LONDON
– From rats in the restaurant to cream being poured over a guest’s
head, Fawlty
Towersgave Torquay a
less-than-positive image, as far as hotel stays go. However, nearly
40 years have passed since the ‘English Riviera’ was last in the
hotel limelight, and the latest Service Quality Survey compiled by
online reservation service hotel.info has
revealed that the British seaside favourite actually makes it into
fifth position for service levels nationally.
The survey analysed the post-stay reviews of over 25,700 hotel guests to reveal the best and worst service levels across the UK based on friendliness and staff competence. Sheffield tops the UK list, with an average service rating of 8.46, followed by Norwich (8.39), Leeds (8.29), York (8.24) and Torquay (8.21) who make up the rest of the top five. Of the UK capital cities, London scored worst, with an average rating of just 7.36, compared with Belfast (8.17), Edinburgh (8) and Cardiff (7.89).
Top 25 UK Cities for Service:
The survey analysed the post-stay reviews of over 25,700 hotel guests to reveal the best and worst service levels across the UK based on friendliness and staff competence. Sheffield tops the UK list, with an average service rating of 8.46, followed by Norwich (8.39), Leeds (8.29), York (8.24) and Torquay (8.21) who make up the rest of the top five. Of the UK capital cities, London scored worst, with an average rating of just 7.36, compared with Belfast (8.17), Edinburgh (8) and Cardiff (7.89).
Top 25 UK Cities for Service:
|
RANK |
CITY |
SCORE (OUT OF 10) |
|
1
|
Sheffield
|
8.46
|
|
2
|
Norwich
|
8.39
|
|
3
|
Leeds
|
8.29
|
|
4
|
York
|
8.24
|
|
5
|
Torquay
|
8.21
|
|
6
|
Belfast
|
8.17
|
|
7
|
Edinburgh
|
8.00
|
|
8
|
Newcastle
|
7.90
|
|
=
|
Bath
|
7.90
|
|
10
|
Cardiff
|
7.89
|
|
=
|
Glasgow
|
7.89
|
|
12
|
Liverpool
|
7.87
|
|
13
|
Aberdeen
|
7.82
|
|
14
|
Cambridge
|
7.75
|
|
15
|
Oxford
|
7.74
|
|
16
|
Manchester
|
7.69
|
|
17
|
Southampton
|
7.63
|
|
18
|
Nottingham
|
7.53
|
|
19
|
Portsmouth
|
7.50
|
|
20
|
Brighton
|
7.42
|
|
21
|
Birmingham
|
7.41
|
|
22
|
Plymouth
|
7.36
|
|
=
|
London
|
7.36
|
|
24
|
Leicester
|
7.29
|
|
25
|
Bristol
|
7.09
|
The top 20 countries in Europe: friendliness and competence of the hotel personnel
|
RANK |
CITY |
SCORE (OUT OF 10) |
|
1
|
Finland
|
8.36
|
|
2
|
Germany
|
8.36
|
|
3
|
Austria
|
8.35
|
|
4
|
Hungary
|
8.31
|
|
5
|
Poland
|
8.27
|
|
6
|
Switzerland
|
8.26
|
|
7
|
Portugal
|
8.24
|
|
8
|
Croatia
|
8.23
|
|
9
|
Slovakia
|
8.20
|
|
10
|
Sweden
|
8.18
|
|
11
|
Bulgaria
|
8.17
|
|
12
|
Romania
|
8.14
|
|
13
|
Ireland
|
8.12
|
|
14
|
Italy
|
8.11
|
|
15
|
Czech
Republic
|
8.08
|
|
16
|
Greece
|
8.02
|
|
17
|
Turkey
|
7.94
|
|
18
|
Spain
|
7.93
|
|
19
|
France
|
7.92
|
|
20
|
Netherlands
|
7.82
|
Top quality service in hotels in Finland!
In the European comparison between countries Finland and Germany came top with 8.36 points each. Overnight guests showed themselves to be particularly satisfied with the friendliness and competence of the hotel staff. The alpine country of Austria also earned praise for its good level of service quality. Portugal was in the centre of the country listing whereas Spain with an average of 7.93 points was in 18th place.
The Netherlands with only 7.82 points came bottom of the list of the European top 20. Even more room for improvement amongst hotel personnel was identified in Russia (7.69), Denmark (7.68) and the United Kingdom (7.56).
