“Aggressive and abusive behaviour in particular should not be tolerated,” she says, “especially when many hotels and restaurants have been trying to absorb rising costs rather than pass them on to their customers.” Since the end of the pandemic, and in a context of rising costs for major hospitality “inputs” such as food and power, guest conduct has worsened says Kate Nicholls, Chief Executive of membership trade association UKHospitality.
Hospitality has long had to contend with badly behaved clientele, from slipper and robe thieves to restaurant-goers who lay into the waiting staff. But this level of entitlement was, she says, a new low: “Now we’re stuck with a spiteful review as this woman was so uptight and unpleasant.” The Saynors are well used to guests’ idiosyncrasies: the abandoned sex toys in bedsheets and the city guests who are taken aback there are no 24-hour convenience stores in the countryside. When Saynor politely contacted the guest to request she pay for the items she had eaten during her stay she angrily refused and went on to abuse Saynor via Bethnal & Bec’s social media channels and leave a stinging review on TripAdvisor: the property’s only one star in eight years of operation.
She had also consumed the contents of the minibar, ignoring the honesty box payment system that Bethnal & Bec has used with success for 2,000 stays since launching in 2016.
On departure, Saynor found the guest had left her luxury cabin “in a total tip” with dirty dishes piled up in the sink and the bin overflowing. Unwilling to read the detailed check-in information Saynor and husband Chris send guests in advance of their arrival, the 30-something barraged the couple with questions and complained that the blanket they had left out for her dog to use on the lodge’s velvet chaise longue was an “insult” as her dog didn’t moult. For Vicky Saynor, proprietor of Hertfordshire boutique self-catering set-up Bethnal & Bec, “London dog woman” was the final straw.
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