Very unsuitable hotel, WWYD?

[GlamGiraffe]

WWYD. please tell, it's a longish one

Booked a holiday, DH, DS(17), DD(2) and myself✈.
Explained to the travel agent i needed somewhere a suitable for both kid, in particular where DS could wander off and entertain himself alone some of the time whilst I could stay and relax with DD by a pool in a toddler friendly environment.

Committed a fair amount of money to having a nice holiday having had a dire stressful time health and work wise.
Arrived at hotel, over 100 steps, wound higledy pigbledy over cliff wihout bannisters, from property entrance to front door, virtually impossible with a buggy. No open spaces where a toddler can safely safely walk as everything is on a clifft top with no barriers or railings and sheer drops to rocks below.⛰🏞 The pool is small, is only deep, has no space around it in which to walk as it is stiffed full of loungers. A hotel with capacity for 950 has approx 200 loungers. And the poll is pretty packed with the poll from that many in. The suggested shingle beach is in fact a small concrete platform over more rock with ladders to the water. The "playground" is only suitable for kids aged maybe 8 years and is also surrounded by cliff edge drops.
Making matters worse, DD has serious dairy allergy, i checked in advance hotel had oat milk which was confirmed. The hotel have yried twice to pass hrt off with soya milk yo ehich she is also evtremely allergic- she could die. Despite this they ate oblivious. Despite caiming to stock the ost milk on the phone, on arrival they didn't even know what it was and I have to travel I hr to get it-i had space to bring it had I known.
We are totally restricted on what to do, we are at a loss. There is nothing resembling a beach nearby. We trekked to the nearest rocky scrap which is hopeless and without an inch even to swing a cat in.
Have contacted the agent explained the problem. She contacted the hotel who (surprise surprise said their hotel was totally child appropriate). There is even a hole the width of my toddler through the balcony wall-on the 9th floor.
Family is awfully stressull, I'm not in best health to be trekking in a sightseeg mission is really not what I need and that really unfair on a child who is only just 2.
There are 2, maybe 3 children we have seen here. The whole hotel, definitely the resort is catered towards the more eldery guest.
I know this is rambling. Sorry.

But WWYD?
We,re/I'm going a bit nuts; the stress is starts to show already😫😫.

OP that sounds awful. It's a good lesson in not blindly trusting travel agents but horrible for you especially if you've been having a bad time before hand.

Get in touch with the travel agents. Focus on safety issues. Milk, hope in balcony, unsafe access to the beach... anyone fancy climbing a ladder with a 2 year old?? Ask to be moved as you genuinely dont feel it was what you were sold and that you dint feel safe. If you gave the travel agent any of those instructions by email and you can access it from there show them or at least remind them. If your toddler has an accident they would be at least partially responsible so remind them of that too.

Ask staff about best beaches. They will know if theres something good nearby you've missed.

I dont see how it can be that hard to find somewhere both a 2 year old and 17 year old would like Decent food in hotel. Good pool and beach with safe access. Maybe a play area. A town of shops, restaurants and bars.

Must be hundreds of places like that? surely?

What's the name of the hotel? Can we see?

Yes I did do my research, as much as was possible, the hotel website is pretty much non rcisyent bug trip advisor has complete rave reviews and although it has gone pictures of the sunbathing terraces which we knew were steep there was nothing else at all to suggest the issues. I always try to investigate before I go anywhere so given the agents info and the info I could find it seemed reasonable. The hotel is in Croatia and it's s specialist Croatia agency.

My daughter has CMPA - none
Ige so it won’t kill her but bad enough to make her poorly and be very unpleasant. For that reason we always go on TUI family life holidays because they specifically say they they are good with allergies. Even so I always check trip advisor, especially searching for allergy and toddler to check the suitably of the holiday before I book.

OP I think you are getting a bit of a hard time on here. I've always assumed that the point of booking through an agent is that it saves you spending hours doing research on your own and instead you provide your list of requirements and it is then the responsibility of the agent to recommend something suitable based on their knowledge/expertise. You also have a point of contact if anything goes wrong rather than having to sort it all yourself. You have paid extra for your holiday by booking through an agent in order to make use of these services so at present you have paid for some very bad customer service.

For now I would concentrate on contacting the agent and insisting on a move to somewhere more suitable. Contacting them via social media might help. You can add your review to trip advisor when you get home, focus on you and your family rather than warning others right now.

I'm sorry the holiday you have worked hard for and been looking forward to is not going as planned and I hope you get something sorted soon so you can enjoy some time in the sun!

What is the name of the hotel?

Can't the rep move you to a more suitable one ?

I stopped using travel agents the minute you could book online as some of them will tell you any lies to sell a break that isn't selling.

I always ask on Facebook/forums for places to visit from people who have actually stayed there.

Sorry the hotel is crap though OP. I would contact the agency see if they can move you, if not I would go on booking.com and find a hotel off my own back and swallow the cost. Holidays are so important to me so I would be gutted.

I've been to hotels that looked like a dream on the website but had significant issues when I got there. Photos can be taken from angles that don't show problems! And if it's a hotel that's mainly aimed at a certain age group (how the hell do the elderly manage all those steps though?) you might not get a true picture from all the rave reviews on TripAdvisor, if nobody thinks to say 'we loved it but might not be suitable for small children'.

I'd get out, OP. Fly home, if you have to. Go to Norfolk, or Scarborough where your little one can run on the sand and dig. Take loads of pictures before you leave and take up every little issue with the travel agent. Some of it you could probably have found out before you left, but you couldn't know the true extent of the non-fencedness or the deepness of the pool until you got there. Then leave a TripAdvisor report so nobody else makes the same mistake.

If the hotel has rave reviews on TripAdvisor, it can't be that bad. It sounds like more a case that it is totally unsuitable for the OP with a small child. Sounds like the OP did sod all research and made the mistake of trusting a travel agent who she has no previous experience with. Given the challenges of the OP's age gap children plus a young child with such serious allergies, this seems rather foolish.

Surely if your child has a severe dairy allergy AND is allergic to soy milk, you'd take some oat milk with you? People insisting the hotel go out and but oat milk specially are being rather unreasonable unless it's a 5 star hotel that caters individually for its guests. Oat milk is common in the U.K. now but a few years ago it wasn't. I've been to some countries where getting even fresh cow's milk is a challenge, let alone oat milk.

Which hotel is it?

Also it’s a big ask to get a resort suitable for a 17 year old and 2 year old

I am not sure I would trust a "travel agent" who makes these kind of comments!

I think most people would have taken their own supply of preferred brand oat milk if their child had an allergy.
why on earth would they? No one carries packs of milk in their luggage

People insisting the hotel go out and but oat milk specially are being rather unreasonable

they are absolutely not. If you get confirmation before booking and before travelling that they can provide something, it's normal to expect it, even if you are not in a 5 stars.

If you ask them when you turn up, that's another issue entirely.

The OP is getting a hard time with everyone telling her she should have googled/read TA. Not everyone is well travelled and would think to do anything else other than take the travel agents advice. I have friends who only visit their home countries and were very shocked that I don't book holidays through an agent, they assumed they were the holy grail of travel and would design perfect holidays for all individuals. These are educated people btw.

OP make as much noise as you can now, take lots of pictures and screenshot the emails saying they had oat milk. At the same time try to make the most of it, maybe organise a few day trips? I'd be more concerned about making it good for your teen, your toddler doesn't care where you are. I would still take her into the pool anyway with armbands/rubber ring, even in a toddler pool it's not as if you can leave them unsupervised anyway. It's very normal for pool areas to be very congested with sunbeds in peak season, that makes me think perhaps you have unrealistic expectations.

Where in Croatia? What’s the area and the hotel called? I’ve been a couple of times.

Luckily accommodation in Croatia can be fairly cheap so maybe worth looking at booking somewhere else? Even running it through Air BnB

However if it’s that awful then cut your losses and come home. No point having a crap week

It is an expensive 5 star hotel.
I googled, read all the reviews, even read the reviews on sites like booking.com.i checked with the hotel in advance regarding allergies.
Last year a 5 star hotel couldn't have been better in the way they catered for DDs aallergy. Oat milk is available in this country. I checked. I would have bought it if I had not been told they served it.
The hotel is in cavtat, Croatia.im in the room now. I post a photo of the child size balcony gap.

We contacted the agent who agree they've mid sold, they have contacted their accommodation supplier Roto find a replacement but haven't haven't heard back.

Which hotel is it OP?

My child has tried to go sideways through this twice. We now can't use the balcony...It's also on the ninth floor.

keep pestering them - it's your holiday after all, you should be their priority right now.

"No one carries packs of milk in their luggage"

Of course they do. I took my own formula for the kids every single time. And that's just normal formula. If my child had an allergy that could kill then I wouldn't be crossing a language barrier to get it. I'd be bringing my own

Take oodles of pictures OP and then ask for the travel agent to either find a new hotel or arrange flights home for you ASAP. We had a similar scenario as a family several years ago and were moved hotel, still not ideal as I had to sleep on a sofa, but also got a full refund afterwards.

That balcony is shocking. You are not in a 5 star hotel

Is it Hotel Cavtat?

That balcony is horrendous OP.

If it is Hotel Croatia Cavat it was very irresponsible of the agent to sell that to you. Lots of reviews on trip advisor saying not suitable for kids.

Cavtat is a port not a beach resort. Jump on a taxi boat towards Dubrovnik and Lorkrum.

Not a lot to do where you are, although it’s very pretty. Balcony is shocking!