ANYONE who visited the British Travel Trade Fair in Birmingham last month will have had the opportunity to experience the worst of UK hotelkeeping.
The offending bedroom was a hotel inspector’s worst nightmare. It had a stained carpet, torn curtains and a tatty, worn towel, not to mention the black-lined soap bar and electric kettle which looked a fire hazard.
The hotelier had seen fit to provide tea and coffee in the room, but the tray was grubby, the mugs were chipped and some half-open containers of milk had been left on it.
A wobbly bed supported by, ironically enough, a book on the subject of bacteria, provided the finishing touch.
Thankfully, the room in question was part of an exhibit and not something that delegates had to suffer first-hand. The mock-up room, part of a stand promoting the new Harmonised Quality Standards operated by the English Tourist Board, AA and RAC, highlighted in one setting all the vices of a truly bad hotel.
Representatives of the three organisations assured visitors to the stand that the bedroom brought together all the worst offences seen by hotel inspectors on their travels.
To show BTTF delegates what they should look for in a good-quality hotel, a mock-up of the hotel inspectors’ dream bedroom was also on show. The grubby sheets were replaced by a crisp, clean duvet, wooden hangers replaced the bent wire ones, and fresh flowers were put in place of plastic plants. The decor exuded quality and cleanliness. AA Hotel Services chief inspector David Young said hoteliers were not expected to provide every single item in the dream room in their bedrooms, but the mock-up gave an indication of what was expected under the new standards regime.
What could not be put on display is the expected level of service, and warmth of welcome is a priority.
However, Young says inspectors take into account the fact that staff can have an off-day. But they are trained to deal with what is a one-off situation and what is an endemic problem in a hotel.