Holidaymakers reveal their top hotel gripes

British and Irish holidaymakers have revealed their top hotel gripes in a survey conducted by the Good Hotel Guide ahead of its 2016 instalment.
ks1500358-1 File photo: A survey conducted by the Good Hotel Guide has revealed the nation's top hotel gripesks1500358-1 File photo: A survey conducted by the Good Hotel Guide has revealed the nation's top hotel gripes
ks1500358-1 File photo: A survey conducted by the Good Hotel Guide has revealed the nation's top hotel gripes

Hair in the plughole was found to be the most concerning issue with 88 per cent of the 600 people surveyed bemoaning it.

Dirty showers (79 per cent), noisy guests in neighbouring rooms (72 per cent) and uncomfortable beds (68 per cent) followed closely behind.

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Other irritations which lead to a less than cheerful check-out include discretionary service charges (57 per cent), windows that don’t open (43 per cent), dim lighting (42 per cent), background music (34 per cent), poor WiFi (33 per cent) and carpets in the bathroom (32 per cent).

Women were found to be more likely to complain, and appeared more critical than men.

The only gripes which bothered women less than men were poor Wifi (31 per cent of women as opposed to 34 per cent of men) and plastic cups in the bathroom (18 per cent of women as opposed to 21 per cent of men). One notable difference is that double the number of men (18 per cent) claim to have been bitten by a flea while staying in a hotel, compared with only 9 per cent of women. However, 12per cent of men and women agree that too many cushions on the bed is annoying.

On the food front, the buffet breakfast did not prove popular with many. One response complained of ‘having to get up and down like a yo-yo’, while other criticised poor-quality food that is often pre-cooked and cold, congeals under hot lamps, and hotels that ran out of food. Others complained about the quality of tea and coffee, and the speed with which these arrive – seemingly, never fast enough. Breakfast ending too early, especially at the weekend, was also an issue.

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Good Hotel Guide co-editors Adam Raphael and Desmond Balmer said: “The results reveal that British guests have become much more sophisticated in their tastes since the Guide was first published in 1978. Hoteliers have to strive hard to keep their guests happy.”

The editors pointed out that, in the qualitative responses, the same comments came up time and again: the importance of cleanliness, providing fresh milk in the bedrooms and the best staff being those that can achieve the right balance between professionalism and over-familiarity.

Other gripes included over-familiar staff, stained bedlinen, long-life milk in the bedroom for tea and coffee, a dislike of condiments in plastic packaging and feeble shower pressures. Background music was singled out by some guests, who condemned it as ‘intrusive’ and, ‘inappropriate’. WiFi that was not free, had a feeble signal, or was complicated to set up was another irritant. Hotels with too many instructions and notes telling people what and what not to do proved unpopular.

And while many hotels are now dog friendly, one respondent complained that too few hotels welcome cats.

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The new 2016 Guide launches on October 5 and has 420 main entries featuring hotels and B&Bs that are considered to be the best of their type in Great Britain and Ireland. Hotels do not pay to be included; the editors select entries on merit alone, based on up-to-date visits by a team of inspectors as well as reports from well-informed readers. All reports by readers are monitored and graded by the editorial team based on the number of reports submitted and their quality.

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