Travel agent has sent us to the most awful place :(

[Bethanyg25]

Me and my mum booked what we thought would be a lovely little break in Majorca with my 9 mo dd. Nice hotel right by Palma. However we are actually in Playa de Palma and she failed to tell us that this place is basically owned by Germans. We are the ONLY English here. Went for a walk along the beach and didn’t even hear any Spanish. Nothing but German. Noisy stag dos, very tacky that sort of thing. Now I’ve got nothing against Germans but when I imagined my relaxing holiday to Majorca this is not what I had in mind. Feel mega out of place and awkward!! Just wanted to have a rant about it.

Its Majorca hardly a cultural hot spot - your suprised to see a stag doo?

And that’s where you are wrong. Majorca, especially Palms is wonderful, it’s only a few small enclaves which have anything resembling hen / stags. Most of the island is packed full of culture, stunning scenery, wonderful restaurants, stylish shops

OP you really can’t blame the agent, they can siggest somewhere but it’s entirely up to you to check out where they suggest and to see if it suits your needs.

I have to phone customers for work and often they are not uk based so I have to trawl the company for a foreign language speaker (cause “2 beers and where’s the toilet” isn’t what I need to ask). The only time I don’t bother is when I’m phoning Germany. They all speak passable English, and are game for giving it a go.
And I love a bit of rule following on holiday, no queue jumping for the buffet.

In the OP’s defence, we stayed in a hotel that was 60% German guests earlier this year, and did find an actual unforeseen drawback. They all bloody smoke, all the time. On the beach, in the bar... you forget in the UK how foul it is to be completely surrounded by the smell, because it very rarely happens any more, but it was really annoying and very difficult to escape.

Wow! Brits abroad, especially in the Med, don’t exactly have a good reputation, so I’d be rather pleased to be surrounded by Germans.

Also very surprised that anyone still uses a travel agent! What is the point?

Better than being on holiday amongst english! All the complaining and cups of tea!

This is a wind up surely?

I read a thread recently about people thinking it was a stag doo or hen doo and I was baffled as I'd never seen anyone spell do wrongly so for that alone I'm pleased I opened this thread

Iamtheworst
In what world do you think the Germans queue properly? The Brits have that one boxed off. Not the Germans. I lived in Germany for several years. They tend to follow law to the letter rather than rules of etiquette.

Germans are great, you know where you are with a German 😁

Can't get past the fact you booked with a travel agent. I didn't think there were travel agents any more.
Anyway... why wouldn't you tripadvisor the hotel/destination yourself before booking.

What's the problem with the Germans?

I suppose it's not really relaxing with stag dos going on and so.. but once again, you should have googled the place to find out if it was suitable

That’s what I mean mummy! The precise rule following is beautiful. Only bread through the toaster, well baguette is a type of bread so through it goes. But 1 cup per person so they’ll go for juice a milllion times. Admittedly my only experience of Germans in Germany was a day in Frankfurt mainly getting trains/buses I was always in the wrong place.

If it is any consolation, Magaluf, the English part, is somewhat worse. Not even the locals venture there 😉

We went to an island off Venezuela that was mostly germans and americans, both spoke English my DC`s had a great time with the children, we relaxed on the beach, did some sightseeing.

Went to Lanzarote the first week was all Spanish families again the DCs had a good time as did we, the second week the Brits arrived, that was embarrassing they were so loud and drunk.

My DC and girlfriend a few years ago went to Egypt, hotel full of rude, loud, drunk, lecherous russians, they spent the days hiding on the beach, surfing and diving. That was not a great holiday.

magicBrenda
I am sorry you've had bad experiences with Germans.

• queing is something the British do and are held up for as an example to everyone
• smoking is banned almost everywhere here, too

I wonder, do they think (like lots of people abroad seem to do) nobody knows me here so I can drop my manners without loosing face?

They are probably on the German Mumsnet complaining about the insular Brits and if only Brexit would hurry up and happen because of the tourist complaining about them and their noise despite having a noisy baby crying.

In a foreign country surrounded by foreigners 😲, maybe if you wanted to be around British people you should have gone to Butlins?

But not Spanish foreigners. Foreign foreigner.

Even when we used to book at travel agents they didn’t send you places, I recall going in with my brochures and my choices which I had studied for days beforehand, sometimes they used to help get the best flights for it. I used to go to the library to research the area.

We went to a resort in Spain and it was fully of Russian guests, my Hubbie actually speaks Russian which made it quite funny when they were being about the British at dinner time etc... he’d then give a response in Russian just to throw them 🙈😂
We still had a blast... queuing went out of the window and I quite happily pushed in with the rest of them.

Holidays are what you make them op!

*rude about

However, I always use a travel agent. It is their work They have knowledge that I don't. They have always found me nice places when I've used them. When I've tried to look on-line I find it overwhelming. When I speak to experts, they've always got it right for me.

I can't decide where or what to do on hols this summer & am thinking of a potluck approach, see what a travel agent could find for us with < 2 wks notice.

Do you have access to the internet? In future use google, Tripadvisor and Mumsnet to research good places to go. Then, if you can't sort it solo, use an agent to book where you want to go.

As an ex holiday rep I have to say it was guest like you that kept me amused season after season!

Are you also finding
"The restaurants all serve Spanish food"
"None of the shop keepers speak English"
"It's not sunny 24/7"

You chose somewhere. You booked it. The travel agent has probably never been there.

I always book fairly cheap holidays and expect the worst - but I'm always surprised how much fun I have.

Maybe because I get on with my own holiday?!

Magic I went to a hotel last summer with some British, numerous Spanish and French and German and also some Russians.

You learnt quick - if you can't beat them - join them!

I was a master at queuing at the coffee machine by day 3. Well I say queuing ......