Top List of Hotel Complaints

This is a Hotel Assist page about some of the classic problems found in hotels without a doubt customer services are becoming more sympathetic about client complaints. One of the reasons for this renewed service level is the power of the internet as a medium for publicizing a hotels problems.

1. Bed Bugs

A very serious complaint and one that the hotels dread. These horrid creatures can be found in carpets, woodwork, beds and travellers luggage. They can last up to one year without your blood as food. Check out the sheets for small specks of blood.You can also pull back the bed sheets and check the mattress seams and bedside drawers for signs such as the bug itself or minute small black droppings or dried blood.

2. Dirty Hotel

There is nothing worse than a dirty unmaintained hotel and I could personally name at least a dozen off the top of my head in London. There is a new breed of “hotel owner” emerging in London, mainly relatively small overseas investors. Property prices are still “going north” and it has become lucrative to purchase a freehold hotel, continue running it as a hotel for 3 or 4 years and then sell it. The hotel business pays the overheads and makes the landlord an operating profit and he gets the benefit of a large profit after he sells the premises. In that ownership time he spends no money of refurbishing or good maintenance as he is in it short term to make money.

3. No booking on arrival

Saturdays in the office on a busy London day brings in hotel calls that Mr Smiths credit card is invalid and they are cancelling his booking. For this statement read “The hotel has overbooked and we need to dump some one night bookings“.

For a greater insight, check out our hotel overbooking excuses

4. Unhelpful staff

Now here is a hot potato ! We have all encountered the Reception person from hell. Maybe they have a hangover or have just missed out on a pay rise but they want to make your life hell. There is a well known good tourist class hotel in Kensington London with some of the best reception staff in the business but let the head receptionist have an argument with his boyfriend and whether you are the King of Siam or Tony Blair you will be made most unwelcome..

5. Next to a lift shaft

I can remember vividly spending a sleepless night in a Paris Hotel with my head just the other side of a thin wall adjoining the lift shaft … never again.

6. Noisy room

I recently stayed at a very popular superior hotel in Manchester which is constantly in the top 1 or 2 Tripadviser rankings. Apart from the shower head falling off the wall and the lounge being effectively an ash tray, the walls and ceilings were so thin that you could hear everything around you. Even worse outside our room was a fully operational scrapyard. Are all client internet reviews genuine??? I doubt it … C’est la vie !

7. Overcharged

Its surprising how many travellers do not check their itemised bill when checking out. Extras such as a paid movie or a short from the minibar can go on the wrong room bill so easily. Also be careful when at the hotel bar as the room name and number that you shouted out to the barman can now be used by an unscrupulous person to charge his drinks to.

8. Poor room service

9. Overpriced Phone charges

10. Minicab scam

This for sure applies to London but probably happens all over the world too. You ask Reception to book you a taxi to the airport on check out morning. He uses his “friendly” unlicensed or private hire driver service who adds a commission on for him which you pay for!

11. Sub Standard restaurant

12. Inaccurate star rating

The problem in London is that there is no single regulatory body which controls star ratings. It is therefore possible, in fact probable, that many hotels decide themselves what star rating to be. the main discrepancies lie in the one to three star range. We have a budget hotel in Paddington at the moment that has after many years decided to replace the 70’s bedroom furniture with Ikea products. No problem there until they therefore decide to up the nightly rate by 20 pounds and ( this is the bit I object to ) call the rooms “DELUXE”. Now bear in mind this is a 2 star grot box.

13. Cancellation costs

Tags: complaint about hotel, hotel complaint, hotel complaints, hotel guest complaints, hotels complaints

This entry was posted on March 4, 2010 at March 4, 2010 and is filed under Hotel Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.