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Original poster

Would you go to a hotel that was 'predominantly german'

31 replies

mosschops30 · 02/01/2008 19:43

Have just seen a fab deal for a hotel in Ibiza this summer. Aparthotel looks lovely and has good reviews for cleanliness and location.

However 99% of the reviews mention the fact that it is predominantly german! That all entertainment is in german, food is german (although we would be self catering and eat out).

Now this wouldnt bother me but dh is saying no way and that it would be a nightmare!!! Are the old cliches about germans on holiday still true, as I pointed out to dh the last 3 holidays we've been on have included british people getting up at 6am to put their towels out and can be as rude as you like.

Opinions welcome, have you ever done this?

OP posts:
MinkVelvet · 02/01/2008 19:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NotQuiteCockney · 02/01/2008 19:45

For me, the issue would be my kids feeling left out. I'd rather be in a hotel with English-speaking people for that reason.

LynetteScavo · 02/01/2008 19:46

Ya!

dooley1 · 02/01/2008 19:46

your dh is hard to please re. holidays isn't he!

brimfull · 02/01/2008 19:49

my only concern would be my dc's not being able to make friends

but hey maybe german kids speak great english

SSStillHere · 02/01/2008 19:50

Well we were in an Austrian run hotel in Egypt, so the staff tended to speak German rather than say English. We live in Germany anyway so we're used to the language, culture.

Well the Kids' club was pretty empty at the time so that was in English half the time and the second half of our stay a new batch of German speaking staff arrived, so all the animation and so on is in German.

I think with this kind of thing if you don't speak the language and it isn't the language of the country you're visiting, it can get a bit on your nerves to be lambasted in Dutch or whatever all day long when you're in Greece.

I like German food, wouldn't have a problem with that personally but I prefer to get away from the whole German thing when I'm on holiday IYSWIM because that's my everyday situation and I like something different on holiday, bit of a change.

Original poster
mosschops30 · 02/01/2008 19:51

lol dooley

I would imagine as its in the Thomson Summer Sun brochure that there will be english speakers there, plus we're going in August. It just seems odd that nearly every review noted it which made me question whether it would be a problem

OP posts:
SSStillHere · 02/01/2008 19:51

Think you will defo have to be up at the crack of dawn laying out your towels though.

I wouldn't bet on German dc speaking great English

PeachesMcLean · 02/01/2008 19:51

Only thing that put me off was DS not being able to make friends.

SSStillHere · 02/01/2008 19:55

How old are your dc?

kindersurprise · 02/01/2008 19:58

I would go to the hotel, but then DH is German and our kids speak German

We actually prefer to go to resorts/hotels that are predominately British, but that is because we do not like to hear the Germans moaning about everything. Since you won't understand them, that won't matter.

The Germans are quite big on cleanliness, so you should be ok on that.

How old are your DCs? The Germans start learning English from around 8yo. Saying that, our DCs played with a little Dutch boy on holiday last year, and even though they did not understand each other, they had a great time.

The advantage of a German hotel is that you are less likely to find it full of drunken idiots on henny holiday/stag holiday. They don't really go in for that and the binge drinking that is such a problem in UK is not so prevelant here.

Original poster
mosschops30 · 02/01/2008 20:00

dd is 12 so would deffo need to go off and make friends although she doesnt 'do' kids clubs now!
ds will be 3.5 so too young for club or to make friends really he will be with us either playing or swimming.

OP posts:
Original poster
mosschops30 · 02/01/2008 20:02

SSSStillhere we stayed at a certain hotel once that had a police line round the pool area every morning whilst they cleaned, then at 7.30 ish people would start gathering behind the line ..... they would finally cut it at 8am and then wooosh we would all race to get beds and parasols, throw our towels on them and then go back to bed.

Shameful

OP posts:
JJ · 02/01/2008 20:03

We go to Austria every year and stay in one of the Kinderhotels. Plenty of the staff speak English and we've never had a problem with ours making friends, whatever the language (they only speak English). I love the Kinderhotels.

JJ · 02/01/2008 20:07

Drifted off topic there, sorry.

Original poster
mosschops30 · 02/01/2008 20:08

Oh i dont know now. I would be gutted if dd was on her own for 2 weeks with only us for company ...she'd die

OP posts:
SSStillHere · 02/01/2008 20:12

Do you have a link to this place you're looking at?

LIZS · 02/01/2008 20:21

Unless you need ot use kids clubs etc it really isn't a problem. Ours would n't go alone anyway. We've been with Swiss/German tour operator(when we were living among German speakers) and found it quite refreshing, less pressure to be sociable, although it might mean you are in a more Germanic part of town with Bierkellers as opposed to British caffs and pubs ! Thomson is part of TUI which is a German company anyway so if you go to one of its hotels there may be a European presence.

[aside] Hi JJ

JJ · 02/01/2008 22:01

The kids' club at ours is German, although there are enough English speakers around to translate as necessary. My youngest (6 yo) adores it and can't wait to go back this year. My nearly 10 yo is too old for it - am hoping for some nice kids for him to play with in the evenings, so know the worry.

[Hi LIZS - we were just in CH and drove by our old house. Was really weird being back, although we were just driving through. Gorged on Luxemburgerli when we arrived at Zurich airport, but of course. ]

Original poster
mosschops30 · 02/01/2008 22:02

link here

it looks lovely plus is £600 cheaper than anywhere else if we book it separately with thomson rather than a package

OP posts:
SSSandy2 · 03/01/2008 14:43

Hi mosschops, had a look at the complex and the travel reports. In German I only found 3 and they were quite critical but I didn't take them all that seriously tbh, sounded like born complainers (how many times they had to complain before something was undertaken etc).

Ok from the English comments, I saw they were often taken unawares and had not expected the German slant with notices, the TV and films, all evening entertainment, kids' and teen clubs to be in German only and the reception staff to be German speakers rather than English speakers. So may have been a bit overwhelmed by it.

As to how your dd would get on, there were totally conflicting comments with some people's teenagers being totally at a loss, roaming about alone and bored, others making friends and enjoying it. How outgoing is she? If she's a bit shy, I might look for a more English speaking (or generally mixed) environment.

Personally I wouldn't book the hotel for us because of all the comments about how noisy it is. I can't stand that kind of thing but maybe you're more laid back. They're often complaining about being woken up at 10 with something loud going on in German and the noise increasing from then till around 11pm. Or if I did book, I'd book away from the pool.

"In the day an English child wanted to join in with everyone and play water-polo, yet a German man turned around and said "no english, only german play today" so the entertainment staff agreed and told the boy he wasnt allowed to play."
In case you were worrying about that comment, I just wanted to say IME that is a very non-typical thing to happen. I'm fairly sure you'd find the other guests courteous enough.

Original poster
mosschops30 · 03/01/2008 16:48

SSS yes I did see that comment, and unfortunately am not the type of person to let that go over my head

I think i will give it a miss. The holiday is for the children too and if theyre not happy then neither are we. Agree about the noise problem too, bad enough to be woken up at 10am by english speaking over tannoy never mind about german

However some english like to complain about everything, I like to hear different languages around the pool and in menorca this year I certainly found our dutch and spanish neighbours better than some of the brits

OP posts:
Oblomov · 03/01/2008 16:59

We went to Ibiza, which was predominatley German.
Which one?

Oblomov · 03/01/2008 17:01

There are alot of Germans in Ibiza. We were in Eraulia aswell. And lots of Irish - we had the best time !!
Will try and find my review, that I did.

Oblomov · 03/01/2008 17:03

Alot of the Etertaining staff are German in Ibiza aswell. Aswell as childcare. But do not worry. Your hotel looks really nice. I think I saw it. There will be lots of brits too.