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From The Times

August 9, 2008

Britons excel at holiday complaints

Dog-stealing seagulls, noisy waves, unfolded loo paper - the Britons are a nitpicking nation when abroad

Tom Chesshyre

British tourists are “getting better” at complaining and standing up for their rights, but some are taking their grievances a little too far, according to the Association of British Travel Agents.

The Halkin Hotel in London received a written complaint that “the lavatory paper was not folded and it was difficult to unravel”, while a customer at the Malmaison hotel in Birmingham claimed that the night-lights in his room left him confused: “I accidentally thought the walk-in wardrobe was the loo.”

Overseas, a holidaymaker in St Kitts demanded to move to another hotel after saying that she “could hear the sea waves breaking on the shore”, while a customer on the Pelion peninsula in Greece asked “why is there is no pizza delivery service?” and a man on his honeymoon in Kenya was shocked when “a passing (excited) elephant came to drink from the river and made me feel very inadequate”.

An Abta spokesman agreed that many complaints received by travel companies were “ridiculous”, but said that a culture of complaining was positive: “ We should complain more. If you don't complain, the tour operator doesn't get the chance to put things right.”

Perhaps the most bizarre complaint was at the Roxburghe Hotel in Edinburgh, where a woman threatened to call police after claiming that she had been locked in by staff.

In fact, she had mistaken the “do not disturb” sign on the back of the door as a warning to remain in the room. “We eventually calmed her down and she enjoyed her stay,” the general manager, Chris Wayne-Wills, said.

A customer on a Marsdens Cottage Holiday was aggrieved that “the sea was a lot farther away than the pictures in the brochure”.

It transpired that this was because the tide was out. A guest at Hell Bay hotel on the Scilly Isles was upset when “a seagull tried to eat my Pekinese”.

A traveller in the Dominican Republic told TripAdvisor.com that his resort “had cockroaches the size of lions”. And a guest at the Park Plaza County Hall in London moaned: “Surely if I'm English, I'm entitled to the English breakfast.”

A survey conducted by the travel company Isango.com this summer found that 19 per cent of people “dislike going away because foreigners don't want to speak English”.

However, when an angry British traveller told a waiter in Méribel in France that he should treat his customers as kings - “le client est roi” - the waiter replied calmly, in perfect English: “But don't you know what we did to our kings?”

I work in a New York City department store selling designer clothes. I meet tourists and foreign visitors from all over the world everyday.

The British customers are among the nicest and easiest to deal with. The worst are the Russians.

Donna, New York, NY, USA

Whatever happened to the British stiff upper lip? At a five-star resort in Crete where I worked, although only 20% of the guests were British, they were responsible for more than 40% of complaints! Some ridiculous and laughable, but many, sadly, from opportunistic pros. Shame on us. Nice joke Barry!

Sean, Herts, UK

On a recent holiday in County Cork we visited 500 year old Blarney castle. A long hike up narrow stone staircases to kiss the stone. One American visitor was heard to ask the wat to the elevators ????

Ian, Cornwall,

Lets get this straight, these are moaning people, no matter what their nationallity, they are moaners. This should not be an opportunity to get personal by our New Zealand or Australian cousins. Yes, most of you came from here. I love travelling and look forward to experiencing new cultures.

William Byers, Wakefield, United Kingdom

What the difference between a plane load of British tourists and the 747 they arrived in?

The 747 stops whining after it lands.

Thank, you, thank you. Please try the veal. I'm here all week.

Barry, Emu Wallop, Australia (Oz)

I heard of one person who complained to the hotel that it was raining and demanded a refund!

Carol, Kingston , Jamaica

On Tripadviser I read a review of The Datai (the best hotel on earth, IMO) which said "the noise of the rainforest was too loud and I couldn't sleep". Given that the guest was staying in a JUNGLE villa, one might think he had been warned...

Anna, London,

I was so embarrased by my fellow Englishmen on my recent holiday to Turkey this summer. So much so that we were unable to spend any waking minute at our all inclusive hotel as the visitors (the staff were excellent!) were so unbearable. At least we got to see a lot of the local area!

Sam, London,

Thomas Cook are appalling. We booked four months previous to a holiday with day flights. 3 weeks before flights, they changed the return from 12.30 to 21.30. We then had seven hours delay on departure and three hours return. The airport rep said our return flight on 1st May was always a night flight

Anne Bond, Brighton, England

This June we hired a car from AVIS at Malaga Airport with fully comprehensive insurance.

On the return, ~ 5 minutes from the airport, there was a loud noise and we found that a tyre had blown out.

We have been charged £ 2192.54 We have had £1404 credited but are told we are negligent.Why?

Diane Ames, London, UK

If you think the English complain abroad, you haven't worked with Americans on holiday. America doesn't travel well, trust me!

Mary, London,

I have been taking bookings on behalf of 11 naturist centres in France for the last 14 years. There is a decided correlation with the weather. Poor weather- people are miserable and find small things to complain about. Good weather - they are too busy enjoying themselves to complain.

Suzanne Piper, Bricket Wood, St Albans, England

I once read about a group of ladies going on holiday to Spain - one of which took a television set with her - she complained that she could not watch Coronation Street!

Eric Jones, Holyhead, United Kingdom

As a travel agent, i have heard some pretty ridiculous complaints but by far was one about the Burj in Dubai....and i quote ''the private butler in our room was annoying''

Words fail me!

Sarah, uxbridge,

I find it astonishing and very sad that some British people can be so inconsiderate while abroad. I can truly understand (having travelled extensively in Europe) why the rest of Europe find us to be arrogant and rude. Some of the people that we meet truly believe that 'England rules the waves'.

Donna, Bristol, UK

Brits complain about the price of beer in Franceand that no-one speaks English.The sun is too hot in Sri Lanka, the fact that no "fish and chips are available in Paris".
Is it a lack of education? Probably. Because you are either talking about food and wine hopig that people will say
"oh how posh"

Peter Casie Chetty, Liverpool, England

Seems there are a lot of people that should never leave home. That's their home, not just the UK.

Andrew Milner, Karuizawa, Japan

Well, if you don't like it there...you know what you can do....

How satisfying it must be for all those foreigners who are said the same by us friendly Brits.

Howard, Manchester,

A woman didn't know what a Do Not Disturb sign was for?

Where on earth do they FIND these people? You couldn't make it up.

John F, London,

Hang on a minute. This is a story about Britons' (aka English folks') willingness to complain?
Sorry, but that hardly ranks as news. Down our way we call them 'moaning poms' and they've been around since anyone can remember ;-])

Jeff howell, Hamilton, NZ

Since we pay through the nose for everything in this country, it's hardly surprising that we want our money's worth, and therefore willing to complain when we are given the short shrift.

John, London, England