The most smiles on guests' faces can be found in Slovakia (8.76 out of 10 points). Bulgaria and Poland were also able to impress with the value they place on hospitality. The current study shows a massive increase of popularity for Bulgarian hoteliers, who scored 8.70 points (compared to 8.40 in the previous year) for their home country and thus rank among the Top 5, together with Poland, which improved its rating from 8.52 to 8.67.
LONDON – A smile is worth more than a thousand words. In recent times, hoteliers in Manchester and other British cities have seemed to take that to heart once more. Their guests, at any rate, are much more satisfied with the hotel staff’s quality of service, as can be seen in a current study by the international booking portal HOTEL INFO.
When comparing the largest cities within the UK in terms of friendliness of the hotel staff, the guests chose Liverpool as the winner, with 8.38 points, followed closely by Cardiff with 8.37 points on rank 2. This is the result of more than two million guest ratings by the international booking portal HOTEL INFO. Sheffield, the previous champion, has become less popular with the booking customers and received an average of 8.36 points (previously 8.62). This result still ensures Sheffield’s remaining in the Top 3. Edinburgh too slides down (8.22 compared to 8.25 in the previous year), but stays in 5th place. Manchester increased its rating to 8.01 points and thus still ranks before London.
While the capital city remains in 10th place, the guests acknowledge that the hoteliers increased their quality of service. Consequently, the rating for London went up from 7.73 to 7.84 points and continues the trend of placing higher value on hospitality. The last one on the list is still Coventry (6.94), where booking customers were even less satisfied than in the previous year.
Top 12 UK: Friendliness and expertise of hotel staff*
(green: rated higher than last year / red: rated lower than last year)
UK no longer last in line
The most smiles on guests’ faces can be found in Slovakia (8.76 out of 10 points). Bulgaria and Poland were also able to impress with the value they place on hospitality. The current study shows a massive increase of popularity for Bulgarian hoteliers, who scored 8.70 points (compared to 8.40 in the previous year) for their home country and thus rank among the Top 5, together with Poland, which improved its rating from 8.52 to 8.67.
Last year’s Top 3, Finland, Germany and Austria, on the other hand, had to let go of their top spot. Despite receiving more points (8.61) than last year, Austria’s hoteliers slid down to rank 6. Germany’s hotels are facing less favourable ratings (down from 8.59 to 8.55) and thus have to be content with rank 7. The previous champion Finland (8.44) lost even more of its popularity in the friendliness rating and can now be found in 12th place.
Booking customers also were increasingly unhappy with French hoteliers (7.98 compared to last year’s 8.16). France now ranks just behind Norway, in 21th place. When travelling in the United Kingdom, travellers apparently did not come across the stereotypical British politeness, which is evident from a mere 7.95 points in this rating. However, the UK is no longer the bottom-placed nation – Denmark with 7.75 points fared the least well in Europe.
Top 20 country in Europe compared to the previous year*
(green: rated higher than last year / red: rated lower than last year)
*Guests will rate their hotel on hotel.info after their departure using a point system (0 to 10). Apart from criteria such as room quality and value for money, other services, such as the friendliness and expertise of the staff, can be rated there. Ratings are rounded to two decimal places.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
