The lies travellers tell……
Travel companies are a soft touch when it comes to dolling out freebies as a whopping 47% of customers who admitted to telling fibs to get something for nothing succeeded in their aim.
The survey by the price comparison website hotelscan.com found that 38% got free bottles of fizz, a fifth were given room upgrades, 18% got free food and 10% were given free spa treatments after falsely claiming it was their birthday, wedding or anniversary.
Airlines were less generous – or possibly less gullible than hotels – with only 5% of those who fibbed admitting to have received a free upgrade.
The 53% who failed to blag freebies said the excuses they received for the rejections ranged from staff claiming there was nothing they could do, or that there was no availability.
A third of the 2,432 respondents to the hotelscan.com survey admitted they had lied to get travel freebies, with 43% requesting hotel upgrades, 37% a flight upgrade, 34% asking for free bubbly, 29% trying to blag spa treatments and almost a quarter asking for free food.
The most common lie was "it’s my anniversary", used by 39%, followed by "it’s my honeymoon" (22%), and "it’s my birthday" 17%).
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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