A recent survey has highlighted the towns in the UK where visitors are likely to receive the best hotel service.
The survey was carried out by hotel.info, a company that provides a hotel booking service backed by customer reviews, and it utilised thousands of reviews in compiling the league table. Points were awarded out of 10, and in first place with a score of 8.46 came the Yorkshire town of Sheffield. The top seaside town was Torquay in Devon with 8.21 points, and the positions in between were taken by Norwich, Norfolk, in second place with 8.39 points, Leeds, Yorkshire, in third place with 8.29 points, and York, Yorkshire, in fourth place with 8.24 points.
The figures also inferred a north/south divide where quality of service was concerned, with Yorkshire towns taking 3 of the top 5 places, while London could only muster 7.36 points, which kept it at joint 22nd on the list.
A hotel.info spokesman told the Daily Mail, ‘From rats in the restaurant to cream being poured over a guest’s head, Fawlty Towers gave Torquay a less-than-positive image, as far as hotel stays go. However, nearly 40 years have passed since then and our latest service quality survey has revealed that the British seaside favourite actually makes it into fifth position for service levels nationally.’
But the picture was not so rosy when hotel service was considered at a European level, with the UK not able to figure in the top 20. Finland and Germany were joint first with 8.36 points each, Austria was third with 8.35, and Ireland managed eleventh place with 8.12 points. With 7.56 points the UK was still well behind the Netherlands, which was in twentieth place with 7.82 points.
Hotel.info also commented, ‘In comparison with mainland Europe, the UK has a lot of catching up to do.’
