Have you ever gone on a vacation and things not go perfectly? It’s happened to all of us, believe me. Sometimes the weather doesn’t cooperate, or if you’re traveling with children, your children get sick or have a miserable time for some other reason. Occasionally, a vacation can be ruined by a family fight or travel plans gone awry. Can you imagine missing a plane or a cruise ship and ruining your vacation? It happens all the time. However, there are definitely valid travel complaints that people can sympathize with. Some folks, however, have complaints that are so ridiculous they’re nearly unbelievable. The list of 20 holiday complaints below was compiled by Thomas Cook, a travel industry expert, for the ABTA. Enjoy!
1. “I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts.”
2. “We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our swimming costumes and towels.”
3. “The beach was too sandy.”
4. “On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don’t like spicy food at all.”
5. A tourist at a top African Game Lodge overlooking a water hole, who spotted a visibly aroused elephant, complained that the sight of this rampant beast ruined his honeymoon by making him feel “inadequate”.
6. “It’s lazy of the local shopkeepers to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during ‘siesta’ time – this should be banned.”
7. A woman threatened to call police after claiming that she’d been locked in by staff. When in fact, she had mistaken the “do not disturb” sign on the back of the door as a warning to remain in the room.
8. “We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as yellow but it was white.”
9. A guest at a Novotel in Australia complained his soup was too thick and strong. He was inadvertently slurping the gravy at the time.
10. “We bought ‘Ray-Ban’ sunglasses for five Euros from a street trader, only to find out they were fake.”
11. “Topless sunbathing on the beach should be banned. The holiday was ruined, as my husband spent all day looking at other women.”
12. “No-one told us there would be fish in the sea. The children were startled.”
13. “It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It only took the Americans three hours to get home.”
14. “I compared the size of our one-bedroom apartment to our friends’ three-bedroom apartment and ours was significantly smaller.”
15. “I was bitten by a mosquito. No one said they could bite.”
16. “The brochure stated: ‘No hairdressers at the accommodation’. We’re trainee hairdressers – will we be OK staying there?”
17. “There are too many Spanish people. The receptionist speaks Spanish. The food is Spanish. Too many foreigners now live abroad.”
18. “My fiancé and I booked a twin-bedded room but we were placed in a double-bedded room. We now hold you responsible for the fact that I find myself pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked.”
19. “We had to queue outside with no air conditioning.”
20. “It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel.”
