Surveys
Of all the increased airport security measures, it seems one of the most irritating to the most people is... taking our shoes off? A 2010 poll of Americans found that removing footwear to go through the scanners was the most unpopular part of flying - even more so than pat-downs, liquid regulations, queues or full body scans. Though of course, those rated highly, too.
Those construction works, back-to-back sun-loungers and unscrubbed tubs weren't in the hotel pictures. Come to mention it, where are the fresh flowers, empty pools and scantily clad totty that were? Yes, the second most annoying thing on holiday, according to our MSN Travel poll, is misleading pictures of the places we are to stay in.
Ah yes, the humble towel. A notorious territorial marker if ever there was one. Reserving the best sun-loungers with a strategically placed towel is a habit that vexes no less than two out of three holidaymakers, according to a poll by travel agent www.sunshine.co.uk. Although it topped the list of holiday headaches in that poll, interestingly enough only 11% of respondents in our MSN poll listed this as their biggest travel irritant.
A hairy plughole, toilet-ashtray, yellow sink and grey towels: it seems there aren't many things more shudderingly off-putting in a hotel. Unclean bathrooms topped an American Express survey into travel hates, just ahead of uncomfortable beds and bad smells.
Bank fees for using cards abroad, mobile phone charges, baggage fees, pre-boarding passes, hotel parking tariffs and wi-fi rip-offs, sneaky restaurant seating charges, etc, etc... we could fill this whole list individually with all the ancillary cash snatches that make your blood boil. Recent surveys by Orbitz, Post Office Travel Money, the Economist, IBM, Hotels.com and our own MSN poll all confirm our blistering hatred for hidden fees.
Inevitable, really. Unless you're a vampire, allergic to the sun or have a penchant for wetsuits, chances are the weather can make or break your holiday. It's hardly surprising then that one TripAdvisor holiday travel survey listed inclement weather as the second-biggest travel irritant of all
Standard rates, schmandard rates. When it comes to hotel rates and airfares, it seems there is no longer any such thing. And it bugs us. A 2011 Orbitz survey found that 62% of us find yo-yoing prices to be one of the worst things about travel today, as opposed to 10 years ago. Worst hit are parents of school-age kids, who have to stomach up to 50% price hikes in half term.
How many times have you stumbled out of an attraction feeling peckish and risked a meal in one of the tourist trap restaurants outside? According to a survey by toptable, most of us have... and 60% have regretted it, thanks to bad food, worse service and outrageous prices.
Honestly. Why bother paying to travel half way round the world, if you're going to keep running into Brits? Several studies have labelled Britons as some of the world's worst holidaymakers, on account of their heavy drinking, lack of linguistic skills and cultural sensitivity. In one study of British holidaymakers, 63% of respondents agreed with the statement, "I'm fed up with beer bellies and Union Jack T-shirts on holiday."
Bet you never expected this one! Yes, delays at the airport - and equally the inevitable lack of information about them - have a funny way of narking off a few travellers. So much so that this complaint made the Telegraph 100 most annoying things ever poll, and topped several other travel surveys by Orbitz, TripAdviser and Skyscanner, too
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Posted - 15 Aug 2011 : 11:06:52
