Finland home to friendliest hotels in europe as fawlty UK falters

Helsinki, Finland, the friendliest play to stay in Europe Photo: ni.c

The UK is home to many things: polite Britons, lots of famous landmarks and the sitcome Fawlty Towers. Only one of those appears to have a lasting impression on tourists, though, as the UK comes last in a study of the friendliest hotels in Europe.

The analysis, conducted by Hotel.info using reviews from their 6 million customers, found that in Europe, Finland is the land of smiles. Finnish staff are much appreciated by their hotel guests and came out top with 8.62 points out of a possible 10. German and Autrian hotels followed close behind with 8.59 points and 8.57 points respectively.

Ralf Priemer, Managing Director at HOTEL INFO, is not surprised that the friendliness and competence of hotel staff throughout Europe is evaluated as good and very good: "For many years now we have observed a considerable increase in positive evaluations in respect of the quality of service."

At the bottom of the table for Europe are Denmark (7.98), Russia and the United Kingdom, both with a score of 7.92.

In keeping with this, London is in last place amongst the European capital cities with only 7.73 points. The leader by a big margin is Budapest (8.58 points).   Despite the fact that these countries are at the bottom of the table, though, their hotels are nonetheless evaluated relatively positively by their guests.

Some cities are able to save the good reputation of British politeness. In a comparison of the largest cities in the United Kingdom particularly the hotel personnel in Sheffield (8.62) score well for friendliness and willingness to assist their guests. Leeds (8.41) was voted into second place by the customers. Up to the 7th place – Glasgow with 8.18 points – all the evaluations are very positive.