There is no one to clean up the Riviera
“How to relax in Turkey cheaper?” — the vacationer asks the already rested colleague. “Very simple,” he replies, “go to Anapa!” Today, this post-pandemic joke has been pushed into the past by complaints about the native Riviera, the number of which is growing with each new summer day.
Having learned the essence of the claims, we listened to what those to whom they are addressed can say in their defense.
According to domestic experts in the hotel business, vacationers have the most complaints about the health resorts of Anapa, Sochi, Evpatoria and Yalta. With all the variations, their essence is the same: the prices are too high, and the service is below average. And according to the dissatisfied holiday-goers themselves, in the conditions of a choice limited by geopolitical conditions, the host country does not particularly stand on ceremony with the complainants: if you don’t like it, don’t eat, that is, don’t rest. And vacation time.
— Prices are the same as in Turkey and Egypt, or even higher, but the rooms are cleaned somehow, linen and towels are changed irregularly, the tank in the toilet is leaking, the night light does not work, — lists the disgruntled guest of the legendary Yalta hotel. — One name remained — in the most direct sense. Complaining is useless. Or rather, it is possible, but for the owners it is like a pellet to an elephant. They still have a full load until the end of the summer, the choice is small now, the competition is not terrible.
According to experts, vacationers complained about domestic hotels in previous years, but in a different way.
— It was only a little over three years ago that our hotel industry was certified as «stars» accepted all over the world, the expert recalls. — «Stars» were assigned by a special commission, based on specific requirements, but taking into account the specifics of the region and the direction of recreation — wellness, sightseeing, beach, etc.
But an ordinary vacationer who has been, say, in Turkish and Egyptian “fours-all-inclusive”, and expected something similar from the Crimean “fours”. As a result, he was disappointed and complained. Not realizing that the Egyptian, for example, hotel specificity is not from a good life. It is not safe for a tourist to move freely throughout the country there, and local Muslims will not like crowds in shorts, so the best approach to mass recreation is something like tourist “reservations”, which is what we see under the all-inclusive brand.
The Turks at the dawn of tourism from Europe had the same considerations: not to force their believing citizens to “live mixed up” with tourists naked in the heat. But Turkey is still a secular country, so over time, these reasons were lost, but «all inclusive» remained. And, by the way, now the Turkish authorities want to reorient the country's guests from the «reservations» without getting out to the multifaceted study of the beauties and sights of Turkey.
As for Russian resorts, there is also no need to drive guests to a spacious, but separated from the realities of the local life of the territory.
It turns out that immediately after the pandemic, with the first domestic “stars” on hotel signs, their guests often complained about the lack of what is conventionally called “excess” of service: the restaurant does not hold days of national cuisines, as in Turkey, stars do not perform on the summer stage , animators are repeated, etc. Now, three years later, the complaints are much more mundane.
— We rested for 10 days in Anapa, — the Muscovite says, — the three of us spent money with her husband and teenage son much more than if they were sitting all-inclusive in a Turkish or Egyptian all-inclusive. So the joke about Anapa instead of Turkey is hopelessly outdated. But it's not even about the prices themselves, but about what is offered for them. A jar of juice fell from my son's bedside table, it spilled under the bed. The next day we come from the sea, piles of towels, beds and made up — it seems like the room was cleaned. I climb under the bed, and there is a dried sticky puddle of juice. That is, it is apparently not supposed to go with a mop under the bed in Russian four stars!
— Our hotel in Evpatoria advertised itself as convenient for those with small children, — a Muscovite shares, dissatisfied with the Crimean vacation. — And when my five-year-old son fell and broke his knee, it turned out that the institution did not even have a first-aid post with a nurse to treat the abrasion. I had to drag my son right with a bloody knee to the pharmacy for brilliant green.
Complaints for all tourists are vital: electrical wiring sparked, linen was changed to stale, as if they were simply swapped with the next room, there was no lifeguard on the beach, the air conditioner smelled of burning, etc.
— We do not have enough line staff , — instead of the traditional “if you don’t like it, don’t eat it”, first Sochi hoteliers admitted this summer, and then Krasnodar and Crimean ones. — It started last season, and now it's just a collapse!
Under the «line staff» in the hotel business means representatives of specialties that serve the hotel life: maids, cooks, kitchen and technical laborers, nurses, electricians, plumbers and rescuers. There are still not enough lawyers (to promptly respond to the slanders of vacationers) and salesmen (“to sell” the Black Sea region to vacationers at the price of the Maldives), but even this is not as painful as the shortage of maids. There is no one to clean not only the rooms, but also the common areas of the hotels.
— We are looking for maids for 75 thousand rubles a month, plus food and accommodation in our hotel, — the Sochi hotelier assures. — And a colleague in the Tuapse district takes 60 thousand rubles with full board, despite the fact that he has a hotel for only 15 rooms, clean it up — just spit! But among the Russians there are no willing. We have to recruit migrant women for temporary work, we cannot take foreigners for permanent work. But guests don’t like this: “How can we leave the room key to a woman who is here today, and tomorrow look for her in Central Asia?”
— Immediately after the pandemic, many tried to combine work and leisure on domestic resorts, — recruiting experts answer the question whether no one really wants to clean rooms in a hotel by the sea, being in it on full board with a bonus of 75 thousand rubles a month. — But the majority came to the conclusion that the game is not worth the candle. Russian employers are not Europeans who understand that at the end of working hours their employee has personal time, even if he stays at the hotel where he works. Many accommodation providers perceive them as slaves, and the working day turns from an 8-hour day into a round-the-clock, what kind of vacation.