A foreign tourist was disappointed in Zakopane. She criticized the hotel.

While it might seem that Arab tourists feel perfectly at home in Zakopane—after all, they've been flocking there for years —it turns out they're sometimes disappointed. Recently, a Middle Eastern tourist criticized her stay at a local hotel.

Arab tourist criticizes Polish hotel

After visiting a hotel in Zakopane, an Arab tourist gave it a very low rating – one star. The fact that she couldn't count on help with her luggage and felt she had to be too independent was enough. As Fakt.pl, among others, points out, in her Google Maps review she wrote that she had expected much more amenities and care from the hosts.

"Very bad. The rooms are cramped and there's no phone to call room service. You have to do everything yourself. Even carry your luggage from outside to your room and vice versa," the message read.

From the description, it's easy to deduce that the woman expected service typical of high-standard hotels, as this is very popular in their country. However, it's important to remember that not all accommodations in the Polish mountains are high-standard and are not obligated to offer such services.

Poles are rarely surprised by this

Many media outlets have pointed out that there's a significant difference in the expectations of Polish and Arab visitors. In Poland, we rarely expect to have to carry our luggage or be treated with special care, especially when renting a room in an average mountain guesthouse. Tourists from the Middle East, however, are accustomed to something different.

Experts have repeatedly pointed out that the need to adapt to the expectations of guests from various cultures, including those with a high budget, is a growing challenge for Poland. For example, access to a halal buffet, a bidet in the bathroom, or drinking water upon arrival in the room is crucial for many guests from the Middle East. It seems that some, in order to please everyone, would have to make significant changes, which is currently not possible everywhere.

In this regard, it's probably worth considering many things. One of them might be whether better communication in presenting offers would help. Perhaps if accommodations frequently visited by Middle Eastern guests included precise information about the standards and policies of a given hotel, more people could consciously choose whether a property that allows tourists to feel more "independent" would be sufficient for them or whether they would prefer to seek out a classic hotel with a lobby and a concierge?

Read also: Zakopane wants to attract new tourists. Arab visitors are no longer enough for them. Read also: Arab tourists in Poznań. "Several thousand people for about a week."