Anyone who has seen the comedy series Fawlty Towers will know how hilarious a hotel complaint can turn out to be, such as when Basil has to deal with a woman complaining about the lack of a sea view and remarks: “Madam, you can see the sea, it’s over there between the land and the sky”. While that series was fictional, real life often throws up even funnier moments, particularly when it comes to hotel complaints. Believe it or not, the following are all absolutely genuine.
For example, A man asked for a discount because his dog had not enjoyed the stay. And that wasn’t the strangest discount request – one man requested money back from the hotel because he had been kept awake by someone snoring. However, the noisy sleeper in question was his girlfriend. Other bed-related issues include the sheets being too white and the mother of the groom not being allowed to sleep in the honeymoon suite. Seaside hotels suffer too. Among the extraordinary gripes was that the sea was too blue, while some complaints about the lack of a sea view were even more bizarre than those encountered at Mr Fawlty’s Torquay hotel. This was certainly true when the gripe was aired in the Mayfair area of London.
Eating is also a fraught business. A fly in the soup or dirty cutlery is one matter, but complaints have also included the absence of steak on a vegetarian menu, the ice cream being too cold and the waiter being too handsome. There have been some funny requests as well: One curious request was for a glass of water on the hour, every hour, through the night. It begs the question of why they didn’t simply ask for one very large jug. And why water, when an all-nighter usually requires coffee? Someone actually wanted no less than 15 cucumbers. It must have been some salad.
The bathroom has seen some particularly odd requests too, including a bath of chocolate milk and having the toilet filled with mineral water. All of this goes to show that guests sometimes have some very strange ideas when visiting hotels.
