Simon Calder is now a 1 in 3! | The Crows Nest Blog | HolidayTravelWatch
I have been following the woeful tale of Simon Calder’s visit to the ski resort of Morzine in the French Alps! For those who don’t know Simon, he is a highly respected travel journalist, who produces ‘acres’ of comment on the state of travel and the experience of the traveller. Simon was holidaying at a hotel in this resort, when he met with an unfortunate slipping accident in the restaurant area of the hotel. Fortunately Simon does not appear to have suffered injury, but did suggest that ’a judiciously placed sign warning of the slippery floor’ should be placed by restaurant staff to warn other guests! Regrettably, Simon’s experience is one that is shared by many holidaymakers, albeit in different countries and resorts (I note that Simon refers to his ‘lack of care’ – given the circumstances I doubt that this was the case but this is a salutary tale of being careful what you say where a potential litigation situation arises!). In addition, Simon then advises that he witnessed many chipped mugs, floors that often resembled the stickiness of a ‘Students Union bar’ and he valiantly acknowledges that guests can be messy but he could often tell tell at dinner what had been eaten by other guests at breakfast! He tells of a French hotel that is ‘unable’ to provide cheese at dinner and by reference to travel review websites less than satisfactory room management.
Take 2! In his report a week later, Simon advises that at the end of the week, there was a party at the hotel, in which he was greeted by dancing on the tables and a ‘guest at the party lit another joint’! He then reports that a fight broke out amongst the tour operator staff and inappropriate music was being blasted out next to the nursery slopes where where families were apparently learning to ski. Simon, like many other holidaymakers in similar situations, decided that what was going on had ’swerved across the boundary from a frolic to affront’. He complained to the hotel staff who thankfully pulled the plug on this party.
Simon then provides us with a colourful description of the hotel’s facilities but he then reports that he received an apologetic phone call from the Managing Director of this tour operator’s skiing subsidiary. It is clear that this MD was shocked by the reports made by Simon and accepted that ’standards at the hotel clearly failed to meet expectations’!
It would be churlish of me not to give this MD 10/10 for customer service, however, it is a pity that this initiative is not experienced by many other British holidaymakers across a wide variety of resorts!
In the title to this blog, I described Simon as being 1 in 3. This refers to the statistic that some 30% of British holidaymakers are reporting that they either experience illness or an accident whilst on holiday (many like Simon also have many other contractual complaints about their holiday).
I am pleased that Simon received prompt attention to his complaints, however, based on the range of complaints already received this year, I do not predict a similar happy resolution to many thousands of British holidaymakers complaints in 2009!
HTW has noted that amongst the submissions to the Committee on Toxicity (COT) it has been suggested that the symptoms highlighted by crew and passengers were akin to the condition of hyperventilation.
HTW has for many years received reports from concerned holiday makers or independent travellers as to the safety of their aircraft, ship or boat, train or road transport.
