Buckingham Palace gives rare response to one-star TripAdvisor reviews criticizing 'unwelcoming' staff and 'overpriced' tickets
- Buckingham Palace's gardens have received negative TripAdvisor reviews.
- Visitors say palace staff are unwelcoming and that the $23 admission ticket is overpriced.
- The Royal Collection Trust told Insider that the feedback will be considered for future planning.
Representatives for Buckingham Palace have made a rare statement in response to negative TripAdvisor reviews of its garden, which opened to the public for the first time ever in July.
Tickets for the self-guided tour of the garden cost £16.50, or about $23, and are available until September, according to a press release from the Royal Collection Trust (RCT), which represents royal residences that operate as tourist attractions including Buckingham Palace. At 39 acres, it's the largest private garden in London, according to the RCT's website.
While Buckingham Palace has an overall 4.5 star rating on TripAdvisor at the time of writing, the royal residence has been flooded with negative reviews since its garden opened. Some of the most common complaints say the tickets are overpriced and that staff members are unwelcoming.
One visitor who gave the gardens a one-star review described the experience as "completely underwhelming."
"It felt completely flat, uninspired and a money making tool rather than a way to reach out to people and celebrate life and humanity," they wrote, adding that "the staff were not welcoming and lacked passion."
Another visitor who gave the garden a one-star review wrote that the volunteers and security team were "very aggressive" and "irritable."
"We felt very unwelcome. We tried to ask a question about a flower in the garden and were moved along in an annoyed hurry," they added.
In a statement addressing the feedback from recent visitors, a spokesperson for the RCT told Insider: "We have been pleased to receive a good deal of positive feedback from many visitors to the Garden this summer - but all visitor feedback is important to us and will be considered for future planning."
The spokesperson added that visitors can see two-thirds of the palace garden with their ticket, including the plane trees planted by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Additional features in the southwest of the garden, including the Rose Garden and wildflower meadow, can be viewed through add-on guided tours which cost $8.94 (£6.50) per ticket, the RCT spokesperson said.