Simon

Although I appreciate that a disaster makes more interesting reading, why do people always concentrate on the negative? More people have great holidays with no problems than bad holidays. Sometimes travellers are put off a destination, hotel, airline, tour operator or travel agent just by one bad review when thousands of other travellers have no problems but just don't bother to spread the news.

Sometimes travellers are put off a destination, hotel, airline, tour operator or travel agent just by one bad review when thousands of other travellers have no problems but just don't bother to spread the news.

Whilst I agree with your comment people do like reading these things. If they did not the tabloids would not enjoy the succes they do

I do think that an article along the lines proposed can also do good, if it also guides people towards sites such as HT - People still do not realise that the internet can be a good tool for researching planned holday destinations.
Consider, that whilst HT has in excess of 27,000 members the total number of people taking holidays is in the millions.
Many of the disasters could be avoided if people knew where to go for information.
I also note where it is planned to publish the article. Not exactly a sensationalist publication. I look forward to reading it.
I would ask Simon if it would be possible to make it available online when published.

fwh

All I ask is that there is a balance - not all holidays are bad and disastrous!

We are by nature programmed to be more interested in disaster stories. Who wants to read about great holidays that proceed without a hitch? Yawn!

Even when I'm on Ebay, I find myself searching for negative feedbacks to nosy in on people's arguments and disputes, whilst totally ignoring all the boring postive feedbacks.

a very interesting topic, i constantly moan about the negative side of the media, and when i do see wonderful stories such as storyville or onelife on the bbc or others im sure i havent named, when they talk positively about things it makes me want to, well...how do i say this, makes me more interested and more likely to do those things or visit those places, the negative stuff just makes me turn over or ignore the comments, in fact if papers were to show a more balanced position im sure they would see that people would take to it just as much if not more so

Diamond Olly,
A truly disastrous holiday requires two elements. The first is often unavoidable, occasionally unforseen, and sometimes just plain bad luck.

The second is often premeditated, occasionally exacerbated and sometimes just plain nasty.

The first could be a delayed flight, a bad hotel, poor entertainment, a misleading brochure, a missing rep....you get the drift.

The second could be the intransigence of the tour op., the disregard for their customers concerns, their concern for their profits, their lack of attention to after-sales service.

I find that when there's a problem looming, if it's brought to the attention of the company and they resolve the problem quickly and with little drama there is in fact no real problem. It's when the company knows they've got a problem yet refuse to simply resolve it. They enter into a battle of wits with their customers. This is not the way to ensure a successful business.

How many complaints posted on H.T. refer to the obstructiveness of the tour op./carrier/hotel ?

Simon's article may highlight how aggrieved travellers may be able to better pursue their claims. This in itself will reduce the number of people liable to complain. It would be nice to think that he may intersperse his report with some good results from complaints made against companies.

Mike