Serial complainers, adept at demanding their money back, face short shrift from Britain’s biggest holiday company, which has announced it is to open a black book of troublesome customers.

The move by TUI Travel – the holiday giant that includes Thomson and First Choice among its 89 brands and serves 7m British tourists every year – means serial complainers will be barred from making bookings.

“We’re only talking about a tiny percentage of customers who are persistent troublemakers,” said the firm’s customer director Tim Williamson, “but we’re keeping a list of them.

"If they try to book another trip, they’ll be told that we are unable to meet their expectations. There’s always been a philosophy that the customer is right, but these people will never be happy.”

The company would not say how much money was paid out to customers who complained.

"Black books by no means always work. So people complain and, if we accept we are in the wrong, we settle and they get next year’s holiday free.”

Holiday rep Andy Williams, who has been working in Mediterranean resorts for 11 years, said the whingers were a common problem. “I had a client who went berserk because he found a bare wire in his apartment. The mains cable had been ripped from the wall and he was quoting health-and-safety law, but nobody had complained previously.

"We couldn’t prove whether this gentleman had done it, but a colleague recognised him as someone who’d made a similar complaint last year.”

First Choice said the cult of complaint was growing fast. “The internet has made things worse,” said a source. “There is so much advice and support online – most of it telling people that if they make enough of a fuss, we’ll pay up. The truth is that we hardly ever pay out, but we waste a lot of time dealing with the complainers.”

“We act for thousands of clients due to sickness or injury every year and I’m not aware that bogus claims are a significant issue,” said Clive Garner of the travel-law specialist Irwin Mitchell.

“Operators should concentrate their efforts on ensuring that the services and facilities they provide are safe and uncommon in the holiday industry, but TUI is the first operator to make its policy public.

“We get customers who deliberately book a ‘new-build’ hotel because they know they will find some small cause for complaint,” said Williamson. “The staff may not know their way around, the lights might not up to adequate standards.” work or there may be ongoing building

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