Just under one in five holidaymakers has faced some kind of intimidation when making a complaint about their holiday, according to a report by consumer holiday watchdog HolidayTravelWatch.
Its inaugural Holiday Standards Report, which questioned the views and experiences of 2,500 people, found that 19% said they had been intimidated – either verbally or physically – when they had tried to make a complaint.
"HolidayTravelWatch has heard about holidaymakers being intimidated when making complaints for years," said Frank Brehany, consumer director at HolidayTravelWatch.
"Threats have ranged from verbal aggression, rooms being searched for ‘evidence’, being shadowed by security, to physical threats or threats of being arrested."
The report found that despite 31% of Brits believing holiday standards have dropped in the last 20 years, 22% don’t complain.
Almost a third (30%) say they aren’t confident they will get a resolution, while 27% say they don’t raise the issue due to a lack of confidence.
Some 19% find the process of complaining properly to be too complicated and tricky, so don’t bother, while 17% say they’ve complained in the past and had got no or little recompense, so had given up.
The survey was carried out independently by Atomik research from February 26 to March 4 this year.
