MADRID – There are of course different opinions about how someone should behave in a hotel and to some extent this is also subjective. Some adhere more to etiquette than others. However, there are always a few basic rules that everyone should abide by.
The Jetcost search engine for flights and hotels conducted a study among Europeans. The survey was about their holidays and their behaviour in hotels. This is the context of climate change and the new package of energy-saving measures that the Spanish government has also imposed on the tourism sector. 90% of those surveyed admit that they have broken one of the hotel rules or that their behaviour is not always entirely correct.
The 14 Deadly Sins of Europeans in Hotels
A total of 2,500 people over the age of 18 were surveyed for the study. 87% of them indicated that they would stay in a hotel during this holiday. They were then asked whether their behaviour in those establishments was completely correct. Or, moreover, whether they had ever done something that violated the rules.
Of the behaviours that were not quite correct, these were the most frequently mentioned:
- Fill plates to the brim at the buffet and then don’t eat everything (81%).
- Leave the air conditioning on all day, even if you are not in the room (71%).
- Grab food from the buffet, even though it says it’s forbidden (65%).
- Throw towels on the floor every day to let the cleaners change them (58%).
- Leave the towel on the sun lounger by the pool all day (56%).
- Put the “provisions” that are not used in the suitcase so that they are replaced again (bottles of shampoo, soaps, etc.)
- Smoking by the window of a non-smoking room (40%).
- Organise a party in the room with very loud music (38%).
- Keep toilet paper in the cupboard so that it is replenished (26%).
- Swimming in the pool before or after closing time (23%).
- Empty bottles from the minibar and then fill them with water or juice, so that they do not have to be paid (18%).
- Ask to clean the room after having left the do not disturb sign (17%).
- Let someone else sleep in the room (4%).
- Pretending to be on a honeymoon to try and get a better room or an upgrade (3%).
“We can finally travel without restrictions due to the coronavirus, but that does not mean that we can do what we want in the hotel where we are staying. There are rules that we have to abide by and we have to behave properly, both towards hotel staff and other guests, and not just thinking about our well-being,” said Ignazio Ciarmoli, Marketing Director of Jetcost in response to the survey.
