Holidays from HELL and they simply don't care.

[EricBlyton]

Here's one to avoid..Galaxy holidays.
They all use fake names, they write their own reviews.
They sent us to the hotel from hell in Marmaris, Turkey.
Miles from the resort and to a place which looked like a down town slum from a war zone.
Within 2 hours of arriving at the "Grand Villa Sol apartments" as it's called we had dumped the bags and gone out in search of food, fended off 2 muggers and returned. On our return the state of the place became immediately apparent.
Cupboard doors, hanging off, filth everywhere, holes in sheets, blood stained mattresses, no working aircon, no working TV, bare wires protruding from walls, electrical outlets actually inside the shower (which we didn't use)
after itching for a couple more hours we walked out, dumping the key on the desk.
We walked for about 2 more hours to the resort area where I paid for a decent hotel. from that point on the holiday was great until it came to getting home. despite telling galaxy holidays what had happened and where we were they failed to get us transferred to the airport so I had to get a taxi.
My only regret is I didn't get more photos of that hell hole hotel but we were too concerned with getting out of there.
Galaxy Holidays absolutely refuse to refund part of the holiday despite the fact that every part of it they arranged was vile and horrible, even the flight was awful!
They claim your holiday is 100% financially protected via the ATOL scheme. This is a LIE, ATOL is only for flights if the company goes bust and I'm not even sure they are a member of that, they don't display their membership number.

In Summary, I would rather spend a week in a dustbin outside a food outlet than go on a holiday with Galaxy holidays.

This place? Your experience sounds awful but I think requesting a new room would probably have been the first step tbh. They wouldn’t just refund a holiday when you chose to leave and pay to go elsewhere rather than give them the opportunity to do something.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g670690-d672642-Reviews-Grand_Villa_Sol_Apartments-Armutalan_Marmaris_District_Mugla_Province_Turkish_Aegean_Co.html

Why didn't you ask for a different room/apartment?

Just googled the hotel and the surrounding areas. I knew "slum" and "warzone" were hyperbole from someone who was pissed off but really you are talking nonsense and coming across as extraordinarily snobby and narrow-minded. It isn't exactly Instaworthy but it's a perfectly standard no-frills place catered towards package holidays. And why you walked two hours I'm struggling to understand. Get a bus or a taxi, you were in a mega tourist spot in the EU, not rural Eritrea! The real problem was the dirtiness of your accommodation and you haven't mentioned contacting anyone to resolve that before walking out. The ATOL point is irrelevant, it doesn't have anything to do with your experience and if it didn't cover what you think it should have then it's on you for not checking beforehand. Glad your holiday picked up at least. Would have been a shame to waste it.

Here? The price is a massive red flag and there are a lot of bad reviews.

https://www.loveholidays.com/holidays/l/?masterId=293440&nights=7&rooms=2&date=2024-07-12

I stayed at sun apartments in armatulan, it's not a warzone FFS. It's the quiet end of marmaris. We hired a car and travelled around, it's just somewhere to sleep and Have breakfast. You can see the TripAdvisor reviews are fake, they are all everyone's only review. Perhaps you need to do more/better research next time. We paid £99 for two weeks in may including flights, it was perfectly acceptable at that price point.

I think you've got lost on your way to TripAdvisor OP. This is Mumsnet.

Another one - planmytour

Awful company

And this is why you do your own research on a hotel before you book! Google, tripadvisor, it’s not hard. Plus have a look at it on google maps, you can see exactly what type of area it’s in

What did you pay, that looks a certain price point that if you paid what did you expect

What did you pay OP?

Check for membership of ABTA and/or AITO as well as ATOL protection in future.

Not foolproof, but members must be of a certain standard, & both have dispute resolution procedures.

Did you do any research on the hotel or area in advance of booking OP? I work for a Tour Operator and we sell some hotels / areas that I wouldn't choose for myself in a million years, but we have clients who love them. Each to their own.

Agree with a PP, in future look for ABTA bonding. ATOL protects your money in the event that the company go bust, but ABTA has service and quality guidelines that members must stick to, and a dispute process if they don't.

Ps.. any issues with accommodation must must be reported to the accommodation and the operator at the first opportunity.

We've had people wait until they return home to report how awful their accommodation was and there is very very little we can do about it after the fact. Lots of hotels simply won't entertain complaints if they only come after the guest has got home. ALWAYS report at the time and by email if you can so you've got a time-stamped record.

Sorry you had such an awful holiday OP - but as others have said, it really is a good idea to do a bit of research before you go eg check out reviews and googlemap for exact placement of your accommodation. There is also a little bit of 'getting what you pay for'. Probably better to either go for a full package with a reputable company with full ABTA protection or do cheap and cheerful yourself with cheap flights and AirB&B.

Prices seem ridiculously cheap and the trip advisor reviews are awful. I think you will need to do some more careful research before booking your next holiday.

Never heard of them and I say that as someone working in the travel industry since 1989 (ex Cosmos/Monarch staff 😢). I always take some parts of holiday ‘complaints’ with a large pinch of salt (especially describing somewhere as a war zone - really Op, that’s just not true). Also, ‘they sent us’, no - you booked it. Nobody frogmarched you up the aircraft steps. ‘Even the flight was awful’……hmm, you’ve kind of lost me by this point, how was it ‘awful’, delayed?
Also when was this holiday?

Reading those trip advisor reviews would’ve saved you a lot of heartache.

I suspect this was cheap as chips - which is fine but usually what you get matches (with rare exceptions)

If you read the reviews I suspect it splits into people who to be frank don't expect much and are just happy to get away and see it as somewhere to sleep

Or those who want to pay cheap as chips and then wonder why it's not particularly great as they have higher standards

Must say reading reviews owner sounds a money grabbing total tosser

you were in a mega tourist spot in the EU

Turkey joining the EU was kept very quiet.

Ah yes, my error!

Ah yes, my error!

You know what, I'm a bit of a pendantic arse. You're right, it's not exactly a war zone, it was a touristy area of a popular Mediteranean tourist destination.

The whole place was awful,includingthe area, no resemblance to what I was sold at all

The photos you see on the Web are what I wS sold, reality is somewhat different, the 2nd hotel actually cost about the same but was far superior!

I have photos but still the accommodation lied!

@EricBlyton oh I believe you- the problem is one persons 'craphole' is another persons 'lovely family holiday' I realised this in reading reviews 'after' I've been somewhere- some people have very very low standards-if it's sunny and there's somewhere to sleep and plenty of cheap beer- they are all good- and somewhere perfectly ok is often only the same money as some cheap flea pit. At the budget end of the market it's an absolute lottery-