I’m in holiday hell is it even worth complaining to TUI?

[Thisisnotaholiday]

We are currently on holiday at a H10 hotel in Spain booked via TUI. It has been the holiday from hell and we are counting down the days until we can go home. We paid 5.5k for a weeks all inclusive at a 4 star hotel for me, DH, and DC who are 14 and 16. We saved up
for this holiday, read all the trip advisor reviews (rated 4.5 out of 5) and were looking forward to it after an incredibly stressful few months but it’s been the worst holiday ever.

We booked it as a family of 4 under one booking but when we arrived were told we’d be in 2 separate rooms, both on opposite sides of the hotel. We explained at reception we needed adjoining rooms or rooms at least near each other. We were told no. We did consider one adult sharing with 1 of the DC but both rooms only had double beds and what teenager wants to sleep with their parent. And why should they? Eventually reception said if we paid 200 euros we could have 2 rooms on the same corridor which we felt forced to do. I was not comfortable leaving my 14 and 16 year old in a foreign hotel room miles away from me.

DH and I were given a room overlooking the service entrance which means we are woken at 5am every morning by delivery trucks. At 7 am the sewage truck arrives and they spend hours pumping shit into the truck. The noise is horrendous and obviously from 5am we get no sleep. Can’t sit on balcony as view is of delivery trucks all day. Complained at reception and told TUIs contract with the hotel is for the worst located rooms and people booking through TUI are put in the non refurbished rooms. A reminder this is meant to be a 4 star beach hotel and we paid thousands to stay there.

The hotel is about 50% German and 50% Italian. We are the only Brits here it seems who booked via TUI. As a result there is no TUI rep here and we were told the rep is at another hotel about 30 minutes away. We walked there to find the German rep who was horrified and said she’d talk to the hotel. The outcome was that they could move our DC next to us but we said no as their room is on the opposite side of the hotel away from the service entrance we face and I didn’t want them being woke up from 5am too.

I could go on with the other horrendous things that have happened but would be here all day. Is it even worth complaining to TUI, will they even care? It seems like TUI have a shit contract with this hotel where the very few guests they send there way have the worst rooms but still paying expensive prices.

Complain everywhere you can, you will end up with most of your money back.

When I had an issue with TUI the thing that finally got it resolved after months of complaining and making a fuss over Twitter was a TrustPilot review… got a full refund within a week or so.

Good shout. It seems TrustPilot is taken a bit more seriously.

I had the holiday from hell on Gran Canaria booked with Tui, leaking roof, no hot water and electrics that tripped when more than one thing was working, ie kettle and tv. The whole place was damp with mould growing up the walls.

The rep agreed with everything I said and was told to contact Tui on my return home, rep denied any complaints had been made.

It's twenty years ago and I've never booked another holiday with them and never will.

It sounds crap but I think the only thing you can complain about is the noise in your room. Plus difficulty in getting hold of the rep.

booking two rooms together never guarantees them to be next to each other. I think it’s very rare to be able to guarantee this. Interconnecting is a bit different as they would have to be next to each other.

and you can’t complain about the fact that it’s all Germans and Italians. Personally I like to avoid Brits on holiday.

hope you get it sorted, does all sound a bit shit

I’m a independent travel agent and I would 100% get you to complain

Just re read your post - did you book 1 or 2 rooms ? If two rooms you are never guaranteed together unfortunately

I’ve booked with TUI a few times most recently in May - I wouldn’t use them again, they really don’t take complaints seriously unless they look bad publicly.

They have an app, use that to log the complaint and communicate with the Rep also post videos on twitter / insta to shame them to giving you a decent room, being woken up at 5am on holidays is crazy. Hope you get sorted.

That’s horrendous.

We've booked once with TUI and after realising they had blatantly lied about the hotel and how close it was to the beach, we have never booked with them again. They're complete chancers. Good luck.

Sounds awful. Which H10 hotel OP if you don't mind sharing, even the rough location in Spain? I ask as we have also booked a 4 H10 hotel in spain via tui and may have to re think it after reading this!*

Which h10 is it ? I’ve always read good reviews from this franchise and was thinking about booking cor 2024. Hope things get better. Def complain as much as possible!

Any luck with the holiday rep, op?

It does sound a bit disappointing but as an ex Rep and ex Customer Services for a large TO I’d just say this.

Did you technically get what you booked? By that did Tui provide you with two rooms at the hotel? You can have as many MNetters irate on your behalf as you want but there may well be no breach of contract here if you were given the room type you booked. For instance you booked say a Twin/Double 2 Comfort room, BL IV (so basically the cheapest possible instead of say a Twin/Double Superior BL PV/SV.

It may well be that TUI contract the cheaper rooms, so be it, as long as what they advertised it was you got.

Room location, tough one, I really get this bit. But again, it’s a hotel, it’s going to have areas that are prone to external noise.

Please don't even mention the other nationalities, you’d lose my sympathy straight away.

Rep - TUI clearly advertise if they have a Rep at their hotels. They no do a lot by their app. There are far, far few overseas holidays now, main reason being you need an EU passport now. Thanks Brexit.

Good luck with any complaint you make, but try and keep it factual, don’t over egg it and check what you booked.

By the way Jet2 are far superior.

Agree with PP, the rooms might depend on how the tui system booked it in the first place. If you search holidays for a family of 4, it does often split the booking into two rooms, if that’s what the hotel has available, but it’s not overly obvious when you’re selecting the hotel that they’ve done this. We only noticed in the small print at the end right before confirming.

Good luck, it all sounds very stressful.

Also former rep here though not for TUI.
Agree with PP above, check your booking paperwork. Did you book a family room or two rooms? Do you have what was booked?

Location of rooms is difficult as this is allocated by the hotel reservations staff and not TUI.

Any special requests such as 'adjoining rooms' or 'rooms close together' are just that, requests and never guaranteed.

Other nationalities, I agree - don't go there.

Rep service you should definitely have, even if it is by phone or whatever.

So this is where you need to keep pushing. Log everything and DO NOT wait till you are home, it will be deemed that it 'wasn't that bad' and your complaint will be dismissed.

Post on their Twitter page if necessary.

Text the rep again . Tell her this is an official complaint about your room . About the noise and the sewage . You need a better room and you need it now . Tell her to sort it or you will be complaining to the CEO and on social media. I can see your point about the separate rooms but not sure how much leverage you will have with that .

It seems like TUI have a shit contract with this hotel where the very few guests they send there way have the worst rooms but still paying expensive prices.

this may be so but you don’t know for a fact that the others aren’t paying more than you

your room sounds shit and it’s totally wrong that you should have had to pay £200 to “upgrade” (def need that being refunded) however the original rooms might have been fine, other than being miles away from each other? This is tricky unless you were promised rooms next to each other. Which I doubt.

@maddiemookins16mum
I think a basic duty of care to someone booking any cost holiday would include a room which is noise free and has decent view and ability to open the window.
If an hotel decides to sell dreadful rooms they shoud do so with discounts and warnings.

I bet rep can't do much.

It's a large over blown company with no one to hold to account.

It sounds crap, but you kind of lost me with other nationalities. Perhaps you should stay in England.

The room they paid the upgrade for is on the other side of the corridor and doesn't overlook the services. It's likely that that room just costs more, because it's better. Standard to pay extra for a sea view, for example, on booking.

Absolutely . And that is what I would emphasise. But they must keep records and complain to the rep now . Annoying I know but Tui will fob them off otherwise .

@JenniferBarkleyfair point though the OP wasn’t abundantly clear

if TUI have Been allocated the rooms with the service entrance views and noises then this should be clear on booking. Yet of course you never seen such things advertised. It’s probably partly to do with the fact that the hotel is full and it’s luck of the draw.

I think the OPs comment about nationalities was just to explain lack of a UK rep.