Are we all high maintenance tourists?

dobman88

So the question is in the title. I ask this because I work in a 4 star hotel and some of the guests we have are extremly high maintenance. Although I have nothing against American people (I have some American friends) but it just seems to be the American visitors who are high maintenance and it seems to be worse this year. Like people ringing to ask the time, saying their "microwave" won't work in the room when in actual fact the microwave they refer to is a safe! Things like this.

Are we all this high maintenance when we travel abroad or is it just some of the American visitors we have?

*no offence to anyone intended.

SV

Last time I checked into a hotel I didn't speak to any of the hotel staff again until I was leaving.

I think a lot of people check into a hotel with the expectation that they can leave all real world responsibilities at the door, which would include something as mundane as knowing what time it was.

MadsL

dobman88 wrote: »

So the question is in the title. I ask this because I work in a 4 star hotel and some of the guests we have are extremly high maintenance. Although I have nothing against American people (I have some American friends) but it just seems to be the American visitors who are high maintenance and it seems to be worse this year. Like people ringing to ask the time, saying their "microwave" won't work in the room when in actual fact the microwave they refer to is a safe! Things like this.

Are we all this high maintenance when we travel abroad or is it just some of the American visitors we have?

*no offence to anyone intended.

If this bothers you you should really check your understanding of customer service and 4 star.

Canis Lupus

I like reading the comments section on trip advisor, especially when it's a budget hotel. Some people think you can pay a few quid for a night and then expect to be moved around the hotel on a palanquin whilst being hand fed grapes etc etc.

dobman88

MadsL wrote: »

If this bothers you you should really check your understanding of customer service and 4 star.

It doesn't "bother"me. I love my job and love meeting new people. Wouldn't change a thing. If you read the Title and the first line of the OP my question was are we ALL high maintenance tourists. I was just wondering how people felt about themselves when they travelled and if they thought they were high maintenance?

dmc17

dobman88 wrote: »

So the question is in the title. I ask this because I work in a 4 star hotel and some of the guests we have are extremly high maintenance. Although I have nothing against American people (I have some American friends) but it just seems to be the American visitors who are high maintenance and it seems to be worse this year. Like people ringing to ask the time, saying their "microwave" won't work in the room when in actual fact the microwave they refer to is a safe! Things like this.

Are we all this high maintenance when we travel abroad or is it just some of the American visitors we have?

*no offence to anyone intended.

What time is it now that you mention it? It's just this hotel I'm in has no clocks and I put my watch in the safe and it exploded when I pressed the button to lock it.
Thanks

In any area of customer service there are high and low maintenance people.

I do think Americans (if we're really going to generalise) seem to be more used to a having things done for them, but this doesn't necessarily mean they're high maintenance.

Only slightly related, but one thing I've noticed is that Americans are the only people who expect the place I work to have a 'restroom'. It's really not the kind of place that would have a customer toilet. It doesn't bother me of course, it's just strange that it's only ever Americans.

Frank Lee Midere

MadsL wrote: »

If this bothers you you should really check your understanding of customer service and 4 star.

Really? I've stayed in 4 star hotels and have never called to ask the time. I suppose I felt that I could use the time on my watch, phone, the led display on the TV or the LCD display on the actual phone I would be using to make the call to deternine the time.

You never know what other people get up to.

clairefontaine

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

Really? I've stayed in 4 star hotels and have never called to ask the time. I suppose I felt that I could use the time on my watch, phone, the led display on the TV or the LCD display on the actual phone I would be using to make the call to ask the time.

You never know what other people get up to.

I have when travelling multiple time zones.

But then I would be a high maintenance "yank."

Asking the time is high maintenance. Go figure.

Frank Lee Midere

clairefontaine wrote: »

I have when travelling multiple time zones.

No simple math for you then? Fair enough.

clairefontaine

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

No simple math for you then? Fair enough.

If you don't know what time it is in the zone you just left, you can't add or subtract the hours for the new time zone.

Get back to me after you do a 17 hour red eye and cross five time zones.

camel jockey

No, we are not all high maintenance. Sounds like you may be though.

clairefontaine

If asking someone what the time is is high maintenance, I don't k now what to say to that. I find that weird.

Ted_YNWA

There are people who need to be hand held in all walks of life.

Its threads like these that make me glad im not in a public facing job.

Wouldn't last a week. Common sense is not very common.

9959

I'm sure that any American tourist visiting our wonderful capital would be only too pleased if their question - "What time you got?" - was met with the old Dublin rejoinder - "Half past, kiss me arse, what do you want to know for".
There's no traditional Irish hospitality with most hotel staff these days, surely news of the above witty reply would quite quickly spread, thus helping to restore Dublin, and indeed Ireland, to the top of pile when it comes to places for our monied American friends to spend their hard-earned dollars and set-up their tax-free businesses, with Bono's help of course.

amdublin

I'm generalizing here, but I think Americans have high expectations after paying a lot of money for a 4 star hotel.

And rightly so IMO.

dobman88

This was never supposed to be aimed at Americans specifically, it was people in general. Th only reason I mentioned Americans is because they would be, imo, the main visitors to this country and America is such a huge country there woud be more of them, if that makes sense.

My genera question was, are we all high maintenance when we go on holidays. Maybe asking the time was a bad example as I didn't think of the time zone difference. But confusing a safe with a microwave shouldn't happen, should it? Another question is how to turn the tv on. None of this annoys me as im in a service industry, to serve people. I just wanted to now if anyone had any similar stories after being asked questions for fairly simple things

Balmed Out

How much does your hotel charge? If its typical of most 4 star hotels then why shouldnt you expect to get what youre paying for. Terrible attitude.

dobman88

Balmed Out wrote: »

How much does your hotel charge? If its typical of most 4 star hotels then why shouldnt you expect to get what youre paying for. Terrible attitude.

How is it a terrible attitude? I have said I love my job and meeting new people. I always try and deliver the highest standard of service I can. It was a general question about people in general of every nationality. I wasn't complaining about my job, just looking for similar stories that people may have.

I agree you should expect a high standard but some things I get asked are quite amusing and seem "high maintenance" and all I was looking for was similar stories off people.

harney

I think that the more often a person stays in hotels the less high maintenance they become.

In my previous job I could spend 80+ nights per year in hotels and you could definitely spot the n00bs from "regular" hotel staying people.

Balmed Out

dobman88 wrote: »

How is it a terrible attitude? I have said I love my job and meeting new people. I always try and deliver the highest standard of service I can. It was a general question about people in general of every nationality. I wasn't complaining about my job, just looking for similar stories that people may have.

I agree you should expect a high standard but some things I get asked are quite amusing and seem "high maintenance" and all I was looking for was similar stories off people.

Because asking somebody how to turn on a tv is not in any way "high maintenance". I dont think you should view guests like that at all, some require more of the services they have paid for then others but thats it. I think if you get annoyed by trivial things like people asking about the tv, the time etc then its a terrible atitude for somebody working in a hotel.

If you said some guests were very high maintenance because they have a scat fetish and cleaning up after them was a nightmare then fair enough but otherwise "high maintenance" is what ye charge for.

Nearly 20 years ago (Oasis were playing Cork at the time) when working in a hotel we had a couple from Dublin or Wicklow (that kind of accent anyhow) who seemed a bit posh for the zero star dive of a hotel who kept on ringing for room service, extra towels etc. When they left the walls and most of the room were completely smeared in excrement.

chrismon

I was working in a hostel in Australia.
We had an Asian group check into a 32 bed no aircon dorm for $12 a night.
They came to reception asking when the towels were being delivered.

Sofiztikated

High maintenance guests I've had:

Water had to be chilled to exactly 3 degrees.
Moved the gym to a different floor, so that they could access it without passing through the lobby.
Call 14 times on the day a function was to be on, confirming how long each course would take, how long we had to wait to take an initial drinks order, best pairings of food and wine, etc etc. Wanker turned up an hour and a half late, meaning pre prepped canopies were ****ed, and had to be made again.
At another function, a Bride gave out that the service was taking too long, even though it was one of our fastest ever (Operations Manager times every one)
Someone wouldn't speak to any of our staff, only through her PA. It wasn't that she didn't speak English, she did, just wouldn't refer to our staff, even the personal liaison we provided.
Put on a complimentary drinks reception daily, for people staying.
A prospective event booker didn't like our chandeliers in the ballroom. They ordered in their own chandeliers.

That's high maintenance. Asking the time, I don't think that counts. I'd have answered, inquired if they needed anything else, and went on about my day.

When I go away, no I'm generally not high maintenance. I just want things done right. I also can't enter a hotel at all, without scanning for lightbulbs, glasses, where the staff are, how many customers there are, wonder about staffing levels, busy periods, who looks like they're about to go on their break, stock levels, best tables, etc. Even if I just happen to be nipping in for a píss.

desertcircus

Thinking the safe in your room is a microwave isn't high maintenance, it's as dumb as a bag of rocks.

And someone chatting about people being high maintenance doesn't have a terrible attitude, they're human.

Ole Rodrigo

I think social media - or specifically, the ability to have power as a consumer of goods and services - has not made many people good consumers.

Its not just in hotels - its in cafes, retail..anywhere where people feel entitled to have the best value for money possible. Obviously, its a good thing to a certain point. If you pay money for something, you are entitled to get something of value. But I suspect that sense of entitlement has grown beyond what its should be. In fact there is no way to gauge what this is, beyond a persons own moral compass.

I stayed in a guesthouse up North last year, it was lovely. The bean an ti, made sure I had the best stay possible. I got the impression she was trying a bit too hard though, and the casual warmth you usually get was missing. Talking to her further, it turned out some folks had left bad remarks on tripadvisor over something insubstantial, she said she couldn't afford negative reviews in the current climate.

I think the old saying ' if you cant say anything good, then don't say anything at all ' could be applied in many cases. Generally, we haven't got used to the power we have as consumers now..and use it rather clumsily. This is one aspect of being a high maintenance tourist. The other is the generally rotten experience of airports and flying. Trains, boats and bicycles for the win

UCDVet

A big part of it is just what they are used to. For a lot of reasons, the cost of things in the US tends to be a fair bit cheaper than in Ireland. Compare the prices of Amazon.com to Amazon.co.uk. American's are used to paying half the VAT and because they have fewer social services/lower minimum wage/fewer employment benefits - labour costs are lower.

People's expectations are based on what they are used to. They feel that whatever they are used to is 'normal'. Even when they travel, they carry these expectations with them.

When companies fail to meet expectations, even if those expectations can't reasonably be met locally, customers tend to be unhappy...and they take it out on the staff. Couple that with honest mistakes/confusion over being in a different country - many tourists appear to be jerks.

I remember be outraged at some of the high prices and low quality of many things on various trips I've been on. Whenever you pay more and get less, you're going to be unhappy. Americans are used to getting a lot for very little, so it's unsurprising they are often unhappy in their travels.

I remember going to dinner in the US. I paid 1.5 euro for a *giant* glass of Coke, filled with ice, and when I finished drinking it, they refilled it *FOR FREE*. I didn't even ask, they just brought me a new giant glass of Coke. For 1.5 euro. In a restaurant in Dublin - I'd have paid 3 euro for them to bring me an empty glass and a can of coke. To drink the same amount of Coke - I'd need 3 cans and I'd have paid 9 euro.

If I were used to paying 1.5 euro for ~3 cans of ice cold Coke, and came to Dublin, and had to pay 9 euro for ~3 cans of warm Coke - I'd probably seem like an annoyed tourist.

A Primal Nut

I don't think either of the examples in the OP are high maintenance. The safe/microwave thing is just stupidity. As for asking for the time once I don't see the issue. Probably they forgot the exact time difference. If they are frequent travellers I could see people getting mixed up now and again. Maybe its the 4 star hotels fault for not having a clock in the room.

I travel a lot for work and stay in a lot of 4/5 star hotels but I don't consider myself high maintenance. It does annoy me though when expensive hotels don't give things I can get in cheaper hotels. For example I notice very expensive hotels usually have rubbish internet @ €10/day whereas a hotel half the price down the road can have really fast internet included. Same with breakfast. Anyway I've learnt my lesson and don't stay in those kinds of hotels anymore. Other than that I don't think I cause any hassle to hotel staff for being high maintenance.

Agree with the above poster about internet reviews. While they are great for improving customer relations the old rule applies. People who have a good experience won't talk about it as much as a bad experience. I do try now to give reviews as much as possible now. One thing that annoys me is the amount of reviews on tripadvisor/ booking calling staff rude. This is something I've never had an issue with. Chances are the customer was the one being rude and because staff didn't give the answer they wanted, they get a bad review calling them rude.

Some hotels on tripadvisor respond to reviews. Its often funny to hear the other side of the story.

shruikan2553

I wouldnt think the irish would be high maintenance. We have a habit about complaining about something to whoever w're with but would never actually tell staff.

The americans have that tipping culture thing where you let them hit you in the nuts and say "very good sir, would you like to try again?" in the hopes that at the end of it they'll give you a tip so you arent making less than minimum wage

MadsL

dobman88 wrote: »

It doesn't "bother"me. I love my job and love meeting new people. Wouldn't change a thing. If you read the Title and the first line of the OP my question was are we ALL high maintenance tourists. I was just wondering how people felt about themselves when they travelled and if they thought they were high maintenance?

Asking the time is a basic function of front desk service, it is a minimum that I would expect of ANY hotel. If I have just woken up in a strange time zone, my phone isn't charged or I doubt it has updated correctly and the TV is showing news from another country (Sky news perhaps) and I have to catch a flight; chances are I might confirm the time with the front desk.

This is your perception of high maintenance, not the customers.

As to Americans expecting bathrooms in shops/businesses this is because every shop/business in the US provides one.

Mick Murdock

Worked in a very busy tourist bar in the Centre of Galway for 2/3 years. Americans, while mostly very friendly were probably our least favourite people to deal with mainly down to their stinginess! They would often arrive in large groups (20+) and buy three glasses of Guinness between them. They would proceed to take up a large amount of room in the pub, sometimes for hours if there was live music, while other paying customers would leave due to the lack of space.

Fair enough, it's an expensive country but cheapskates and freeloaders píss me off.


On my travels, I try to interact with hotel staff as little as possible. Simple niceties and very little else.

MadsL

Mick Murdock wrote: »

Worked in a very busy tourist bar in the Centre of Galway for 2/3 years. Americans, while mostly very friendly were probably our least favourite people to deal with mainly down to their stinginess! They would often arrive in large groups (20+) and buy three glasses of Guinness between them. They would proceed to take up a large amount of room in the pub, sometimes for hours if there was live music, while other paying customers would leave due to the lack of space.

Fair enough, it's an expensive country but cheapskates and freeloaders píss me off.

That's not stinginess, it's the fact that Americans don't drink much and the idea of paying €3-4 for the soft drink profiteering gets them upset (rightly imho).

Frank Lee Midere

This soft drink rip off. Why are consumer protection laws not being used? Not one pub in Ireland uses a fountain.

Stojkovic

clairefontaine wrote: »

Get back to me after you do a 17 hour red eye and cross five time zones.

Only 5 time zones in 17 hours, was that in a hot air balloon?

MadsL

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

This soft drink rip off. Why are consumer protection laws not being used? Not one pub in Ireland uses a fountain.

Political influence. How many TDs are publicans or publicans in the family?

Mick Murdock

MadsL wrote: »

That's not stinginess, it's the fact that Americans don't drink much and the idea of paying €3-4 for the soft drink profiteering gets them upset (rightly imho).

You have some of the strangest logic I have ever encountered.

If they don't want to drink, what the f*ck are they doing in a pub?

It's not a public library, it's a business!

Sofiztikated

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

This soft drink rip off. Why are consumer protection laws not being used? Not one pub in Ireland uses a fountain.

While I understand what you mean, it's incorrect.

MadsL

Stojkovic wrote: »

Only 5 time zones in 17 hours, was that in a hot air balloon?

Not all flights/connections travel east west in a straight line. It can easily take 17 hours including connections to get where I live from Europe.

Stojkovic

MadsL wrote: »

Not all flights/connections travel east west in a straight line. It can easily take 17 hours including connections to get where I live from Europe.

Plenty of time during connections for you to ask somebody the time !

SV

Stojkovic wrote: »

Plenty of time during connections for you to ask somebody the time !

Or you could just wait until you get to your final destination and then find out the time.
Unless you're looking to do some simple arithmetic.

Stojkovic

SV wrote: »

Or you could just wait until you get to your final destination and then find out the time.
Unless you're looking to do some simple arithmetic.

No because you would have to know the local time at each airport or you could miss your connection. Could be very confusing for someone who cant add. Bless them.

MadsL

Stojkovic wrote: »

Plenty of time during connections for you to ask somebody the time !

SV wrote: »

Or you could just wait until you get to your final destination and then find out the time.
Unless you're looking to do some simple arithmetic.

Stojkovic wrote: »

No because you would have to know the local time at each airport or you could miss your connection. Could be very confusing for someone who cant add. Bless them.

I think you are rather missing the point here. Picking up the phone and asking for the correct local time is hardly being demanding.

Ted_YNWA

I think this thread has deviated to how to tell the time if you are a tourist travelling.

Think most of the posters here are focussing in on a small insignificant issue that is pointless to bring up in the great scheme of things.

grindle

shruikan2553 wrote: »

I wouldnt think the irish would be high maintenance. We have a habit about complaining about something to whoever w're with but would never actually tell staff.

Half true nowadays. This used to be almost universal with Irish people but the new money in the country gave many, many people notions about themselves, ideas far above anybody's station never mind their own. Mouthy yaw-yaws who think little Sebastian should be allowed to run riot in a shop and hit customers - this happened a couple of weeks ago and did the mother apologise?
Nope, she smirked at the other customer and when the other customer said "Excuse me, your child just belted me!" She replied "You shouldn't be in a kid's shop then, should you?"

Then the mother waited for that customer to leave and came up to us to spew her outrage that the customer wouldn't want to be hit by her little cum-trophy. All we could do was nod and die inside.

SV

MadsL wrote: »

I think you are rather missing the point here. Picking up the phone and asking for the correct local time is hardly being demanding.

No, I know it's not and agree with you completely.
I just think the whole argument he's trying to make is ridiculous.

Stojkovic

MadsL wrote: »

I think you are rather missing the point here. Picking up the phone and asking for the correct local time is hardly being demanding.

I never said it was.
I find it funny that someone travelling 17 hours through 5 time zones and various connections doesnt know what time it is.

mikom

Face flannels and ice............ Most yanks have a nervous breakdown if they don't have an unending supply of them on tap.
That, and guns.

Ted_YNWA

mikom wrote: »

Face flannels and ice............ Most yanks have a nervous breakdown if they don't have an unending supply of them on tap.
That, and guns.

What hotels supply guns ?

crazygeryy

Canis Lupus wrote: »

I like reading the comments section on trip advisor, especially when it's a budget hotel. Some people think you can pay a few quid for a night and then expect to be moved around the hotel on a palanquin whilst being hand fed grapes etc etc.

and today's word is PALANQUIN.

mikom

Ted_YNWA wrote: »

What hotels supply guns ?

Best Western.

IM0

no, just the ones who stay in 4 star places, the ones who dont are more likely to have their feet on the ground and live in the real world where money doesnt buy you everything

Frank Lee Midere

SV wrote: »

Or you could just wait until you get to your final destination and then find out the time.
Unless you're looking to do some simple arithmetic.

I think I can help with the 17 hour flight across 5 time zones issue. It's probably going east as flying to the US east coast won't take 17 hours. I thought it might be tricky too until I realized there is a helpful hint in the number of time zones we know are being traversed.

So. Going east is positive. There are 5 time zones. Get your watch. Move the time forward 5 hours. You're welcome.