UK travel boom leads to surge in complaints and abuse, with hospitality staff at ‘breaking point’

Staff in tourism hot spots are pleading for patience from the public

Holidaymakers on the beach in Cornwall in summer 2021 (Hugh Hastings/Getty Images)

This year’s rise in UK travel bookings has turned sour as hospitality workers report an increase in staff abuse and angry TripAdvisor reviews from impatient holidaymakers.

Many British travellers are opting to staycation to avoid confusing international travel guidelines and expensive PCR tests demanded by the government.

But the hospitality sector has struggled to meet demand for domestic breaks and holidays, as staff shortages clash with a jump in domestic travel bookings of around 300 per cent.

This bank holiday weekend, social media was flooded with posts from hotel, bar and restaurant staff urging the public to ‘#BeKind’ and remember that travel will be different this year.

As the British summer season draws to a close, hospitality staff have also spoken out about a barrage of complaints from “impatient” visitors and “Tripadvisor warriors”.

Local businesses have found that visitors are “more demanding and even abusive when they can’t get a table in a restaurant or have unrealistic expectations of service,” Susan Briggs of North Yorkshire’s Tourism Network told The Guardian.

One cafe in Fowey, Cornwall, hit back at the surge in TripAdvisor complaints, in a Facebook post that went viral in May.

Owner Tania Daniel suggested that staff were leaving the hospitality industry due to the increased pressure and customer complaints.

“Fowey, very much like the rest of Cornwall, is buckling under the strain from visitors. The hospitality industry is struggling with a severe lack of staff... This is because people are changing professions for the sake of their mental health. What happened to be kind?” said the post, which garnered 4,200 likes and 618 comments.

The BBC reported multiple cases of hotel and restaurant workers in Cornwall being sworn at or threatened with violence by customers this summer season.

Emily Gimblett, a waitress from Newquay, said: "I have never seen it this busy, it is ridiculous... The amount of staff we have can’t cope with the influx.”

She said she had “reached breaking point”.

Dean Banks, star chef at The Pompadour in Edinburgh, said: “Mental health is a very big problem among workers in our industry at the moment”.

“Some people are struggling with getting out of bed to face each day, that is a story we are hearing a lot,” he told the Glasgow Reporter earlier this month.

“Some people are having to take sick days over mental health, others are having to self- isolate due to being pinged – although we haven’t had a single positive case, we still suffer from the isolations.”

The Radisson RED’s ‘Be Kind to Hospitality’ campaign launched in May, led by the brand’s Graham Chalmers.

The group behind the campaign renewed its calls for patience and understanding this month.

“The entire hospitality industry is facing a crippling crisis right now - in fact more than one,” said Chalmers.

“The staff shortage is becoming impossible to navigate. So many businesses are suffering badly at the hands of the so-called pingdemic, with numerous staff isolating each week.

“They are really up against it and doing their absolute best in very difficult circumstances.”