During my personal inventory, I thought how nice it is that I am less and less excited about life.

Ha! Then a situation comes right around the corner and reminds me of something I've completely forgotten!

Nowadays, every vacationer can complain on various portals on the Internet. This sometimes has really bad consequences for hoteliers and organizers! The so-called holiday kings have too much power and they are not always right. What motivates you to always focus on the lack?

Recently we sat in the beautiful sauna of the hotel in the Ore Mountains , where we were kindly and nicely advised not to occupy the loungers. And of course the loungers were constantly occupied by human bodies that slept, read, stuck to their loungers and when they weren't occupied, then they were covered with towels and bags.

So this topic suddenly found me again last night. A topic I've always been extremely excited about!

As a hotelier's daughter, tour operator in the desert and theater manager , I have a lot to do with people.
I experience this narrow-minded human thinking again and again! Especially with Germans, the view of the shortage is very popular!

TripAdvisor & Co! Holiday kings can shoot from ambush here!

An employee recently took the trouble to read all the reviews about the hotel in the Ore Mountains.

Maybe some people are not even aware of how much the hotel and restaurant industry has been suffering from the Corona measures for two years?

• up. Then suddenly closed again.
• Then short-time allowance. So that the health insurance companies continue to be fed and everyone can remain insured.
• Then rebuild measures everywhere.
• New concepts for buffets and kitchen and all that costs!
• Employees who are constantly absent because they have Corona or are migrating!
• And rising energy prices also have to be paid for.

Who wants to work in the hotel industry these days?
All new rules must be implemented.

And quite a few have poured all their savings into their businesses to keep from going under, and many go under anyway.
A guest recently said to me: Yes, yes, the hotels have all become quite expensive. They'll pay for it!

As I scrolled through various portals, all I could do was shake my head (to put it mildly!).
In such moments, I would like to grab people by their heads, appeal to their brains and
keep their noses in the wisecracking reviews they vomited out on the internet!

The hotel had just opened a few days (Finally! Sachsen had to wait a very long time to reopen!)
The staff and the owner had made so many improvements and even made everything extremely beautiful
during the period when everything was closed. You have to have that courage!

For example, you could write what is nice first, but no! That goes without saying and you only notice what is not perfect, what is missing and what could be improved.

Why is it so important for people to put the apparently bad things in the light?

What satisfaction does that give you?

Here are a few excerpts from the web:

The staff seemed overwhelmed...

Hardly any sockets in the room…

Was ok, but too expensive for the condition...

No kettle in the room…

It is clairaudient...

TV reception was weather dependent…

Impossible! 3 euros extra for a bathrobe (the high-quality sauna is included in the price and the guest will be informed of this when booking and can of course bring their own bathrobe and sauna)...

Pillows are bad...

The vent in the bathroom was broken...

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Vacation in the desert

Absurd complaints at the desert hotel :

There was dust/ sand in the room ...
The beer wasn't cool enough...
They said it starts at 9am... now it's 9:30am!

There are sandstorms in the desert and there are actually people who are upset that the fine
Sahara sand is getting in through the cracks in the hotel furnishings?
And that there is no cold beer?

HELLO?!!

is it actually still possible?? What I personally love desert travel is the challenge of coming into contact with unpredictable situations.
It's the kind of travel you'll never forget!
Nature forces us to be humble and sets the rhythm. That really scratches some egos!

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The guest is king and many think: now I have the scepter in my hand!

Why do we Germans always have to point out to others how they could do better.
For example how to position your car properly (this happens to me quite often).
Since I was and am abroad a lot, I have noticed this mentality again and again when I came back to my German homeland.

Especially in Swabia, everyone seems to have the right to hold up signs
and tell others what works and what doesn't.

And this bad habit in our society, to throw out one's opinion anonymously everywhere on the net and thus to blackmail hoteliers and organizers at the same time, has become a "after-recreational sport" for some families.

I have to admit that I'm the first to complain to the waiter if I don't like something or anything else. That's how it should be! This is the only way improvements can get underway. But I do that directly with the waiter, the cook - just on the spot and not on the net, where I can do a lot of damage to the hotel and the people who work there!

Direct complaints can lead to improvement without having to speculate on a "free stuff".

And that's what's behind it so often!

Free, discounts and bargains!
(I once wrote and performed a wonderful morning play about it in my theater).

The power of the guest is shamelessly exploited

What hasn't hoteliers had to swallow?
Guests carried carpets, bathrobes, pictures, room decorations, etc. out of the hotel into their suitcases
and although the hotelier knew it, he couldn't do anything about it!

Why not?

Because he knows the power of the guest and he will end up taking more damage from it!

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Occupy loungers and make sandwiches for the family outing

Once I was having breakfast in a hotel in Sicily by the sea. A huge breakfast buffet was set up there...
A sign hangs on the buffet, where the guest is kindly asked not to take anything from the buffet with them.
And if so, he is more than welcome to do so for a small additional fee.

But the otherwise well-read vacationer somehow doesn't read THAT.

Anyway, I'm sitting there and couldn't believe my eyes! A woman packed 12 pieces of cake for her family of 4 and made 12 sandwiches for the day.

The yoghurt and muesli snacks came in the Tuber bowl we had brought with us.

I couldn't hold myself any longer and politely pointed out to the woman that you weren't allowed to do that.
(I was pretending to be a guest) and just turned the corner. When I came back, she was gone with her backpack full of the day's provisions.

This injustice of the self-proclaimed holiday kings really annoys me!!

We forget the customs of other cultures and that we are guests!

Why are we traveling again?

Isn't it because we want to experience other cultures and other customs?

And doesn't it mean that WE should adapt to the respective country, rather than vice versa?

These are the challenges that invite us to grow and tickle our adventurous spirit. And isn't it exactly these stories that we like to tell at the regulars' table?

The unpunctual bus, the waiting and the realization that in other countries 10 minutes late means on time.

A little story on the way to the desert

On the way there I sat at a taxi stand and waited 5 hours for a shared taxi,
which was supposed to come in half an hour according to the plan.

Was I angry? Bored?

At first I was annoyed. Clear! But then I did my breathing and presence exercises. I always do that when I have to wait somewhere. And I've talked to a few people, used my hands and feet and watched little scenes.

When I'm traveling in Morocco, I intentionally only have WiFi and no mobile network.
That's precisely because I don't want to be tempted to stare at that little thing for hours.

Is a landscape boring? Sometimes yes. But if you dive deeper, you discover something within. Always. Even in the stone desert!

A Sicilian visiting Berlin

A friend from Sicily who was in Berlin once.
Many times now, but when she came back the first time I asked her what impressed her most about Berlin?

You: I stood on the TV tower in the evening and all the cars drove in one line! All headlights in one line! Not like in Palermo, where everyone drives in a jumble and there is pure chaos.

And she told me that it was so cold and she was standing at the bus stop with her German friend and they were waiting for the bus.
It was totally frozen.
The timetable said the bus would arrive at 6:52 p.m. When the bus arrived at 7 p.m., a woman complained so much about this bus, which was sooooo late!

She was stunned. She said to me: you know, our bus or train is never on time and we're happy when it comes.
And here everything was iced up and the bus came anyway! Imagine, Nora! The bus came!

Appreciate traveling and behave as guests in other cultures

What we could also appreciate is the view of our country.
And the joy that it is the way it is here. Or an inspiration for a different way of thinking, which we take with us and reintegrate into our lives.

There are so many treasures to discover.
If you want.
If you are open to it. That's how it is with travel!
I decide beforehand in my mind that I
want to experience something beautiful or something that is personally valuable or interesting for me.
I adjust my mind to it. I'll usually do that too.
And sometimes luck is deceptive and not immediately apparent. This is also part of it! We have experiences in life and when travelling.

I unwrap the presents at the latest after the return trip and sometimes much later!

Because everything that didn't work the way I "imagined" it can teach me a lesson.
The lesson, for example, that when I push the curtain of my imagination aside,
I open the space for circumstances that I had never dreamed of before.

A deep gratitude overcomes me!

I can be here! I can go on vacation! The hotels are open again! We can be so grateful that an industry that has been incredibly battered in recent years is available to us again and that after two years we can travel and stay somewhere else with all the comfort!

I wish that guests would also write something good and nice on the internet!
Because every day I experience the many compliments from extremely satisfied and appreciative guests!

There are also these guests!
Paradoxically, these guests are not on TripAdvisor & Co and do not write any reviews either. I personally think that's such a shame!
Because that's how people are: Too often looking at the defect, too often at what's missing. I would like to raise awareness of the power of words on such sites!
And forbearance with little things that you really don't necessarily have to put on the web!

We have learned that life can be different overnight!
And I appeal for support and the spread of positive vibes!
Because in general we should all praise and thank each other much more.
Courtesy opens doors and a smile opens hearts!

Hello life, I'm here!
And I feel like a queen! As a holiday queen, so to speak! Surprises add spice and that's where the adventure begins!