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accommodation-in-spain
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Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 7:09 am

Post by accommodation-in-spain »

With regard to abrupt enquiries, I find that it can sometimes be due to the nationality of the person. Some nationalities are well known for being more business like in their interaction which can come across as abrupt via e-mail (no offence to any nationality intended here - just an observation). You usually find that these make the best guests as they leave everything perfect!

I also find that it can depend very much on your own mood when reading an e-mail (unless it is obviously abusive) as to how it is interpreted.

Does anyone else find the same?

Obviously when you are dealing with the 'general public' you are bound to get some arrogant people, but hey it takes all different sorts of people to make the world go round - you just have to learn to ignore them really.
www.Costa-Luz-Holiday.com - your on-line holiday brochure for the Costa de la Luz
janskov
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Location: Croatia, South Dalmatia
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Post by janskov »

Yes (don’t mention the Germans) – and they are really nice when they get what they think they have paid for and really insisting if something isn’t perfect.
Like you said: They are usually very good guests and leave the house in perfect order.
And it is also good to remember that English is just another foreign language to most of the world’s population – me included.
So when you think a mail is abusive or silly – please consider nationality and culture.
I have had some great guests from France and Italy and have had really, really funny misunderstandings due to the fact that we had to communicate in a mixture of their native language and English and my non-native English.
Please bear with us when there is the occasional abuse – it is not intended
Guest3
Posts: 1588
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 11:24 am

Post by Guest3 »

I agree with Janskov..we've had 3 'abrupt enquiries' from Sweden, Finland and Denmark this year and they all turned out to be great guests who look forward to coming back next year! It must be hard to enquire about availability or any information in a language that is not your Mother tongue...and to be fair in my experience even enquiries from the UK have made me scratch my head in confusion!!
janskov
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Post by janskov »

:D Sweden, Finland and Denmark. You see! That's my people. I am from Denmark.
We don't really know how to communicate, but we are nice people anyway.
alexia s.
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Post by alexia s. »

Janskov is right about Scandanavians not communicating like us. We have had several Norwegian and Finnish families who were delightful guests, always appreciative and generous. One couple invited me to dinner & I quickly understood that their conversational habits are a world away from ours. No exchange of words was initiated by them. I started every conversational thread, after which they lapsed back into a profound silence, broken only by my next thread: by the end of the evening I did think I would run out of ideas and I have no doubt that they thought I was the most unnecessarily talkative person they had ever met. Perhaps a meal with conversation was their idea of hell.
I remember the joke about 2 Finns meeting in the middle of an expanse of snow, each having walked for days in the oposite direction until they happened to cross. One Finn, seeing the other, said "Good morning". the other Finn mumbled to himself:"What a chatterbox!".
Best,
Alexia.
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