I love living in France. I even appreciate the eccentricities to which French people are prone.

A spate of reports caught my eye: French tourists are rude. In fact, they're the worst tourists in the whole world. So says an authoritative poll.

Intrigued, I contacted the poll's sponsor, Expedia, which directed me to Hopscotch Broadcastmedia in Paris. At Hopscotch, Anna Alppiranta helpfully sent me the study and its methodology.

The study tells us about how we see ourselves and how we think others see us.

The study looks at the impressions tourists make when they travel abroad. The impressions range from politeness to noisiness to tipping. Tourists are classed by nationality.

The study results generally confirm commonly held stereotypes about national types:

  • The Japanese are considered polite and well-behaved, as are the British;
  • Americans are thought to be generous and leave good tips;
  • The Italians are considered the best-dressed travelers in the world;
  • The French are ranked worst-in-the-world in languages.

The study also reserved some unpleasant news about Americans, who are considered as:

  • impolite complainers;
  • messy;
  • noisy;
  • worst-dressed in the world;
  • oddly (for me), best-in-the-world in languages.

I can't help but wonder whether the pollsters and Expedia think Americans are quick to take offense and the French willing to laugh at their foibles, because media reports usually said little about Americans but a lot about the French, ranked worst in the aggregate.

None of this is especially surprising. It tends to confirm stereotypes about national character.

The study tells us about the travel business

More than the results, what piqued my curiosity was the survey methodology and what Expedia hoped to accomplish.

Expedia polled thousands of innkeepers or hotel managers. So those polled were asked, in essence, to evaluate and to rank their customers. This is a 180° opposite from the usual "tell us what you think" survey that travelers are used to finding in their rooms.

The population polled also suggests some limitations. When was the last time you tipped a hotel manager? Except for the smallest inns, when does an innkeeper personally make up rooms and form a judgment about tidiness? Do hotel managers really make or retain a distinction between Swedes and Finns, or between Norwegians and Danes?

These inds of questions suggest that, for Expedia, the survey is a listening exercise, a chance to have a conversation with its customers. What is discussed ultimately matters less than that the conversation is taking place. Expedia is an intermediary, doing business with travelers and with sellers of travel services, including innkeepers.

Even if Expedia buys rooms in bulk, without dealing with each hotel individually, the survey is a clever way for Expedia to increase name recognition and to build a relationship with hotel managers, by showing an interest in their views and by valuing their input.

Apart from any economic intelligence that Expedia may amass, the survey builds goodwill on which Expedia can draw if a traveler reports a problem. It also helps Expedia to design paradgms or flowcharts for dealing with problems. (For example: if a Japanese tourist reports a problem, it is likely to be a serious; if a French tourist eports a problem, she expects to be answered in French; and Americans are quick to complain.)