To think theres something going on here......balaericsHotel

[Trolleydolly123]

So without going into detail, trip to balearics 3 months ago, major issue at hotel where other guests accused my dad of theft (not true) due to the large group being so aggressive, hotel essentially forced my dad to pay back the money. We requeated to phone police they refused,requested CCTV but refused. We left that day as planned with a view to complaining on return.
Numerous emails sent to hotel to complain, all ignored.
Calls to hotel ignored.
Email to head office ignored.
Contacted tourist board who say get a complaint form from hotel.
Finally speak to a human at hotel who denies such form exists.

Am i being paranoid or is this a massive wall of silence/cover up?!

Any advice of how to progress?

Sounds like a scam, sounds like the hotel have probably dealt with this before from the same scammers. They have probably defended the person in your position and have had to deal with the consequences. I bet they know these scammers and are not in cahoots with them.

Had you seen these people before that evening?

However, cut your losses, absolutely nothing will be done about it now.

You could have called the police yourselves.

Might be intimidating to call the police if you don’t speak Spanish - I can see that you’d be relying on the support of the hotel to help with that.

Right but you figure it out when the hotel made it clear they weren’t going to call.

This was 3 months ago not 30 years. Voice translation apps exist to use with phone calls.

You should have called the police yourselves. It was probably a scam and the hotel just didn't want the hassle of dealing with it. It's a bit late now to do anything about it.

Why didn’t you call the police?

In very touristy areas in Spain the police often speak English and younger officers are more likely to. This sounds like a scam. You can complain to the local mayor's office and you can probably report online to the police but tbh putting details of the experience on social media is probably going to be the most effective thing.

The group were also British. We were literally pounced on, phoning the police would have meant getting the phone, googling the number, phoning, all whilst under extreme stress utterly confused at the accusations and surrounded by a group shouting and hotel staff very forcefully saying 'just pay', phoning the police in the UK when the number is imprinted on your brain is quite different.
Everyone saying you should have phoned police is very unhelpful, as we didnt, due to the utter shock and fright as explained. Yes we should have, but we didnt.

The number is 112 they are trained to speak English.
this is not on the hotel but you.

So anytime anyone surrounds you and shouts 'pay pay pay' then you will just pay up, no questions asked? What would you have done if they had been demanding €1000? Paid?

You should have refused to pay and phoned the police yourself.

A lesson that when you go on holiday know the emergency services numbers..in Europe 112 will get you an English speaker able to help you

My issue with the hotel is that they should have either helped us, or remained neutral, not colluded with the people behaving in this way. And then to ignore all attempts and basically not allow me to complain, and lie about the process. Thats the issue. Not that we didnt phone the police.
No we didnt, yes we should have.

Why not post about this on trip advisor as hotel review ?

You are not going to get an apology, the money is gone (why would the hotel refund you?), and with the additional information it is very unlikely that this was a scam that the hotel was in on.

Chalk it up to a shitty situation and let it go (but be more prepared in the future).

ETA: I know you said you are not confrontational, but there is a point that you do need to stand up for yourself. Yes this sounded like an intense situation but the time to handle things was then and there or even that same day.

Exactly

all very peculiar

Just you and aged parents Op? No children? Other family?

The hotel perhaps had strong grounds to believe they were advocating for the wronged party

hotel essentially forced my dad to pay back the money.

how?

The hotel should have called the police, but didn't. You should have called the police, but didn't. Somewhere there is a Spanish police officer banging his or her head on the desk in frustration that people moan about crime but then don't call the sodding polizia, or whatever the Spanish word is!

Nobody will refund you. Your best bet here is to channel your frustration into determination to improve your assertiveness going forward.

Gosh, this must have been very scary, particularly with your elderly parents there. It’s clearly a scam and who knows who was in on it exactly but I can understand that in the confusion phoning the police might’ve been very difficult especially when the hotel are pressurising you to pay Up. As others have said I think the best thing you can do now is get it out there via reviews and social media to make sure people are aware of this scam. I’m very sorry This happens to you.

I think yes you should’ve called the police, you didn’t and now it’s too late.

I think the chance of you getting any money back at this stage is zero.

You could find a non emergency Spanish police number now and contact them to alert them to this scam targeting tourists so they can be aware of this happening as it might help others in the future.

You've been bullied and coerced and possibly scammed out of £100. Shocking and unpleasant, but over and done.

I don't think you'll get any redress from anyone now. Better to figure out how to move on.

Well there are plenty of things you could/should have done at the time. No point in going over and over that now.

It's 100 Euros you lost/were scammed out of/had stolen 3 months ago whilst abroad.

The chances of anyone being helpful or investigating or taking this particularly seriously is nearly as low as any chance of you getting the money back (which is NIL).

It's 100 Euros. Move on.

My issue with the hotel is that they should have either helped us, or remained neutral, not colluded with the people behaving in this way. And then to ignore all attempts and basically not allow me to complain, and lie about the process. Thats the issue

Well yeah. They sound shit. So don't go back there 🤷‍♀️

Any other expectations you have of what should 'happen' to the hotel over this are unrealistic.

So now as many pp have said, OP, you can review and complain through numerous channels, eg Trip Advisor and social media (ie about the hotel, the tourist board).

You can still report this to the Police, both the UK and Balearics police forces, and your local MP’s office can advise you how best to do this. You’d be surprised at some of the requests they get and the stuff they help with.

You have many avenues if you are determined not to let it go.

Personally I’d chalk it up to experience and regard it as a lesson learned.