‘Mykonos, I do believe, has a problem.’
So says 63-year-old solo traveller, writer and vlogger Christina Ford (@insearchofmrdarcy and A-Broad in London.com), following experiences on the Greek island that have left her vowing never to return.
One was being handed a ‘rip-off’ hotel bill, with staff pressuring her to pay extra tips on top of tips she’d already paid.
Christina, who lives in London, recounts the tale in a TikTok video, telling viewers: ‘This is insane. Mykonos, I don’t know what the hell’s going on with you.’
The solo traveller describes how she received her hotel bill when she was checking out, which included the cost of the hotel, taxes on top of that, government taxes, the price for food she’d ordered to the pool, plus taxes, and a tip for that.
Christina Ford says experiences she had on the Greek island of Mykonos (pictured above) have left her vowing never to return
She continues: ‘I’m putting down my credit card, but they leave a little spot and they’re waiting for me. Two people standing over me. I go, “What’s this?” They say, “Oh, to leave a tip.”‘
Christina continues in the clip: ‘This tipping service, this culture is getting crazy. Has anyone ever been asked to leave a tip on your room cost and tips you’ve already left? Mykonos, you’re out of your mind.’
The keen traveller tells MailOnline she stayed at the hotel for three nights, at a room rate of around 700 euros (£593.77/$777). Although she really liked the hotel, she says she was left ‘shocked beyond belief’ by the tip request and didn’t pay it.
Christina says: ‘In all my years of travel, I had never seen anything like this. I also believe that if I were Greek and not Canadian – often mistaken for American – I wouldn’t have been asked.’
As a former waitress, Christina tells MailOnline she’s a ‘generous tipper if the service is good’ but ‘really resents a whopping amount being added to your bill, forcing you to go through the awkward effort to get it removed or reduced’.
Her Mykonos nightmare didn’t end there.
In another TikTok video, Christina warns solo travellers to avoid the Greek island due to the negative experiences she had at several bars.
Christina, pictured above on a recent holiday in Marrakech, is a keen solo traveller
In the video, she recalls trying to get a drink at a bar to watch the sunset. She explains that as she was on her way to meet friends, she only wanted one drink. Christina says the first bar she tried was about a ‘third full’ with ‘lots of empty seats’, but staff told her there was a 100-euro (£84/$109) minimum order.
At a second bar, which was almost ‘completely empty’, she was told she needed a reservation and was quizzed on whether she was a solo traveller before being turned away.
In the video, Christina describes the experience as ‘discrimination’ and says she could only get a table at the fourth place she tried.
Separately, she tells MailOnline the Greek island was her worst experience as a solo traveller, explaining: ‘Mykonos, in its obvious desperation to make a buck, discriminates, I believe, against solo travellers. They were not willing to seat one person at a table for two, even if the place was empty.’
Christina’s videos proved controversial, with some ‘trolls’ even addressing her as a ‘Middle Aged Karen’. However, she tells MailOnline: ‘Those trolls telling me to “go back to Texas, Karen” were outnumbered by people who had similar experiences and were only too happy to share.
‘It also sparked another debate among Greeks: those who defended their overpriced island of Mykonos (a minority) by stating that it was me and my kind that was the problem, not Mykonos, and those Greeks who loudly declared, “Mykonos is not Greece.”‘
Christina reveals to MailOnline that one Mykonos restaurant even privately messaged her to check it wasn’t their venue that had turned her away – it wasn’t – as it found the treatment of her ‘appalling’.
Christina has now blacklisted Mykonos.
She tells MailOnline: ‘I would give Mykonos a complete pass. To quote Oscar Wilde, once is curiosity, twice perversion.
Christina tried to get a drink to enjoy the island’s sunset views but was turned away from three bars (stock image)
‘What made the island popular in the first place has slowly been replaced with overinflated prices and entitlement. I can afford to pay for great food and service, but no one likes to be ripped off or taken advantage of, regardless of their budget.
‘If you want to drink a 180-euro (£152/$200) bottle of Whispering Angel rosé while paying 110 euros (£93/$121) for the privilege of lying on a sunbed on an average beach, go for it. But the world is filled with better places to see, where they are genuinely happy to serve you.’
And one of those places? Nearby Hydra, another Greek island – where Whispering Angel is just 60 euros (£50) – and a spot Christina recommends in her video.
She adds to MailOnline: ‘Hydra was lovely. No cars, you walk everywhere, and they greet you gladly.’
Christina also loves Seville in Spain – ‘an amazing destination for solo travellers’ – and Italy – where people treat women ‘like you’re somebody’s sister or daughter’.
The solo traveller also recalls a fantastic experience at Balthazar restaurant in London, telling MailOnline: ‘I placed my order, and before my food came, the waiter brought a glass of Champagne. I said, “Excuse me, I didn’t order that,” and he said, “It is our gift to you for being on your own,” and offered something else if I didn’t drink. This is the restaurant’s policy on how they treat solo diners. That experience stayed with me.’
She adds: ‘Treat the solo traveller the same as if you were a table of 10. Spend a little time and talk to them – plus, that free glass of Champagne doesn’t hurt.’
