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UK hotel staff struggle to make the grade when rated for friendliness and expertise, a new poll shows.
British hotels failed to appear in the top 20 in analysis of more than six million customer reviews carried out by international booking portal Hotel Info.
Finland topped the European hotel staff friendliness chart with a score of 8.62 out of 10, followed by Germany, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia.
Among the worst performers was Denmark (7.98), while the UK tied with Russia with a score of 7.92.
Ireland was in 12th position with Greece 16th, Spain 17th, France 18th and Turkey in 20th place.
“Despite the fact that these countries are at the bottom of the table their hotels are nonetheless evaluated relatively positively by their guests.
“However, if the traveller is expecting the legendary British politeness the actual result is less than satisfactory,” German company Hotel Info said.
Sheffield hotel staff proved to be the most competent in a breakdown of UK cities, although London was down in 12th place.
“Some cities are able to save the good reputation of British politeness. In a comparison of the largest cities in the UK, particularly the hotel personnel in Sheffield (8.62) score well for friendliness and willingness to assist their guests,” the company said.
“Leeds (8.41) was voted into second place by the customers. Up to the 7th place – Glasgow with 8.18 points – all the evaluations are very positive.
“However, the two largest cities do not exactly shine in respect of the quality of their service.
“Coventry (7.38) was even worse than London (7.73) and Birmingham (7.66) in respect of friendliness. It is possible that some guests here would even welcome the first hotel run by robots.”
Hotel Info added: “Hoteliers have realised that a friendly smile is more effective than a thousand words – and often means that minor complaints are forgotten by the guests. Thus a friendly and competent staff has become one of the most important criteria in evaluating a hotel.”