My future wife wasn't best impressed when she left the travel arrangements to me and we promptly missed our flight to Lanzarote.

Look on the bright side, said I, we get to spend a night in Madrid en route to the Canaries! So having scoured a niche Madrid hotels guide at W H Smith at Gatwick, we arrived in the city that night and booked into a former bordello. With Jacuzzi in the room. I didn't tell her that bit, and she was even less impressed.

I love W H Smith. It has helped me out with Madrid, Syria and Mallorca travel guides in the past year. Its airport shops have restocked my library with Theroux and Dalrymple in the same time, and made me impulse buy new travel literature.

The same is true of its railway station shops. The reassuring blue facade is the link between travel plans made and the imminent adventure, the last chance to buy the killer Bradt or Time Out guide and the great-new-read-everyone-is-talking-about.

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BACKGROUND

• The best English walks for book lovers

• The best travel books of 2008

• A new award for the best travel book

• Guidebooks: RIP

• Best travel books of 2007

But now W H Smith has sold out. From today, the chain will sell only foreign travel guides from the Penguin stable at its 450 airport, station and motorway shops.

That's fine if you want DK, Rough Guides or Sawday books (all very fine publications).

But it isn't if you want a browse, a choice, the opportunity to buy a guide from a dozen or more other travel publishers. Or if you want a guide related to the places Penguin doesn't cover.

Inevitably, it is money and protectionism talking. According to The Bookseller Nielsen BookScan figures show that in 2008, travel book sales fell 8.7 per cent in value year-on-year, with Penguin's share of the entire travel market being 18 per cent (9.8 per cent DK and 8 per cent Rough Guides).

But Penguin's market share fell in the first four months of 2009, with DK sales down 16.5 per cent and Rough Guides reporting a drop of 30 per cent.

W H Smith is renowned for its tough negotiations when it comes to racking magazines.

And with travel guide sales also falling, it makes economic sense to the bean counters to tie in one of the biggest publishers, which needs help - but will also give it a good deal.

According to The Bookseller, the terms of the deal include a 72 per cent discount on the cover price - with added cash upfront.

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