[旅遊] 'German Tourists Make the Most Ridiculous Complaints'

[DonaldDuck (你有沒有看過辛普森家庭꠩]

轉貼新聞:'German Tourists Make the Most Ridiculous Complaints'
原始連結: http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,777374,00.html

German tourists tend to use precious vacation time hunting for flaws in their
vacation packages or accomodations. With the right evidence, they hope to
score a discount or reimbursement. Tourism expert Karl Born talks to SPIEGEL
ONLINE about what makes German complaints especially unique.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Born, you once said in a presentation that 'complaints
are as much a part of any holiday as the Eiffel Tower is a part of Paris and
the Hofbrauhaus beer hall a part of Munich.' The Germans are known for being
frontrunners in global travel -- but are they also world champions at
complaining?

Born: In other countries, the complaint culture is obviously not as extreme
as in Germany -- especially when you see what Germans complain about. There
is an enormous variety of complaints, ranging from the legitimate to the
absurd. The Germans are behind a disproportionately high number of the
ridiculous complaints.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: As the head of TUI have you experienced this personally?

Born: A hotel manager from Tenerife told me that tourists from other countries
generally go about things a bit more elegantly. For instance, if they want to
upgrade to a better room, the Italians will compliment the hotel staff and
smile, while the Swiss often cite health problems as a reason for needing an
upgrade. Germans, on the other hand, don't beat around the bush and simply say,
 'If you don't change this, I'm going to sue you.'

SPIEGEL ONLINE: And who has the most success?

Born: Italy, ahead of Switzerland -- and the Germans' problems are addressed
last, according to this colleague.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Perhaps the Germans know too much about their rights for
their own good?

Born: Maybe. The worst part is the famous 'Frankfurt Table...'

SPIEGEL ONLINE: ... a table that lists the percentage that may be reimbursed
for specified shortcomings in tourism and travel services.

Born: Exactly. Many Germans are convinced that this table is the law, when in
fact it's only meant to serve as a guideline for the courts when they are
presented with cases related to travel and tourism complaints. The German
newspaper Bild prints the table every year and people then take this with
them on holiday. Now tour guides are used to these people and know how to
discourage them, because many incorrectly believe that they can just add up
the individual values on the list. (eds. Note: There is a
set limit to the percentage that can be reimbursed)

SPIEGEL ONLINE: That would make for some pretty large sums. Say the area of
the hotel room is too small, there is a crack in the wall, the linen isn't
changed once and my table in the dining room isn't clean. Based on that alone,
 I could add up a claim for a 50 percent reimbursement per day.

Born: Exactly. And if you've already managed to reach a 50 percent
reimbursement, then the drive kicks in to push it to 100 percent.
But those are the truly hardcore complainers -- less than one percent of
travelers take it that far. And I actually feel sorry for those people
because they ruin their own holiday constantly looking for flaws.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: But from the perspective of tour operators, it's a problem
when notorious whiners are constantly reporting their negative travel
experiences to their friends.

Born: It's one of the major topics of conversation when you're at a party.
One person starts talking about his vacation with TUI, and then every person
present has his own horror story to share. Only two topics have this domino
effect -- holidays and car trouble.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Give us one tip: What should a complaint look like, if one
wants to get at least a 10 percent reimbursement from TUI?

Born: There certainly has to be truth to the complaint. TUI is a difficult
opponent because you're going up against experienced professionals. They have
processed thousands of complaints, so it's relatively unlikely that a person
can get a reimbursement for an invented complaint that lacks good evidence.
But let's say, you had construction work making noise outside of your hotel
window. Take a couple of photos and send them, along with signed testimonies
of two other hotel guests who support your
complaint. With a tactic like that, you'll likely get some money back.
I don't know if it will get you a reimbursement of ten percent, though. The
important thing is that you can back up the complaint with evidence.


SPIEGEL ONLINE: One customer won a case against TUI because he claimed that
the adventure vacation he was promised had been too normal, and that his life
had never been in danger. How can German travel law possibly support such a
ruling?

Born: It's true that the man argued in court that his life had never been in
danger -- but that's not why he got his money back. He won the case because a
certain part of the travel package, which was meant to be especially
adventurous and exciting, did not take place.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Are there any other complaints you will never forget?

Born: Once a tourist tried to pet a crocodile in West Africa. It snapped at
him but fortunately didn't hurt him. The man claimed that he should have been
explicitly warned against petting the crocodile and even went to court.
It took the judge about five minutes to throw the case out, saying that it's
common knowledge that you should not pet a crocodile. You don't need an
expert to tell you that. Another person filed a complaint last year and
received a 10 percent reimbursement as a courtesy. Later, he
said he wanted 20 percent because prices had increased.
In cases like that I really have to wonder if these people are just joking
or if they are actually crazy.

Interview by Stephan Orth. The text originally appeared in the book "Sorry,
Ihr Hotel ist abgebrannt," or "Sorry, Your Hotel Has Burned Down,"
co-authored by Orth and Antje Blinda, and published by Ullstein.


--
 "The Force is strong in Desirewu. May the force be with him, always."
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                                                             Made by Johnmike   


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推 PPTer:默默找翻譯機
→ shizz:Sorry. I don't see anything in the article/interview
→ shizz:that's cultural related beside the topic line....
推 Realthugz:Much to learn, you still have, my young padawan.
→ DonaldDuck:喔 可能是因為之前聽到很多對於德國觀光客的刻板印象
→ DonaldDuck:尤其是吹毛求疵的性格甚至顯示在出國旅遊應該放鬆的
→ DonaldDuck:的時候，有很多德國人卻是忙著拿相機拍攝旅館房間的
→ DonaldDuck:瑕疵拿來換取旅館折扣
→ DonaldDuck:另外，還有不同國家的人想找旅館討"公道"時的態度
→ DonaldDuck:根據報導有很多德國觀光客誇張到會把退費/折扣的指標
→ DonaldDuck:攜帶在身上，然後旅遊時拿出來比對，希望可以累計...
→ DonaldDuck:才享有更多折扣...
→ DonaldDuck:當然shizz可能覺得關於"果汁機"的文章比較涉及文化衝擊
→ DonaldDuck:那我也沒辦法了:P
推 shizz:可能是我讀了以後覺得內文比較在講要怎樣的理由才能拿到折扣
→ shizz:唯一看到他指名是德國人的就只有第一個問題... 後面都沒明說
→ shizz:也可能因為我人在美國 比較少聽到德國觀光客的刻板印象
→ shizz:如果你覺得我是想跟你挑毛病的話我道歉 我沒有那個意思
→ shizz:至於果汁機 我不懂耶....? 什麼果汁機?
→ shizz:哈哈哈 懂了 wow 原來是三年前的一篇文章被翻出來 我只是就
→ shizz:標題跟著討論串回了我的經驗罷了 不需要比較吧? :)
→ DonaldDuck:一開始也有先比較義大利人和瑞士人處理上的差異
→ DonaldDuck:例如義大利人是面帶微笑去客訴，效果反而比較好
→ DonaldDuck:而報導中表示德國人是傾向用最直接的方式 擺明就是
→ DonaldDuck:不給折扣就告你的態度
→ DonaldDuck:我想是不是因為是轉英文報導，會比較敏感 給人感覺是
→ DonaldDuck:刻意轉英文 不轉中文...其實是因為剛好看到就是英文
→ DonaldDuck:而且版上大家語言程度也蠻好的，就沒有想這麼多
→ DonaldDuck:而且平常台灣的新聞也經常只是翻譯外國報導，轉一手資
→ DonaldDuck:料應該是比較不會有多一層翻譯的隔閡
→ DonaldDuck:我會提果汁機也是因為你推文中對關於文化衝擊相關的
→ DonaldDuck:批評與指教，畢竟就是比較的產物，比較符合和比較不符
→ DonaldDuck:合板旨，所以直接看你的標準是如何預設作為參考
→ DonaldDuck:如果語氣不佳有冒犯到的話 也跟您說聲抱歉
→ DonaldDuck:有時候我回文太直接了 很抱歉
推 bahnhof:德國觀光客曾被全世界旅館業者票選為最受歡迎觀光客第二名
→ bahnhof:第一名是日本人 http://ppt.cc/s(Q6
推 bahnhof:反而這位卡爾蹦先生推崇的義大利人不甚受旅館業者歡迎
推 sunnychu:卡爾蹦XDDDDDD
→ shizz:D大，可能是用文字表達語氣有困難吧~ 我也抱歉 我不是認為
→ shizz:你的文章跟板旨不服，我本來看到title也覺得很有興趣，只是
→ shizz:看到內文後覺得文章內並沒有提到太多跟標題相關的部份，覺得
→ shizz:有一點點失望罷了… 不是說你不該po這篇真的！只是想看到
→ shizz:更多可以佐證此印象的文章，對我也是學習