Eighty-eight per cent of tourists would not return to the same hotel where they had contracted an illness or had an accident, according to an independent survey of over 2,000 holidaymakers by Opinion Matters.

Mark Harrington, CEO at Check Safety First, which commissioned the research, warns UK hoteliers that they are jeopardising future revenues by ignoring health and safety matters: “UK hotels may be benefiting from the ‘staycation’ phenomenon this year, but will struggle to maintain repeat business when the economy recovers if they don’t take the wellbeing of their guests seriously.”

The research cited poor hotel accommodation as being the thing that would spoil a holiday for most consumers (58 per cent), followed closely by bad weather. Survey respondents were asked to rank their reasons, with food poisoning coming fourth, named by 43 per cent of consumers.

The researchers also quizzed consumers on their perception of resorts worldwide. Unsurprisingly, given nationwide panic surrounding swine flu, Mexico was perceived by less than two per cent of consumers as having the highest health and safety standards.

“On the contrary, Mexico is consistently one of our top three performing territories when audited for hygiene and safety, alongside Egypt and Spain,” comments Harrington. The survey also showed that over half of respondents don’t fully understand what the star system covers when booking their holiday accommodation.

“It’s worrying that many tourists are still confused about what the star system measures. Hoteliers should bear this in mind so they don’t drive away repeat business because guests don’t get the kind of experience they expected at their chosen hotel,” said Harrington.  

Check Safety First works with UK hotels, advising on health and safety best practice and helping ensure that the highest standards are established and maintained. Once a hotel has successfully demonstrated and maintained a high standard of health and safety using Check Safety First’s E-Cristal system it will be listed on the consumer website www.checksafetyfirst.com.