Sometimes you go on vacation and things just go wrong. Maybe the credit card you planned to use the most during your trip keeps getting denied. Or perhaps you lost the weather lottery and it rained every day. Or maybe you got a hotel that was nothing like how it was described online.
All of those are reasonable complaints (OK, maybe you could have done more homework on that last one). But sometimes people will complain about stuff and you kind of wonder how they even get through life, y’know?
These were genuine complaints that travelers have said on surveys, Reddit, and in one-star reviews on Yelp and Tripadvisor. Let the #rolleyes roll…
- “It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It took the Americans only three hours to get home. This seems unfair.” (Geography, meet tourists. Tourist, meet geography)
- “The restaurant said ‘children eat free’ but my 19-year-old daughter still got charged for her meal.” (that poor 19-year-old)
- “Unless you find big caves and rocks overwhelmingly fascinating, skip this.” (Well, I happen to love caves. Always have. Especially haunted caves. But if you don’t have any interest in caves, WHY DID YOU GO TO A CAVE???)
- “We couldn’t enjoy the tour because our guide was too ugly.” (What? Really? WHO SAYS SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!?!?!)
- “There was no milk in my tea. They brought me a separate jug of it. Who does that?” (Ummm, just a shot in the dark, but anyone who doesn’t know exactly how much milk you prefer in your tea?)
- “I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local convenience store does not sell proper biscuits (U.K. for “cookies”) like custard creams or ginger nuts.” (Obviously a case of “The world should run around me and what I like and am used to”)
- “We had to line up outside to catch the boat and there was no air conditioning.” (re-read that one. They’re complaining because they were outside and there was no A/C. Really? Really?)
- “No one told us there would be fish in the water. The children were scared.” (Granted, we don’t know the context of this one. If there were sharks in the swimming pool and it wasn’t mentioned on the hotel’s website, that would be one thing. But if it was the ocean or even a lake, well…)
- “The beach was too sandy. We had to clean everything when we got back to our room.” (How did they never get a ‘light bulb moment’ about this? That’s how beaches work, Karen [with all due respect to anyone reading this whose name is Karen])
- “I was bitten by a mosquito. The brochure didn’t say there were mosquitoes there.” (Sorry, but most brochures don’t mention about the possibility of mosquitoes [or ants])
- “There were too many Spanish people there. The receptionist spoke Spanish, the food was Spanish. No one told me there would be so many foreigners.” (Unfortunately, this seems to be a common trend that goes up there with foreign visitors complaining that whichever country doesn’t use ‘real’ [read: their] money.)
- “My fiance and I requested twin beds but were given a king bed instead. We want to be reimbursed due to the fact that I became pregnant.” (Sweetie, that had nothing to do with what kind of bed you got)
- “There are bugs and stuff, and they will bite you on your face.” (This was a 1 star review for the Sequoia National Park. Nothing about the trees. Just that they apparently didn’t bring bug spray)
- “We bought Ray-Ban sunglasses for $5 from a guy on the street, only to find out they were fake.” (Surprise!)
- “There was no sign telling you that you shouldn’t get in a hot air balloon if you’re afraid of heights.” (again…surprise!)
- “The water tasted funny so I had to drink cocktails all week. Now I can’t remember half of my vacation.” (Do they know some people would LOVE a vacation like that? 😉 If not, hello…there’s an invention called bottled water nowadays)
- “We booked an excursion to a water park but nobody told us we had to bring our own bathing suits.” (Joe and I have been to a lot of places…hotels with amazing pools, the best waterpark in the world, and what was probably the most interesting Japanese bath house we’ve ever seen. And NONE of them provided the bathing suits)
- “Worst hot dog ever!” (If someone was talking about Nathan’s in Coney Island, or Portillo’s in Chicago, you might think the person was a little off. But what was this one star review for? The Eiffel Tower)
- “My plane journey was a disappointment as the sky was too cloudy, obstructing my children’s view of the sea and ruining our game of eye-spy.” (Wait, you didn’t put in a request for what the weather would be like when you were on your plane?)
- I saved the best for last. This one-star review about a mountain people ski on was used by the mountain in their advertising: “I’ve heard Snowbird is a tough mountain, but this is ridiculous. It felt like every trail was a steep chute or littered with tree wells. How is anyone supposed to ride in that? Not fun!” I’m sure Snowbird has earned a fortune thanks to this guy!

PC: Reddit/rightcoastguy
Feature Photo: https://www.maxpixel.net/
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
3 comments
The Eiffel Tower complaint was my favorite.
To funny. After 28 years in the global tourism industry I’ve always spoken about the “3% Rule” on our guests. That up to 3% of all guests or patrons in the tourism, travel or hospitality industry – no matter where in the world or type of offering you have – can be unhappy, complain or bring their bad attitude into the experience.
They can negatively impact the trip for others and certainly themselves. The best thing tourism professionals can do is try to keep them happy, don’t take it personally when they complain ( they usually live their love this way) and do your best to not let them negatively impact others.
And when they do make negative reviews, ( if it’s warranted, admit it and do you best to make make it right). If it’s just them being their negative ( often misinformed self) do not be snitty or rude in your reply.
Smart travel consumers should be able to read the many other positive reviews and realize that your service and experience is good, and the problem guests was just a pain.
Tourism professionals, you are asking and getting lots of positive reviews aren’t you? If you aren’t you have no reasonable ammunition to negative or stupid reviews from guests.
Reviews matter to convert lookers into bookers.
Hope this is helpful to travel professionals and consumers.
Sincerely, “Tourism Tim Warren”
Laugh it you will but this is a true story. The one that complained about getting twin beds and got the king (she became pregnant)?
SHE SUED AND WON.