Ridicuous hotel review

[Kubricklayer]

I'm due to visit Tenerife soon so thought I'd check out the recent reviews of our hotel (not sure why since it's all booked and paid for). Anyway here's the latest one:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g672806-d13290846-r1006147219-BahiaPrincipeFantasiaTenerife-GolfdelSurSanMigueldeAbonaTenerifeCan.html

Is it just me or is this a ridiculous review? Traveller unable to go due to medical emergency. Attempts to change hotel stay the day before they're due to occupy the accommodation, but hotel refuse. Then blames hotel.

Isn't this what travel insurance is for? How can you reasonably expect a hotel to find new occupants with less than 24 hours notice ('notified the night before')?

I read a review from an American for a lovely hotel in Marbella, which included a complaint about the flies on the local beach, and the advice that the hotel staff should do something about that.

I actually feel a bit sorry for that reviewer . Surely a large hotel like that could have done something ?

Insurance , unfortunately , is not a failsafe option ( despite the fact that most on here seem to think it's the answer to anything from a broken TV set to deciding you don't want to go on a holiday !!!).

I am a big TripAdvisor reviewer and write about almost everything I visit .

Probably for the same reason people give one-star ratings for products on Amazon because it didn’t arrive on time or arrived damaged. I can only assume it’s because they’re complete idiots!

Yes. Insurance won’t cover all eventualities. However we always have it and ours is pretty comprehensive.

American reviewers of visitors are getting some bad comments here. I’ve seen stupid reviews from lots of people. Maybe there are just more Americans on TA.

I do notice that some of my American relatives are a lot louder generally. I notice Americans more in a hotel so maybe others are complaining and I just don’t hear.
I really don’t like the tendency of some British people including myself to mutter to each other but not actually speak up to allow the restaurant or hotel to put things right.

An American review of a small hotel in Ghent complained everything was old. It was old, 16th century in fact, with antique furniture and a suit of armour in the breakfast room. It was lovely.

I booked quite a fancy restaurant in Venice. Noticed it had quite a few 1 star reviews many of which turned out to be Americans people complaining that they weren't able to get a table when they turned up of an evening.

We definitely ask a hotel to put something right if it’s not working or something is dirty or missing. Don’t have anyone else to moan to! How a hotel responds matters.

and one or two giving one star and saying it was awful, worst place ever and I think "were you actually at the same place?"

Some hotels have superior rooms, I assume the big companies snap up, the smaller ones snap up the cheaper out dated rooms, or rooms by the stagnant pond!

Bit yes people are stupid, bit I still read the 1* reviews before the others.

I remember reading a TA review years ago where someone complained that a hotel in Cuba had no freshly squeezed orange juice. Especially as it was ‘so close to Florida’ 🙈

We once booked an old fashioned lucky dip holiday in the Canaries. You paid a discount price for a guaranteed 5/4/3 star hotel. We used to do winter sun there twice a year before we had DC. Part of the fun was the surprise. We stayed in some really good hotels.

I remember stood outside one listening to a young woman moaning it was too “posh” and she didn’t feel comfortable with some of the guests. You really can’t please everyone.

I read a review of a campsite recently that gave 2 stars because there were too many midges!

I’ve also seen people give 5 star reviews but say “great service but hasn’t arrived yet”! What’s the point 🤣

Im always on the floor with the ones complaining that the buffet breakfast is "samey " after a few days

Like how many of us, in real life, have a hot food counter with just about every hot food breakfast item you could thing off, plus a cold counter and a dedicated chef making omelettes or waffles to order?

Most people I know open a box of cereal or make a slice of toast !!!

The other one is the pool is cold. Outside pool, no mention of Heated, and the review is written for the winter months ( try Turkey in the summer during a heatwave - you would be begging for that cold pool )

My favourite was "The coffee machine at breakfast is disgusting. It leaves a layer of brown scum on top of the coffee that you have to scrape off to get to the actual black coffee underneath".

Every hotel in the US, even the crappiest motel, has an ice machine in the corridor. The absence of this is as jarring to them as the absence of a kettle in a UK hotel room would be to Brits. And to be fair, one of the frequently-asked questions in a European travel group that I take part in is "Does Hotel XYZ have a kettle in the room", always from Brits — apparently 8 hours without tea or Nescafé is too much for some people.

But it's ignorant going to another country and expecting it to be the same as home. When I go abroad I don't expect a kettle.

@Worryabouteverything I don’t go anywhere where you have to reserve a sunbed. The sheer “delight” (angst) of the sunbed bunfight is truly behind me!

What do you mean by "something?"
There's not really any middle ground
They can't give them half a holiday
They could have swapped them to another week like the person wanted but its very unlikely they would have been able to fill their rooms for the original week that late so from the hotels pov they would have effectively been giving them a free holiday, losing themselves (given as a family they would have had at least 2 rooms) probably a thousand pounds or more of revenue.

If they did that no questions asked for every single person who had a "medical emergency" or bereavement or whose flights were cancelled or missed their flights due to whatever sadface story they would go out of business.

They probably would have been able to do something if they'd cancelled slightly earlier- lots of hotels have surprisingly generous last dates for cancellation - but the night before? No chance!

There is a previous thread… I think in Classics called “ Thicko’s on trip advisor” .. it’s hilarious.
Generally , if a whole lot Americans say it’s awful then a wonderful, genuine experience will be had.

We went to a hotel in Madeira recently and one review I read complained about how noisy the sea was. The hotel is on the beach. There's nowt as queer as folk as my mother would say.

Yes, that! 5 star all inclusive hotel where you can get any drink 24/7 - and half the reviews by Brits will for sure discuss if it has or has not decent in-room tea making facilities.

I was looking at holidays in Mexico and saw a complaint that the staff didn't clear the cigarette ends out of the pool often enough. I decided I didn't want to be around the sort of people who left the cigarette ends in the pool in the first place and didn't go to Mexico.

We have an Airbnb cottage. I supply a Nespresso machine and a huge jar of 4 types of capsules, a jar of plunger coffee and cafetière. Teabags and 5 types of fruit teas and Rooibos. Hot chocolate. Litre of milk in the fridge plus I give them breakfast for the next morning and nibbles and wine in the fridge. I’ve had two three star ratings and one 4 star out of 100 5 stars (to Airbnb anything less than 5 stars is unacceptable). The reasons were;
They only drink instant coffee and that wasn’t provided.
They don’t drink wine and we didn’t provide an alternative (they didn’t say anything).
The Nespresso machine didn’t come with a milk frother.

Me too. Most hotels would offer the chance to re-book another time if a customer had to cancel due to a genuine emergency. That’s just good customer service and more likely to get repeat bookings.