being given wrong information by a tour desk in a Bermuda hotel.

Ms Susan Juter of Bedford Hills Travel complained that the tour desk at the Princess Hotel in Pembroke told her "there was no such company'' as Bermuda Barefoot Cruises Ltd., when she tried to book a snorkelling trip on the local company during a visit in July.

And if there was such a company, "they were not considered appropriate for representation from the hotel tour desk,'' Ms Juter said she was told.

Barefoot Cruises is owned and operated by Mr. Doug Shirley, one of a handful of boat operators who went public this spring with complaints about Bermuda Island Cruises Ltd., a boat operator which also runs the tour desk at the Princess and five other major hotels in Bermuda.

Mr. Shirley and other boat operators have complained that staff at the BIC desks steer visitors toward BIC boats. They say their own brochures are often hard to find or not displayed at all.

Brothers Mr. Donald Morris and Mr. Derek Morris, who run BIC, admit that when they can provide the activity the visitors are looking for, their own boats are offered first. But they deny that the company has a policy of refusing to book any boat operator.

In her July 18 letter to the Bermuda Tourism Board, which was copied to Mr.

Shirley and which Mr. Shirley sent to Tourism Director Mr. Gary Phillips, Ms Juter said her fellow travel agent Mrs. Shirley Haas had a similar experience to hers in May, again at the tour desk at the Princess.

"She had to take a copy of Fodor's Bermuda '95 and actually show them the phone number so they could book (Mr. Shirley's boat),'' Ms Juter said.

In his letter to Mr. Phillips, Mr. Shirley said Ms Juter's letter was not solicited by him and "it illustrates a genuine concern in the travel industry of what is costing Bermuda business -- poor service.'' "It appears that this is not an isolated incident,'' Mr. Shirley said. "To date my company has not received a booking actually `sold' by a tour desk at Sonesta, Southampton Princess, Pembroke Princess, or Marriott.

All of those desks are run by BIC.

Mr. Phillips said he noted that Mr. Shirley's letter was not copied to the Princess and he has written to the hotel asking for an explanation.

"The (Tourism) Minister (the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge) is already on public record as stating he is concerned that guests who are staying in hotels which have concessioned out their tour desks may not be apprised of the full range of activities offered on the Island,'' he said.

"The situation is even more serious if guest are being deliberately diverted from certain activities.'' Mr. Derek Morris, president of BIC, said yesterday he had not yet received the complaint.

"We certainly don't have any policy in place of boycotting Doug Shirley,'' he said.

Mr. Morris said he would look into the complaint once he received the letter.

"There is a lot to learn on these tour desks,'' he said. "It could have been someone who is part-time.''