Mykonos has a real problem, at least that’s what 63-year-old solo traveler, writer and vlogger Christina Ford thinks, after experiences on the Greek island made her vow never to return.
The horrible experience a vlogger had in Mykonos PHOTO Archive
One of these was receiving a hotel bill “misleading”, in which the staff pressured her to pay “taxes” additional tips on top of the tips he had already left.
Christina, who lives in London, talks in a TikTok video, telling followers: “It’s crazy. Mykonos, I don’t know what the hell is going on with you”.
The solo traveler describes how she received her hotel bill as she was getting ready to leave, which included the cost of the hotel, taxes on top of that, government fees, the price of the food she ordered at the pool, plus tax, and a tip for that.
She continues, “I put my credit card down, but they leave a little place and wait for me. Two people were standing over me. I say:what is this” They say: “Oh, to leave a tip.“
Christina continues in the clip: “This tipping service, this culture is going crazy. Ever asked someone to leave a tip on top of the room cost and the tips you’ve already left? Mykonos, you’re out of your mind”.
The avid traveler tells DailyMail that she stayed at the hotel for three nights, at a room rate of around €700. Although she really enjoyed the hotel, she says she was “shocked beyond measure” by the tip request and did not pay it.
Christina says: “In all my years of traveling, I have never seen anything like it. I also think that if I were Greek and not Canadian – often confused with American – I wouldn’t have been asked.”
As a former waitress, Christina stated that she is “generous with the tip if the service is good”but that “can’t stand having a huge amount added to your bill, forcing you to make an embarrassing effort to delete or reduce it”.
Her Mykonos nightmare didn’t end there.
In another TikTok video, Christina warns solo travelers to avoid the Greek island due to negative experiences she had in several bars.
In the video, she recalls trying to get a drink at a bar to watch the sunset. She explains that she was on her way to meet friends and just wanted a drink. Christina says the first bar she tried was “about a third full”, with “many empty seats”but the staff told him that he must order a minimum of 100 euros.
At a second bar, which was close by “completely empty”, she was told she needed a reservation and asked if she was traveling alone before being turned away.
In the video, Christina describes the experience as “discrimination” and says he was only able to get a table at the fourth place he tried.
Separately, she says the Greek island was her worst experience as a solo traveller, explaining: “Mykonos, in its obvious desperation to make a buck, discriminates, I think, against solo travelers. They were not willing to seat one person at a table for two, even if the seat was empty.”
Christina’s videos proved controversial.
“It sparked (nr – the video) another debate among Greeks: those who defended their overrated island of Mykonos (a minority) saying that I and those like me were the problem, not Mykonos, and those Greeks who loudly declared : Mykonos is not Greece” said the woman.
Christina revealed to the DailyMail that a restaurant in Mykonos even private messaged her to check that it wasn’t their restaurant that turned her away – it wasn’t – because they felt she had been treated “terrible“. Christina has now blacklisted Mykonos.
