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.

Yes, complain, complain and complain again, both in resort to the hotel management and TUI reps and also when you return home. Far too many people can't be bothered to complain and that's why firms like TUI get away with crap like that.

We had the same with Thomson (who TUI took over) and ended up with court cases against them on two occasions. We won both. They just try to fob you off, but don't put up with it. On the worst of our two cases, we got a full refund plus refund of court fees, on the second, we got awarded a 75% refund.

Just keep notes and photos of the problems, notes of who you complained to and when, and screenshots etc of the online listing and booking form showing what was promised to you.

Don't let them get away with it.

But what are you booking through a package if not flights and hotels? Sometimes it works out cheaper to book through a package company.

Not to mention the luxury bespoke holidays we took to Thailand and Vietnam pre kids - five star hotels, private transfers, private excursions etc. Also packages.

But that doesn’t have to be face to face. Email would be better as there’s a ‘paper’ trail and evidence can be attached.

I mean it isn't hard is it? I booked a three location, two hotel, multi train trip holiday on my phone in the pub.

Aren't you clever!!

@JenniferBarkley each to their own. They are not for me.

@blacknredsweeties well better to be clever than rude.

So what? This thread isn't actually about what op should have done, it's about what's happening now.

Not if the complaints pathway is that complaints have to be raised locally with the rep before they can be escalated to head office.

And yep, some packages do have that rule. We had an issue with a Crystal ski package a few years ago, our room was double-booked. When we rang the UK Crystal customer service line, we were just told to contact the rep and get them to sort it out with the hotel.

No one is saying it's hard, because it isn't. Just that packages can give extra protection and work out cheaper. I don't see why you would turn your nose up at that. It'll work sometimes, not others, like I said we've done both.

I don't see why a flight from Belfast to Naples and then a week in the xyz hotel in Sorrento would be for you if booked separately, but not if booked through TUI or the like for a cheaper price. It's the same holiday.

So phone them or yes walk 30 minutes.

It’s hardly a big walk. Might even see some sights on the way.

We used to book like this but lost money due to covid cancellations and insurances not covering it. After 10 months of chasing we finally got most of our money back with exception of a £600 hire car.
We have booked package deals for the last 3 years now as covered by the package holiday regs better and our credit card charge back if needed.

I had a v poor experience with an H10 hotel in Lanzarote. Booked directly and luckily only 5 nights.

Arrived and took an age to get checked in, way over the check in time. Was golf buggied to the far end of the resort at which point we realised we were in the middle of major building renovations directly under our room. Didn’t even unpack, called reception and made them move us. That took another 1h and got moved to another room in better location. However this one was near an outside power/aircon thing and it went on every hour day and night. No other rooms of our type available).

We will never stay at another H10. The pools were great and outside areas v well maintained but the food (at a 5*) much lower quality than others and v noisy rooms from talking to other guests. What good is perfectly manicured lawns when no one gets any sleep!

OP set up accounts on Twitter and keep posting messages as well as going down formal route.

I've found it is company specific to how well they respond but a lot of the time they don't want negative publicity so do attempt to resolve.

We have had good experiences with jet2

Indeed.

I am normally a booking separately kind of girl but when we went away towards the tail end of the pandemic, I went for the protected package holiday in case it all went tits up.

years ago we did diy and Easyjet cancelled our return flight half way through our holiday. Untold stress and cost! Nightmare. At least going with a package if there is a problem with your return flight you can be fairly confident they’ll sort out an alternative!

that all said, there can be an advantage in sorting things directly with the hotel rather than having to contact a rep who isn’t even present. But clearly not in this case.

If a return flight is cancelled, do you not just book another one. Alternatively be adventurous and catch a train to another City/boat to another island and catch one from there.

Getting home.from the Continent can't quite be compared to getting home from Borneo.

The beauty of booking independently is that you can avoid the big, complex type hotels used by the package companies. For me hotels are for one to three nights to facilitate sightseeing or visiting not for a two week.stay and specified times for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For a fortnight, I prefer a villa, to visit different restaurants and chill according to our own timetable.

@RosesAndHellebores
If a return flight is cancelled, do you not just book another one.

ha I wish. £4800 we were quoted for one way flights home with BA. The only planes with seats were business class.

You're determined to impress all around you with your superiority to op, @RosesAndHellebores . Do you imagine this is at all helpful to her actual dilemma?

That's what you prefer. Not everyone prefers that.

And you can 'just book another one'if flights are available and you can afford them.

As I have said already the op needs to email the CEO directly with footage of the experience.

I'm not trying to impress anyone, I just think that a better holiday could have been procured more cheaply and would have been a better experience.

But how does that help her now?

I won't add to the advice about complaining but in terms of trying to make the best of it now, are you sure it wouldn't be better to swap rooms with your teens? Mine would sleep through an apocalypse whereas DH and I are both light sleepers. Windows shut and air con on maybe they'd survive the 5am truck traumas better than you?

We have new rooms, next to each other. The rooms aren’t great (right over the disco with noise til about 2 am) but 100% better than being by the service entrance! We’ve just noticed there is a sewage plant opposite the hotel which explains the constant stench of shit.

My comment about the hotel being predominantly full of guests from countries other than the UK was to explain the lack of TUI rep, the lack of care or interest in helping us and the fact we were given the shittest rooms in the hotel because TUIs contract with the hotel for UK guests is for us to be given the worst rooms in the worst part of the hotel. Other nationalities here have their own reception desk, own very nice entertainment area and their own separate lounges/dining.

So after taking them to court you still went on a second holiday with the same company you were taking to court?! If you were that unhappy with the first holiday why the hell did you then go on another with them which you were also so unhappy with that you took them to court again.

Op pleased you are happier about the room situation

Other nationalities here have their own reception desk, own very nice entertainment area and their own separate lounges/dining
I can see how this can be annoying but I don’t think you can complain about this if you still what you have paid for? Eg if you booked a hotel that had three different restaurants and it turned out you couldn’t use two that’s not on. But if the other holidaymakers have facilities over and above what you were promised then lucky them.