Lapland New Forest - Summer Covid Edition

[elbows]

An entire summer of everyone remembering why they don't take holidays in the UK. So much of UK hospitality is just terrible. Hotels full of petty rules and staff who think the concept of customer service is a nasty american import which should be pushed back against.

Step 3 of the roadmap should have been precluded by mandatory viewing of repeats of Fawlty Towers. Or Holiday on the Buses. Hi-de-Hi was considered a step too far by members of the SAGE behavioural group.

 

[Teaboy]

Quite right too - customers need to be kept on their toes as they're usually wrong.

Right and wrong are irrelevant. No one ever won an argument with a customer.

I enjoy reading the reviews on trip advisor. So many expensive hotels in the UK that are utter garbage.

 

[NoXion]

The last time I went on a proper holiday, I was staying in the UK. Me and a friend who came along had a great time. The hotel was clean and looked very pretty, the service was excellent, the bed was probably the most comfy one I've ever slept in, and I had an excellent breakfast. The only problem I had is that I couldn't book more nights than I did.

I think people are just staying at the wrong places. Like Britannia Hotels.

 

[TopCat]

Chessington pays next to fuck all. Zero hours. No wonder they have fuck all staff.

 

[NoXion]

A lot of places offering shitty wages and conditions seem to be having trouble finding enough staff.

Good.

 

[TopCat]

Fuck chessington in its eye.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

An entire summer of everyone remembering why they don't take holidays in the UK. So much of UK hospitality is just terrible. Hotels full of petty rules and staff who think the concept of customer service is a nasty american import which should be pushed back against.

 

[elbows]

Step 3 of the roadmap should have been precluded by mandatory viewing of repeats of Fawlty Towers. Or Holiday on the Buses. Hi-de-Hi was considered a step too far by members of the SAGE behavioural group.

Bah I missed the chance to make terrible Ted Bovis-19 and Spike 'protein' Dixon jokes. Now I will never win the knobbly covid competition.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

A lot of places offering shitty wages and conditions seem to be having trouble finding enough staff.

Good.

Mainly Covid, but also some Brexit, yet some people seem to think this is a bad thing about Brexit.

 

[NoXion]

Mainly Covid, but also some Brexit, yet some people seem to think this is a bad thing about Brexit.

It seems to be happening a fair amount in the US too.

 

[miss direct]

Lots of Alton Towers reports like this too. Was thinking of going, changed my mind now.

 

[cybershot]

The grand is Scarborough is anything but. Looks pretty on the outside but it’s literally like the shining inside. I’m amazed it’s still open. Britannia just sucking the life out of it. In dire need of renovation.

 

[miss direct]

Oh Britannia hotels? I stayed in the Birmingham once. £29 a night and right in the centre, but yes, it was rather nasty. The person in the next room shouted through the wall that they were going to find me and stab me. So I moved rooms.

 

[Badgers]

Oh Britannia hotels? I stayed in the Birmingham once. £29 a night and right in the centre, but yes, it was rather nasty. The person in the next room shouted through the wall that they were going to find me and stab me. So I moved rooms.

Did you get their phone number?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

It seems to be happening a fair amount in the US too.

In France, Spain, Portugal etc. an'all.

 

[Pickman's model]

Step 3 of the roadmap should have been precluded by mandatory viewing of repeats of Fawlty Towers. Or Holiday on the Buses. Hi-de-Hi was considered a step too far by members of the SAGE behavioural group.

and oh dr beeching has been sealed in concrete and buried at the bottom of the mariana trench

 

[kenny g]

An entire summer of everyone remembering why they don't take holidays in the UK. So much of UK hospitality is just terrible. Hotels full of petty rules and staff who think the concept of customer service is a nasty american import which should be pushed back against.

Although, I suppose post Brexit there will be fewer Spanish waiters.

 

[Artaxerxes]

An entire summer of everyone remembering why they don't take holidays in the UK. So much of UK hospitality is just terrible. Hotels full of petty rules and staff who think the concept of customer service is a nasty american import which should be pushed back against.

Mostly it's the expense and lack of public transport (or the expensive public transport, best part of a tenner for a return bus at uncertain times? Fuck off)

 

[kenny g]

Mostly it's the expense and lack of public transport (or the expensive public transport, best part of a tenner for a return bus at uncertain times? Fuck off)

Heading to Lands End in August for a week.it isn't that expensive to read a book on a beach and go for an occasional swim in the bracing waters plus explore the pre and not so pre historic sites (very admittedly not relying on buses) before meandering around some village or other.

Couple of years ago, after a nine mile coastal meander we did stop off in a St Austell tied public house in Tring. £50 lighter, watered, ice creamed but unfed the taxi at £15 seemed a bargain. There must be some families spending up to 400 squid a day on food, water and general crap over there. The locals know that once the October mists set in few tourists arrive and with lock downs there is a lot of catching up to do. Charging £1 a pint of milk is nothing to these folk. They see it as their birth right.

Main problem in previous visit was a boring as fuck late middle aged couple who apparently thought in that very English way that they had cultural ownership over an idyllic near deserted cove due to their detailed viewing of Poldark. As Mr Twat surveyed my family and me with his internal race and snob o meter, Mrs Twat adopted that bizarre form of slow, clear, firm and fair English that is used with the perceived foreign who are assumed to be mostly harmless but with the potential to become recalcitrant toddlers. In response to my statement that I was aware of Poldark but had never watched it I witnessed cultural chasms erupt. The statement that we were from London only going someway to explain our apparent barbarism. Look forwards to these types being vastly outnumbered by wild camping hordes in 2021. Cannot wait!

 

[platinumsage]

Flamingo Land trip ruined as family forced to 'barge through crowds'

The family had travelled from Nottingham to Pickering for a holiday over half-term

www.examinerlive.co.uk

“I'm a marketing and customer service manager so I know what I'm talking about”

This one has received widespread coverage:

Families vow not to return to Flamingo Land after 'awful' visits

Excessive crowds, queuing and dirty conditions are to blame

www.hulldailymail.co.uk

"It was just a free for all, with way too many people and not enough staff to organise it." He said they queued for 90 minutes to get into the park when everyone had pre-paid online tickets, and then had to queue for half an hour for toilets, and another hour for food. "The restaurants that where supposed to be open were shut, long waits for rides for them to break down then not given a fast pass to save you queuing again, toilets dirty all day, no rides sprayed or cleaned at all. "Some rides were shut, which we knew beforehand. But we never even managed to get on one ride with break-downs and queuing, so we gave up and went home in the end."

Mum slams Flamingo Land over two-hour queues and overflowing bins

She said their day was spoiled by a lack of Covid safety measures, overflowing bins and long queues for rides

www.hulldailymail.co.uk

Lindsay's youngest son queued for around one-hour to go on the dinosaur rollercoaster but as he got halfway around the ride, it broke down. The mum also told of the lengthy wait time for attractions. She said: "We queued for Mumbo Jumbo for two hours for a 30 second ride.

...however no mention of flamingoes or lack thereof.

 

[kenny g]

This one has received widespread coverage:

Families vow not to return to Flamingo Land after 'awful' visits

Excessive crowds, queuing and dirty conditions are to blame

www.hulldailymail.co.uk

"It was just a free for all, with way too many people and not enough staff to organise it." He said they queued for 90 minutes to get into the park when everyone had pre-paid online tickets, and then had to queue for half an hour for toilets, and another hour for food. "The restaurants that where supposed to be open were shut, long waits for rides for them to break down then not given a fast pass to save you queuing again, toilets dirty all day, no rides sprayed or cleaned at all. "Some rides were shut, which we knew beforehand. But we never even managed to get on one ride with break-downs and queuing, so we gave up and went home in the end."

Mum slams Flamingo Land over two-hour queues and overflowing bins

She said their day was spoiled by a lack of Covid safety measures, overflowing bins and long queues for rides

www.hulldailymail.co.uk

Lindsay's youngest son queued for around one-hour to go on the dinosaur rollercoaster but as he got halfway around the ride, it broke down. The mum also told of the lengthy wait time for attractions. She said: "We queued for Mumbo Jumbo for two hours for a 30 second ride.

...however no mention of flamingoes or lack thereof.

I don't know why mini riots don't erupt in these situations.

 

[neonwilderness]

Hooligans and dangerous parking on Derbyshire 'day of shame'

27 fixed penalty notices were given out

www.derbytelegraph.co.uk

Police said the events mirrored the chaotic scenes of famous ITV comedy show "Benidorm".

Officers from the Etwall, Hatton and Hilton Safer Neighbourhood Team said on their Facebook page: "Concentrated into a dystopian four-mile geographic radius around Foremark Reservoir, located near Ticknall, hundreds of excursionists and sightseers - armed with crates of lager, barbecues and giant inflatable dinghies – descended for what soon became a day of shame."

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Hooligans and dangerous parking on Derbyshire 'day of shame'

27 fixed penalty notices were given out

www.derbytelegraph.co.uk

A fine entry that one... "a dystopian four-mile geographic radius"

 

[cybershot]

Hooligans and dangerous parking on Derbyshire 'day of shame'

27 fixed penalty notices were given out

www.derbytelegraph.co.uk

I feel their pain. The local water park here got descended onto on Sunday and litter was left everywhere. Wildlife caught up in plastic and all sorts to greet the rangers on Monday morning. Local volunteers called upon to clear up the mess left behind

 

[kenny g]

A fine entry that one... "a dystopian four-mile geographic radius"

The article is perfect on so many levels. The police appear to be able to make up punishment on the hoof over there as well:

Shockingly, police said a number of motorists - described as "bare-chested hooligans" - terrified homeowners on Repton Road by blocking their driveways with cars and left litter on their gardens.

The motorists were identified and were told by police to do a litter pick as a punishment which had left them "red-faced".

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

The article is perfect on so many levels. The police appear to be able to make up punishment on the hoof over there as well:

tbf
littering is an offence

 

[moomoo]

'Prison would've been nicer' says woman after horror stay at Pontins

A Yorkshire couple who stayed at a holiday park in Wales said it makes The Grand Hotel in Scarborough look luxurious

www.examinerlive.co.uk

 

[neonwilderness]

'Prison would've been nicer' says woman after horror stay at Pontins

A Yorkshire couple who stayed at a holiday park in Wales said it makes The Grand Hotel in Scarborough look luxurious

www.examinerlive.co.uk

I've just posted this on the Pontins thread

 

[moomoo]

I've just posted this on the Pontins thread

I thought about that as I was posting it.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I've just posted this on the Pontins thread

Yeah, you posted, just as I was copying it over there too.

Anyway, good to see normal service at Pontins has resumed.