British travellers have revealed their most unpleasant holiday surprises in a new survey. The poll was carried out by one of the country’s leading car hire comparison sites, carrentals.co.uk. 1,500 members of the public were asked to reveal what the least liked to be surprised by when away from home.

Topping the list for many was hidden costs. 40 per cent of respondents said that additional costs on their holiday bill were extremely unwelcome. 40 per cent of those who complained about hidden charges said that it was additional charges on their car hire bill which were most irksome. 27 per cent were most irritated by their accommodation costs increasing unexpectedly, and 21 per cent said that additional medical bills and excess baggage fees were their biggest annoyance.

Half of those who responded to the survey said that they had experienced nasty surprises when booking into their holiday accommodation. 25 per cent said that they had stayed in rooms with broken furniture. Others complained of vomit and urine in the bed, and some said that finding used condoms in the room was something of a turn off. One third of respondents also claimed that they had been surprised to find appliances which were faulty or did not work properly.

One third also said that they had been unpleasantly surprised to find other guests in their room when they arrived, such as cockroaches, worms, ants, rats, lizards, spiders, snakes and even the odd possum.

Managing director of carrentals.co.uk, Gareth Robinson, described the results of the survey as an eye opener.