to think British tourists should just damn well behave themselves in other people's countries?

[NulliusInBlurba]

I live in Berlin and have done so for over twenty years now. Over that period the tourism industry has grown exponentially, and the city has benefited from that enormously. I've benefited too from the proliferation in cheap EasyJet flights. Most of the British tourists are great - interested in the cultural history, eating a sausage and drinking a beer or two, then maybe a techno club afterwards. But a handful beggar belief, and they are giving all the Brits an appalling reputation here too. Just for the record: this is the capital of the largest country in the EU, it's not a Greek seaside resort. (Not that Greek seaside resorts should have to put up with this crap either, but they seem a lot more economically dependent on this kind of 'guest').

This is the story, my (very rough) translation below:

"There are reports that 30 tourists went on the rampage in a Friedrichshain [a district of Berlin] hotel on Thursday afternoon. The group has now been banned from the hotel on the grounds of causing malicious damage and breach of the peace.

Employees at a Friedrichshain hotel on Warschauer Platz called police late on Thursday afternoon, because a number of hotel guests were gong wild in their rooms. A police spokesperson said that officers indeed found 30 British tourists on the rampage, some of whom were extremely drunk.

According to a hotel spokesperson the British people, who were between 30 and 40 years old, damaged beds as well as furnishings and fittings in the corridor. The identities of the tourists were recorded with the authorities and then they were banned from the hotel. On Friday morning the police spokesperson was unable to say where the group was now staying or even if they were still in Berlin."

Shame on you, whoever it was! Now fuck off, we don't need your kind here. It's bad enough when you do this kind of thing in Blackpool, but at least you're staying in your own country. Jesus, these weren't even teenagers! Imagine the British outrage if a large group of German tourists wrecked a British hotel!

[ClippedPhoenix]

I went abroad last year to spain, the place I stayed was predominantly occupied by Dutch and German.

I found most of them to be rude, arrogant and yes loutish drunks.

[mattsdad22]

i was one of the brits on this trip. it was a stag do, and yes there were thirty odd of us there, but what has been reported is complete and utter lies. not one thing was damaged in the hotel, there was no abuse ,and certainly no rampage of any sort. it was the antics of one person that was drunk and had difficulty finding his room, thats why we were asked to leave, the police were called and lied to just so the hotel staff could cover there own backsides, there were two beds that were turned upside down as a joke, which we found as a joke seeing as it was my room that was used for this joke , my self and my room mate turned the beds back and re made them, no damage done whatsoever, next thing we knew we had a knock on the door and it was the police telling us we had trashed rooms, threatened staff, and been causing trouble throughout the hotel, all this was impossible because we were not even in the hotel at the time , we were in the snooker bar at the end of the street, we only came back for a shower and to get changed ready for the night out with the rest of the lads, it was only when the police came to our room about 6.30 pm , that we found out what had gone on. to find out that we had been asked to leave without even being offered any sort of refund was a total piss take, we all had to seperate and head off in different areas of berlin to find ourselves alternative accomodation , an expense that we could of all done without, so thanks to the staff at the berlin plus hotel. you spoiled our weekend and cost us a lot of money, berlin is one place that we will not be going back to for any kind of trip, and people wonder why the english and the germans dont like each other, this has probably answered that question for you.

[mrsjay]

badly behave arses usually behave just as bad in their own country sadly, I am always very good on holiday and have never been on a druken rampage anywhere,

[BattyBuntings]

I can assure you that my husband who attended the above mentioned stag doo in Berlin is far from the stereo types that are described above. He?s a hard working 40 years old father of 3 who has been saving up for the past few months and looking forward to visiting Berlin. He had heard so many good things about this country and went with the full intention of having a good time.

Might I add that this hotel was fully aware that they were a party of 28 and a stag doo? If they don?t want to cater for single sexed parties they should make this there policy. It seems this hotel was more than happy to take my husband?s and the rest of the party?s hard earned money for 3 nights stay and then subsequently throw all of them out on the first night with reimbursing any of the money!

As mentioned above it was 2 beds turned upside down as a joke, nothing damaged and there was no rampage. The hotel had no evidence they could produce on CCTV need I go on. Most of the group had not even been back to the hotel since there bags were checked in and yet on their return they were man handled into a room and questioned by armed guards.

It seems to me that maybe a few hotels in Berlin have found an easy way of cashing in on visitors to their country. Not bad money for 2 upturned beds.

I don?t expect my husband to spend the kind of money he has spent this weekend in another country and be treated in this way. I?m disgusted!

With regards to the below comment please note

1 - wash your foul mouth out your hardly a shining example with that kind of language!

2- We do not holiday in Blackpool we are in our 40?s! not 20?s!

????Shame on you, whoever it was! Now fuck off, we don't need your kind here. It's bad enough when you do this kind of thing in Blackpool, but at least you're staying in your own country. Jesus, these weren't even teenagers! Imagine the British outrage if a large group of German tourists wrecked a British hotel!???

[Tortington]

Healthy eating is being taught in schools becuase it is the most effective way the government sees of teaching a generation. I think they should teach parents to do this...

Then children can be taught decorum.

the fact that there are programmes on mainstream telly where young people are encouraged to go to Kavos or some other resort belies the tragic nature of our society.

shameful

[FreudiansSlipper]

i have travelled quite a lot and lived/worked abroad. the brits do tend to like to moan and the binge drinking is a proplem and they are often less tolerant that those from other countries

but I hear the Russians are not that easy and seem to have a similar reputation to us now in many countries

I once went to mexico in freshers week (soon realised why my holiday was so cheap) and even though the American students were loud and drunk much of the time they were not loutish or rude and have not seen that loutish behaviour in the states

[LessMissAbs]

Perhaps other nations do not find so interesting the drunken antics of 30 middle aged men abroad as those men themselves imagine? I know I don't!

Hotels can ask to leave whomsoever they choose - they are under no obligation to take custom or continue it when they find behaviour unacceptable.

Sounds like you behaved like a group of schoolchildren, except you were lacking teachers to explain to you how best to behave in public!

Worra I don't have a link but I did read something in the newspaper about it last week.

[WorraLiberty]

Does anyone have a link to this story?

[andy361]

there was 28 of us unaware of what had gone on until we returned to the hotel and i asked if the police had got it on cctv they said yes so why not slap the wrist of the culprit why should we all of suffered. the fact is they did not want us there several of us had not been drinking so it means they can throw all of us out and if thats the case you are in danger of being ejected from any hotel if someone of your nationallity behaves incorrectly. most of the german people in the bars welcomed us and said we were no trouble at all. i was also approached by a prostitute and when told her to go away she went up to some young lad who was clearly the worse for wear with drink, a conversation ensued and she accompanied him to the cashpoint whilst a police van with about 8 coppers in it just sat there i suppose they must have been on their lunchbreak.

[LessMissAbs]

Well, if this is genuine (if not its brilliant), it just shows you're never too old to be an idiotic embarassing twat.

Next time I stay in a hotel, I must make sure to turn a bed or two over and then rant at the staff for telling me off.

[andy361]

I am one of the so called louts of the 30 strong group in the berlin hotel now i am home in my own country and can voice the truth to the people on here that were too quick to put remarks like twats and wankers, they only had 2 of the rooms ready for us on arrival, so rather than drag our cases round berlin for 3 hours was leaving most cases in one of the rooms. my room was a 4 person room and was ready so we unpacked and headed out to get our bearings, meeting up with 20 or so of the lads. they was not all 30 to 40 year olds, i am in my 50's and to of the chaps were 63. and when they say we wrecked the hotel i was later informed by 2 of our group that they got in the room and as a practical joke decided to just lift 2 beds up and turn them over for when the other lads got back this it what they classed as running rampage. so just in case any of you that slagged us off the next time you are accused of something you did not do and people are quick to give you a slating cast your minds back. oh and by the way the plus berlin is advertised as a hostel hotel this may be german for shithole.

[limitedperiodonly]

Do any other nationalities beat themselves up about the way some compatriots behave that they have absolutely no control over?

Or is it just a British thing to grab any opportunity to sneer at what 'other' people do?

[dreamingbohemian]

500days er, it's not a joke, it's a stereotype -- one I only heard about from my DH and 2 best friends, who are all Germans. I have no idea how true it is, just pointing out that it's not only Brits who suffer from bad reputations abroad.

[TheCatInTheHairnet]

If you've lived in Berlin for 20 years, you should be aware of the propensity of German youths throwing non Germans off moving trains. I was.

[Mimishimi]

Every country has them. I don't think it's something peculiar to the Brits. Just a few generations ago, Germans were very rude and obnoxious guests in other European countries ... ;)

[Toadinthehole]

The British have too much of a former ion themselves.

Some months back a survey wasp published in the Guardian, indicating that British attitudes to Germans were very positive whereas German attitudes to the British were not.

This being the Guardian, it was assumed this was proof that the Germans were better human beings. I think it could just as easily have been said that the British were more tolerant. Certainly, my German friends often comment that they find British culture weird.

[Alconleigh]

Central London isn't really a binge drinking hell in the way other town centres might be. Too many different groups, different scenes, people there for the theatre etc. Zone 2 onwards maybe, but that's not London, not really.

[LessMissAbs]

Worra You found incredibly tolerant Germans...you could just as easily have been in a different part of Germany and found incredibly intolerant Germans

Well, I lived outside Munich for a year, spent a month living just outside Nurnberg, and had a holiday job for 3 months once in Nordrhein-Westfalen. I've also driven alone all over the country several times, and cycled once alone across the country. I have had much the same pleasant experiences of France and the French.

And I think its only fair to point out that many of the Turks living in Germany are fed up with the behaviour of some other Turks there.

I avoid Russians...well, Russian men at least.

[Springdiva]

Yes, I can see that that would be the case (Germans encouraged to be tolerant).

[LessMissAbs]

Springdiva Someone earlier was describing the good treatment of Turks by Germans. But I don't think Turks were allowed to remain in the country then by choice, they worked in factories but could be sent home when and if it suited. Turkey is not in the EU so perhaps that is still the case

I don't know about that. The ones who used to hang around the centre of town all day and jeer at any women that went past, were young men aged about 16-19 I guess. I would think they were second or third generation. The drunk men who interrupted the prize giving were probably not working because it was the weekend.

I was told by several Germans that at school they were encouraged to think more seriously about such issues because of the Wars, and to be more tolerant. They take it very seriously.

[LadyPessaryPam]

Wallison Fri 0Yes, good old TheContinent, with their oh so enlightened attitude to alcohol, and their massive numbers of deaths (far outstripping the UK) from liver disease. It's boring, this UK-bashing stuff about how we can't handle our drink, not to mention inaccurate when you look at stuff like RTAs and hospital admissions due to booze in other nationalities. Still, people like their lazy sterotypes, I suppose.

Ha ha, I was just down the pub (in the UK0 and looking at a list of previous pubs that have existed in our village from 1700 onwards. I must say that for a much smaller population they were maintaining twice as many pubs, so what is this crap about the UK and the drinking problem?

Other nationalities on holiday, I have seen bad stuff from all countries. At the moment the Russians are the ones to avoid from other friends experiences. I must say though it's nice to go somewhere where there a few Brits so you don't have to feel responsible for their behaviour. The prize for the most monumental arrogance must always go to the French

[limitedperiodonly]

IME it's Italians who are the worst for laying towels on sun loungers and fucking off all day. But that's just the beaches I go to.

In any case, it's not racist to say that of Italians or Germans. Just unimaginative to think their behaviour sums up the behaviour of an entire nation.

Just like hysterically claiming that the whole of Britain should hang our heads in shame over a stupid local newspaper report.

[500DaysofSeasons]

Germans don't have the best reputation in the Med (hogging beach chairs!).

Did I just read that right?

That boring and very old racist joke.

Almost as funny as saying isn't it annoying when men leave the toilet seat up?

[ZZZenAgain]

wouldn't want to be Turkish in Germany. I wouldn't say they are treated particularly well. A lot of them are 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants now so they have more rights than the initial migrant workers had.

[Springdiva]

Someone earlier was describing the good treatment of Turks by Germans. But I don't think Turks were allowed to remain in the country then by choice, they worked in factories but could be sent home when and if it suited. Turkey is not in the EU so perhaps that is still the case.

We would be v tolerant of incomers if they could be sent home once we no longer required them.