay, costs which are likely to place the likes of ardbeg house in a different bracket than the establishments with which it has been reputedly compared.

and that leads me once again to the cycle industry, which may, or may not have led itself down the same garden path.

in 2003, i purchased a colnago c40hp carbon frame along with a mixture of campagnolo chorus and record components, including a pair of polished hubs which i subsequently built into a pair of wheels. the entire bicycle as ridden cost me just the wrong side of £2,000. it was a lot of money for me at the time, but money adjudged to be well-spent. some twenty-two years later, and a top-of-the-range colnago would cost me anywhere from £16,000 to almost £20,000, which, quite frankly, puts them completely outwith my minimal purchasing power. i am well aware that prices have changed quite a bit since the early part of this century, but, pound for pound, i am earning considerably more than i was then, even taking into account the inevitable annual inflation. in 2003, my children were eleven and eighteen, still reliant on mum and dad for their economic wellbeing. yet, now that mrs washingmachinepost and i are the sole occupants of the house, finances would simply not allow for a £16,000 bike under any circumstances, even if i were to believe them to be worth it in the first place.

so what happened in between times?

there have been reports in the media, of late, concerning the remarkably high price tags attached to all manner of luxury goods (let's face, for all but the members of team uae emirates, a top of the range colnago is a luxury). and the same can be said for all other brands. a quick glance through several websites would highlight that the average price for a quality carbon fibre road bike is roughly between £10,000 and £11,000, but are these prices simply the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy? has it been a case of one manufacturer (specialized?) setting an initially high price for a specific model, and that price simply being replicated by others in order to price match? a bit like the means by which ardbeg house has set its overnight accommodation costs. whether these are related to the actual costs of production, we may never know. is the cost of a night's stay in ardbeg house related to the actual cost? if so, how come i mamaged to book a room at a premier inn, in glasgow city centre, for a quarter the price of staying in a nightmare?

there are a number of photos available showing remarkably similar, yet individually branded carbon frames hanging on racks in the same taiwan factory. so is it possible that there's a concordat amongst the manufacturers to control the price of their products? are we being subjected to an international case of price-matching?

if only aldi made bikes.

thursday 11 september 2025