Tui mis-sold

[Iusedtohavefun]

We booked a holiday with Tui last year due to travel 6th June. We specifically booked this hotel as it’s listed as having a heated pool and two play parks. My children ate 1&3 so too young for kids club. Recent reviews suggested the pool isn’t heated and was in fact unusable for small children as it’s so cold and the hotel have since confirmed that the pools aren’t heated and there are not any play parks..

we would never have booked this hotel if it wasn’t listed as having these things. I’ve contacted Tui to find out options. Stated that’s it’s misrepresentation and false advertising and need to be able to change our holiday or cancel. Because it’s within 14 days of h
our holiday, they are really dragging their feet in giving a response, promised calls not happened etc.

just wanted to see if anyone has experienced similar and had a positive outcome? The holiday isn’t fit for purpose if we can’t use the pools and they have no play parks as they were main source of entertainment for our young children

Can you visit a store. I’ve no experience of your issue but I’d need to change hotel too. They surely can’t be sold out early June so I’d have thought there were options to move your hotel to something more suitable if you can visit a store, go in and refuse to leave until sorted? Might not work if stores and online are different but it might work.

We are at a TUI holiday destination with children’s/family pool which is not heated and it’s absolutely full of people with young children, toddlers and babies. Doesn’t seem to be an issue at all.
Considering it’s unheated, it’s remarkably warm.
Theres a wee toddler splash area too full of happy kids and parents having a great time.

It may not be the disaster that you think it may be.

@digiwidgy We booked online so not sure store will be able to help but if I don’t get a resolution this morning I might just have to go into store and try!

@ThomasShelbysfagend agree it might not be a disaster but my 3 year old is super sensitive so she will not get in. And I think more to the point it was advertised as heated and it’s not plus the lack of children facilities that were advertised means we wouldn’t have booked the hotel. Tui have advised that their website will be updated to reflect the pools so to me that’s admitting there is an issue and it shouldn’t have been advertised that way. I think because we are so close to departure they wouldn’t be able to claim back a refund from the hotel so not responding to us as promised

The heated pool bit is really specific to the hotel and destination. If people who are there are saying the pool is unusable, someone else’s experience at a totally different resort isn’t really relevant.
Your best first option is to go in store. I’d be surprised if you couldn’t persuade them to change you, but this late a lot of stuff might be more expensive.
After that, you’re probably going to have to go on the holiday and complain afterwards. Did you pay on credit card at all?

@JustMyView13 I’m going to call agin this morning and the. Go into a store if I can’t get anywhere on the phone. But it’s an online booking so not sure store can do much other then call on my behalf. But worth a shot. No we paid direct debit each month, Tui wouldn’t accept Amex so can’t charge back annoyingly otherwise that would be getting raised.

When I went to a TUI shop they wouldn’t help me because my booking was made online. I was probably unlucky and had miserable staff though 😂 I hope you can get it sorted.

@Iusedtohavefun Too late now, but it’s also worth having a visa CC too as you get S75 protection for purchases over £100. You’d only have to do the deposit. Good luck!

Beware all future bookings as lots say heated but usually it’s just the winter months which they fail to tell you! Eg Turkey hotels winter concept is November to march and they only heat the pools then, even with that it’s management discretion as to if they bother to heat. So annoying.

when I book I always go on trip advisor find the hotel and search heated pool then look at the date the review was written to make sure. Good luck.

Off the topic but TUI do accept Amex, unless you were wanting to pay it monthly direct debit style. We pay the deposit on one and then the couple of payments when they are due

I would keep calling and visit a store. Can you find a suitable hotel on there website flying to same place and suggest you get switched.

I'd visit the store too and quietly sit it out until. If you are visible to someone, i.e. a physical presence, it's harder to ignore you.
We booked a week long city break with TUI a couple of years ago. Our flight was cancelled about two weeks before and they had no idea. When we went into the shop they said we were wrong until we waited it out and they actually checked themselves. Then they said we could cancel the holiday or pay thousands extra. We pointed out that the same airline had flights available later in the day as we were perfectly capable of a quick internet search ourselves and we could be transferred to the next flight but it would need doing quickly before all the seats went. Then they said as our booking was being changed we would have to pay an admin fee of several hundred pounds. Eventually they agreed that we didn't have to pay that as we pointed out it wasn't our choice and hadn't wanted to arrive late at night. All of the above took a week and was a mix of phone calls and several visits to the shop where we would wait to be seen because it seemed none of the staff wanted to deal with us as they didn't like that we were polite but would not be fobbed off. We only booked with TUI because it was post COVID and they were offering a guarantee around that. We usually book things directly and don't use a travel agent and that's what we have gone back to doing since the stress above. But if you're in store you're harder to ignore (but take a picnic just in case). Sorry you are in this position OP. If you've saved up for a holiday and looked forward to it then it's very disappointing.

Heated pools normal say over the winter months. For carnaries that usually ends in April. Can you link the hotel?

@Olderbeforemytime not going to name the hotel just yet but the tui website states the following there are 2 outdoor pools to choose from, 1 fresh water and 1 saltwater. And one of the pools is heated too.

no mention of it just being during off season. They also state there is an indoor and outdoor play park for children, but hotels websites specifically states there are no play parks. You can’t stay and play with children in kids club either, can only drop and go. My children aren’t old enough for that and crèche is chargeable - which I knew (about the chargeable crèche, not that you can’t stay and play under parental supervision).

There aren’t any comparable hotels on Tuis website, so preference would be to switch destinations

Check your inbox. I am about to send you a contact.

Meals out when you haven't done anything first, e.g. Sunday walk followed by pub lunch - great, dinner before or after a show - great. Just going for a meal - boring. Social events where you mostly stand. People endlessly talking about their children or ailments. Non functional purchasing. Girly groups. 'passenger' friends who leave all organising to others.
SORRY COMPLETELY WRONG THREAD BUT CAN'T DELETE 🙂

I agree with this - even if it had a heated pool, it's unlikely to be heated in June. I think you will struggle to find else somewhere that is heated. It's frustrating about the play areas too though. I hope you manage to get it changed.

Can I suggest wetsuits for the kids if they feel the cold? Potentially full ones (long legs/sleeves). We bought some for a recent holiday and it was a game changer. The kids played for hours even though the water was freezing and it was cloudy. It also meant very little suncream needed! You can get 2 piece ones for less faff going to the toilet/nappy changing.

I think the point is that they say heated. We went to a hotel in Turkey last year and despite it being June, the pool was definitely heated. It was more like a warm bath than a refreshing dip. We are travelling to a. Greek island and in previous experience it’s been windy so although a higher temperature, there’s a chill. Which is why the idea of a heated pool appealed. The manager has replied to TripAdvisor reviews suggesting wetsuits which just feels extreme, am putting them in a pool not the Atlantic 😂

Next time check the hotel website as well as trip advisor.
The hotel website should say when the pool is heated and you'd have known there wasn't a play park

I think the warm bath experience is unusual, OP - my experience is even where outdoor pols are technically heated you can barely feel it. Yo need somewhere with an indoor pool if you want warmth.

That's not entirely relevant to your pint that the website said something untrue, tbf. What's the hotel?

thanks for all replies. The point I’m making is that Tui advertised the hotel as having certain facilities that were central to us booking the hotel. These facilities are not at the hotel. Trying to understand if people have had similar experiences and successfully changed their holiday without fee with less the 2 weeks to go.

my contract is with Tui not the hotel, I booked the holiday through Tui so trusted them as the agent to provide accurate details. I did due diligence at the time, checked trip advisor looke dat reviews etc. I’ve not booked a £4500 holiday without looking at things. Tui website makes no mention on website of heated pool for certain times etc so to me this is false advertising/ mis representation of features that I consider key to the enjoyment of our holiday.

We've had this twice recently, both high end hotels and got absolutely nowhere unfortunately.
There's some small print somewhere that says only major changes warrant a change of hotel or refund and pool temperature wasn't included.
I hope you do manage to sort something but we just made the best of it.

Is it TUI kids club? You can’t stay and play in kids club for child protection reasons. They allow allow DBS checked or equivalent staff into the kids club. This is very sensible in my opinion and is clear if you read up on their kids and baby clubs. If it’s a TUI Blue hotel they will probably have a few stay and play seasons.

Just to add, we paid £600 extra to have a swim up room which was icy cold and no one used them, they still wouldn't give us any refund afterwards 🙄

I totally get your point. But I think perhaps you don’t need to stress about this.

The water in June if a shallow pool prob will feel nice (it’s meant to be a bit refreshing isn’t it?) Wetsuits for kids are very good and easy to wear and you can get them with sun protection in too. If other kids are in there enjoying it then your kids will pick up on that and prob also enjoy it. Once you are there it will all make sense but right now you are probably over stressing this

The shops won’t help with an online booking. Their customer service is total dog shit