Need to cancel

[nunsflipflop]

We booked a holiday in April, online through the Tui website. I changed the flights they offered to more appropriate times. An extra charge was added to the holiday to do this.

I stupidly didn’t check when the email came through. We paid a deposit of £360.

We booked it under the recommendation of my DD (36) who was reading reviews.
I have done a deep dive to get more reviews, it looks like this isn’t an appropriate hotel to take my grand daughters to.

Using trip adviser,I found the top 5 hotels in Lanzarote and I booked the top one, with a different tour operator who could offer the better flight times for myself, a disabled adult and the little ones in our party thinking I would only be losing £360. Tui did not offer this hotel or the flight times I believed I had paid for on our booking with them.

I called Tui to cancel and they are asking for £3623.74, which will be paid to EasyJet as the flights are non refundable. So I asked if I am paying for those seats on that flight, will they remain empty? The Tui rep said she didn’t know. I asked if easyJet then resell those seats would I get a refund? The answer was no.

Is there any way I can reduce the amount we will lose? Or do I put it down to an expensive lesson?

This is the first holiday abroad I have ever booked. We haven’t been away for 10 years, hence my mistake

I haven't been to this hotel but I have been using TA for years both when working in hospitality, adding reviews and researching my own holidays etc.

things like "the food was boring", "the pool is too salty" etc are subjective to the person writing the review. My opinion of boring food may be totally different to the reviewer. Eg I chose the hotel I am in now because it has a rocky beach, I like to snorkel and rocky beaches in the Caribbean = fish. So for me a rocky beach is great, for others it isn't.

i know that you said you have never booked a holiday before so I guess you have spent ages looking on tripadvisor and had a panic because you haven't used it before and don't realise a lot of it is total crap.

if there are hundreds of reviews about bed bugs take them seriously but if it's just a couple just ignore it. Lots of people also totally overreact to things like a spider or a midge and go to defcom 1

ignore TA once you've booked a hotel unless it's just for gathering tips and recommendations. And go back to your Tui plan which will be absolutely fine

I actually wrote a reasonably long post about the two times I have visited Rubicon and my sisters experience who went 5 weeks ago (and her experience after also getting cold feet because of the bad reviews)

have a look back up the thread and you’ll see it. Not sure you’ve acknowledged anyone who has actually been.

Thanks @viktoria , and the funny thing is OP said I had no advice to give but I wrote about 4 paragraphs about my two visits to the hotel and my sister’s visit who has only just got back! 😂

Please accept my apologies. I have read all of the posts, but having short term memory issues, I wasn’t able to remember names. I’ll scroll back now and have another read.

I have joined both Facebook groups and I am still torn.

@nunsflipflop . You have said it’s the first holiday you have booked, and it's a lot of money so I understand you are nervous and worry it might not meet expectations.
When you read reviews, whether it's a book on amazon or a hotel on Tripadvisor the way to judge is by the majority. There will always be someone who is dissatisfied but if 95% of reviews are positive you can safely go with them. A score of 4.0 on TA means the hotel is good. A score of 4.5 usually means it's excellent.

Look at Google reviews as well. Tripadvisor is used much less now as most people review on Google.
I'm another one who knows this hotel and posted above but you seem unwilling to listen to all the very positive comments on this thread about the rubicon and slightly negative ones about the sandos. One thing i would say for the children is that the rubicon is close to a safe, sheltered sandy beach. The "beach" near the sandos is not nice. It's rocky and seaweedy.

There is only ONE post on TA which complains about bed bugs. Highly unlikely to have been bed bugs at all. Several posts do mention bugs in the room but that is to be expected in the tropics. There is only so much that can be done about insect life. I'd rather put up with them than be constantly exposed to toxic sprays and fumigators.

Cancel the Jet 2 trip, Tui customer service i've always found very helpful. If you really can't face going just transfer the trip to somewhere else and suck up the admin fee.

I'd also be very careful reading TA reviews. You need to also be reviewing the reviewer! E.g. i would not take on the opinion of someone with hardly any reviews. Look at people's previous reviews and where they have been and it's easy to suss out whether they have reasonable expectations or not.

Thank you both, I will look at google reviews.

The only thing the DGD have asked for is a pool, sp they’re easily pleased. I just asked about those on the Facebook groups. People are saying they’re very salty, not heated (apart from one) I think the heated pool will be too deep for our youngest

I have actually shed tears over this. I think my expectations are too high

There is a specific pool for little ones. There is also a water fun park in Playa Blanca. It’s a friendly hotel, all staff we encountered were lovely. You are dwelling on the negative rather than embracing the positive.

Don't think you will need a heated pool in August. Please don't worry.

Holiday expectations are so high when these days they cost so much. Accept that it will not be perfect - unless you are spending serious money as in Ikos for example you are likely to find small faults but nothing that will seriously affect your overall enjoyment of the trip!

I'm surprised that you just had to pay a small deposit when you booked. We've just booked a trip with TUI but the TUI airline flight times were awful so we chose the easyJet flights that cost more but were much better. We had to pay the full amount for the flights at time of booking.

We also changed the flights to Easy Jet but the flights I chose at booking are not what was on the confirmation. I paid extra for that too.

It is the easy jet money they are asking for, to cancel the booking

Not clear why you are still so set on cancelling when others experience is so positive. Is the alternative EJ flight still available to book on their site and the same price? If this is so overwhelming take your dd along to TA although if you booked online they may not be able to help.

I think you are really over thinking this and need to calm down. I understand this is all new to you and you are spending a lot of money.

Firstly, you really must take a balanced view when reading reviews on Trip Advisor, Google, Tui websites etc. If there is a recurring theme it shows, but usually what happens is that most people don't bother praising, but they prefer to highlight their negatives rather than the positives. And you can't please all of the people all the time.

On many of the TA reviews people are commenting that it is not a 5 hotel. Hmmm ... yes they are right it is not. It is a 4 + . If they had wanted a 5 they should have booked a 5 with the increased associated costs that would have come with that. This is just one area that shows people's expectations are not aligned with what they have booked.

I think what happens these days as well is that holidays are significantly more expensive than they used to be so there is a natural assumption that everything must be utterly perfect. Reality tells us otherwise. Even truly luxurious 6* hotels of the World suffer from people wanting more than the luxury they receive and some will even post a slightly negative review based on the weather when that has absolutely nothing to do with the hotel.

Playa Blanca is a resort that is spread out about 6 km in length and split up into sections. The Sandos Papagayo is quite literally at the starting point of that 6km stretch with a not attractive beach in front of it.

The Rubicon is far nearer to a nice beach, nearer to places to go out for a coffee, ice cream, wander along the prom and soak up the atmosphere. You are not as out on a limb as the SP is.

Loads of pools are now salt water. Lots of pools are unheated and in the Summer you won't be bothered. They do have one that is heated.

I can't comment on the actual specifics of both hotels apart from their location and to reiterate what somebody upthread has said. The Sandos is a 4 the Rubicon is a 4+ = a better hotel.

We are heading back to Playa Blanca this Summer, but to a villa. Personally I would never choose to stay in the Sandos Papagayo area as it is just too far out for me. There is a very small commercial centre nearby offering the basics. Tapas bar, sports bar, basic mini market. It is surrounded by lovely villas where many people will have hire cars and will drive into Playa Blanca or accept the walk of about 25 minutes to the marina with another 25 minutes further into the centre. Where as The Rubicon is much, much better placed.

Those that have been and can recommend it, several of the reviews I have read for Rubicon say, they have bed bugs infestation in their rooms.
Couldn’t swim in the pool because it was too salty.
Food wasn’t very hot or much choice.
I would be grateful for your input please

DH and I stayed there 2 years ago, so I appreciate that things can change but -

We didn't see or hear any evidence of bed bugs. If this was a problem, then it would be all over the Tripadvisor recent reviews, rather than just one or two comments, whereas the likelihood is that the bites were caused by a mozzie or sandfly or similar. People can be very quick to assume any bite is a bed bug bite.

The pools were salt water - quite a few are in the Canaries. It didn't stop us swimming at all. The main pool was freezing, but we were there in February, the heated pool was nice, but it was not really a kids pool, although lots of kids were in it. From memory, for smaller kids there was a kids pool and paddling pool with a pirate ship/slide. We didn't have kids with us, but it looked like a really fun area for children. There was also a kids club that seemed really popular.

There was plenty of choice on the buffet at all meals - we never found the food to be warm, it was fine. There was also sandwiches/fries/snacks etc served in the poolside bar at lunchtimes, in addition to the buffet restaurant. A couple of times in the week they had a bbq out by the pool. There were a three included evening restaurants as well, but you had to book these very early on in the week if you wanted to get in. The Italian was disappointing, but the other two were good. Overall, the food was good, not excellent, but decent enough quality and choice.

The location is a bit far out to walk to the centre of Playa Blanca if it's very hot and you've got young children. But there was a bus stop right outside the hotel, and plenty of taxis. Playa Flamingo was closer, easy walking distance, with a few bars and restaurants, and a pleasant beach.

I'd go back there like a shot - it was lovely, the hotel was a good standard, the ground and atmosphere was great, the staff were generally friendly and helpful, and the bar/lounge with terrace in the evening was great. There was a huge choice of included drinks, including branded, which is fairly rare - usually it's just local brands.

Don't cancel this hotel - it's lovely and I'm sure you'll have a great time. No holiday is ever 100% perfect, just relax and go with the flow, and if anything major is wrong- just ask at the reception desk, I'm sure they'll do everything they can to put things right.

You don’t need a heated pool in August - in fact the one that says it’s heated absolutely won’t be in August anyway (it will only be heated in the winter). As for salt water v chlorine pools, many people prefer salt water as it’s less irritating to skin and eyes. They aren’t drinking it!!

If the booking conditions say only loose the deposit then they can’t now say you need to pay for the entire holiday

I had this same problem with TUI, and I had to pay the whole lot (depost they called it). They gave me an option to change the dates, etc, with additional fees bit I was so shocked by the whole thing that I cancelled and booked with someone else.

Just a quick question to those who have been places with saltwater pools, how strong is the salt ? I'm a diver and have no issue with seawater obvs however I would not choose to swim for relaxing around a resort in the sea unless I was snorkelling. Is salt pool water as strong as the sea ? I've seen a few resorts that say they have saltwater pools and tbh would discount a resort if they only had saltwater pools as I imagine it being like the sea

I find saltwater pools much less salty than the sea @StiffyByngsDogBartholomew. I guess it might depend on the resort though?

Why would it matter if a pool is salt or not unless you plan to drink it?

chlorinated water and sea water are quite different. The feel of sea water on the skin when you get out, what it does to your hair, your buoyancy, all sorts.

if one has never been in a salinated pool, only chlorine then one does not know what to expect. I don't mind seawater for diving and snorkelling but I would not choose it for relaxing resort type lounging in a pool. Ergo I wouldn't commit to a £10k holiday with a seawater pool when swimming is a big part of what we do on holiday and I don't know whether a saltwater pool is going to be like seawater level of salt.

I’ve done some research based on this question, and it seems that most saltwater pools are roughly 10% as salty as the sea.

I haven’t found saltwater pools anywhere near as rough on my skin / hair / eyes as either chlorine or the sea. I also haven’t noticed a massive buoyancy difference, but I don’t do lots of intense swimming.

Thanks @cherryassam that's really helpful

Odd, I've been at a hotel over a week and never noticed the pools are saltwater until another guest mentioned it yesterday. I did notice my skin is super soft but put that down to the jacuzzi.