“No.”

It is one of many dirtiest phrases in hospitality — and vacationers could also be listening to it extra as of late.

The journey company Uncover Africa needed to say it when potential purchasers requested if their younger son might experience a lion whereas on safari.

“After we stated no to driving a lion, the visitor requested what different wild animals he might experience,” stated Susan Swanepoel, a senior journey advisor at Uncover Africa. “I reminded them that they have been wild animals, and there was no chance of this taking place.”

In the long run, she stated, the vacationers determined to not journey with the corporate, saying “they have been going to go to India the place their son would be capable of experience a tiger.”  

That is one of many strangest requests that Swanepoel and her colleagues have fielded over time. However there are lots extra.

There was the Japanese firm that wished Japanese meals, ready with Japanese elements by Japanese cooks, for some 6,000 friends for six weeks surrounding the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. (Swanepoel stated the corporate she was working for on the time efficiently pulled this one off.)

And the visitor who wished a brand new, unopened jar of crunchy peanut butter current at each meal throughout an 18-day safari within the Kalahari Desert and Botswana.

Different asks are extra maddening than logistically troublesome. Just like the time a pair touring with Uncover Africa — who requested a feather pillow on the left facet of the mattress, and a foam pillow on the best — known as at 10 p.m. to say the pillows had been combined up.

“I requested if they may swap the pillows themselves because it was late, and the housekeeping employees had already gone to mattress,” stated Swanepoel. “The reply was no. They wished me to pay money for the camp supervisor to go to their tent to alter the pillows round for them.” 

Andre Van Kets, director and cofounder of Uncover Africa, stated there’s been an uptick in such requests, particularly amongst people who find themselves new to safari holidays.

“First-timers typically have probably the most uncommon requests,” he stated. “However that is okay. It is our job to assist them perceive what is feasible and what’s not.”

However inexperience is not the one cause some vacationers have unrealistic expectations, he stated.

“Social media additionally performs a job in ‘hyping up’ something uncommon,” he stated, including that viral posts typically lack context explaining what they depict. “As a journey operator, it is important to create real looking expectations. And typically that does imply saying ‘no.'”

Over-the-top requests — just like the Uncover Africa consumer who requested to assist breed a white rhino — could, partly, be an unlucky facet impact of the journey business’s success in offering flawless, end-to-end experiences. Satirically, glorious service could have worsened a rising sense of traveler entitlement.

The end result might be cyclical: The extra vacationers are given, the extra they need.

Yngvar Stray, the final supervisor of the posh resort Capella Singapore instructed CNBC that within the luxurious resort business, the “outdated concierge code of conduct” is to say sure even earlier than understanding the query.

“So long as it is authorized and morally appropriate,” he added.

When requests violate legal guidelines or firm security guidelines, they’re simpler to reject. Plus, there could also be different methods to achieve the specified consequence, stated Van Kets.

“For instance, if a traveler needs to see a wild rhino up-close. We merely cannot provide that to anybody in each safari vacation spot. It is simply too harmful,” he stated.

“However in sure parks, at sure occasions of 12 months, we will organize for friends to hitch a wildlife vet in a helicopter-based rhino-darting conservation train.”

Modifications made within the title of progress — sustainability, security, well being, animal welfare and extra — additionally garner pushback from vacationers who lament the “new approach” of doing issues.

From an eco-resort knocked for not having air-con within the toilet to banning single-use plastics in airports and inns, some vacationers complain concerning the very modifications that others demand, leaving the hospitality business in a seemingly no-win scenario.

Van Kets stated his firm encountered resistance after it restricted its safaris to “genuine wildlife settings,” which it defines as areas the place predator and prey roam freely with out fences separating them. That meant safari parks and animal sanctuaries, which he stated “are actually simply glamorized, large-scale zoos,” have been out, he stated.

“If friends have restricted time or budgets, and demand on visiting these services, then it is their alternative to take action,” he stated. However “preserving the ‘actual factor’ alive and nicely for future generations, is what we’re all about.”

Cities are spurning vacationers too — in some cases, tons of of 1000’s of them. In arguably one of many largest “no’s” of the 12 months, authorities in Amsterdam launched a “discouragement marketing campaign” in March with a message aimed largely at younger male vacationers coming to town to get together: “Keep Away.”

Some vacationers are studying requests, as soon as considered normal, are being lower attributable to ongoing staffing shortages within the business.

Kristen Graff stated housekeeping did not clear her room as soon as throughout a three-day keep in a Los Angeles resort this January. She stated she later realized cleansing was accessible, if she booked it.

She stated she understood the issue to a level, however “it isn’t like I am paying cheaper charges.”

In different cases, vacationers are revisiting inns they stayed in earlier than the pandemic, solely to appreciate perks that when got here normal with bookings have now vanished.

Based on Expedia Group’s Traveler Worth Index 2023, about 82% of the business assume shoppers are understanding of limitations like these. Nonetheless, it is doubtless that buyer loyalty is taking successful, stated Cheryl Miller, the chief advertising and marketing officer for Expedia for Enterprise.

“Finally, it comes right down to the person traveler and their expectations,” she stated. “Nonetheless, it is necessary to keep in mind that customer support isn’t just about assembly expectations. It is also about exceeding them.”