Holiday complaint - chances of refund?

Highstreet54

Dear MSE’rs
We have just returned form our first holiday to Turkey – and it was an experience.We were up at 4am for our flight from Gatwick and eventually got to our hotel late in the afternoon.The hotel was advertised as being a 4*, and we had paid £1400 for two weeks B&B.
The room we were showed to was on the second floor, was drab, with no soft furnishings, only one stool and an extremely low bed which had a wooden surround to it. The surround stuck out of the bed for 3 inches all the way round (except for the head end) and we regularly banged our shins on it.
Before we had even unpacked, the manager advised that there was a superior room available at an additional £10 per day. When we viewed the room, the only difference to the room allocated was that there were two chairs, a television and a bath with shower. We declined to pay the additional costs. Surely these sorts of amenities should have been standard features in a 4 star hotel?
Prior to the holiday, we had requested a quiet room. The room we were given overlooked a busy road and had a balcony that gave us an even better view of the road. It was impossible to sit on the balcony side by side even using the two “directors” type chairs provided. One of us had to sit looking up the hill, while the other looked down the hill.
The first night was very uncomfortable, the mattress was very hard and did not have much padding. Upon investigation, the mattress was found to have been placed directly on to wooden planks which provide no additional springing. To all intents and purposes, the mattress may well have been placed directly on the floor.
The next morning, we attended breakfast for the first time. We found that the breakfast buffet had been placed on tables without any additional chilling. This resulted in sealed packs of butter becoming liquid and rancid. The cooked meat and cheese although protected by a cling film cover was also not chilled and was seen to be sweating. Please note that the temperature at this time was in excess of 80F.
Shortly after breakfast, we met the rep for the first time, we asked her about changing the mattress for a softer version. She noted it in her book. That evening, we were dismayed to find that the mattress had not been changed.
The following day we spoke to the representative about the fact that nothing had been done to sort out the problem with the bed. We also spoke to the on site manager and we asked if we could use two sun bed mattresses. He agreed that we could and arranged for a staff member to put two in our room. He also said that he would ask the owner if it was possible to get an orthopaedic mattress. We do not and did not require an orthopaedic mattress – just a softer one!

The additional sun bed mattresses did not relieve the hardness of the bed and on day three we took two further sun bed mattresses to place on the bed. We were now attempting to sleep on 2 sun bed mattresses, each on top of the original bed mattress.

In addition to the hard bed, our room suffered noxious sewage smells that were extremely offensive. The sewage smells occurred both during the day and evening as well as during the night. When we advised the rep, she suggested that we place plugs in the shower and wash hand basin! This failed to remedy the situation and the room continued to stink. We had previously had to ask for sink plugs.

On day four, we requested pillows to add to the sun bed mattresses in an attempt to get a decent night’s sleep.
When we again spoke to the rep, it was suggested that it might be possible to move to another hotel, but further out of town. We were advised that if we took this course of action, we would incur a cancellation charge.

When we spoke to the hotel owner about the problems he advised that the hotel had the best orthopaedic beds anyway and that if we didn’t like it we could leave. When we asked for a refund he just laughed.We were astounded by this reaction.

On day 5, instead of sightseeing, we spent the morning looking at other hotels and inspecting the beds for softness. The hoteliers were amused at our request to test the bed but were quite happy for us to do so. W eventually found a hotel that had much softer beds and made arrangements to move. However, this move was made at a cost of £504.

We gave the on site rep a completed complaint form and when we returned, we also sent another complaint form to the travel company.

What do MSE’rs think about our chances of getting a refund of the additional £504? Should we be looking at going through the small claims court?

hollydays

Did you check out the star rating on tripadviser?
It is fairly well known that a european or other 4 star is not the same as a uk 4 star
You are apparently remarkably well travelled,so I am puzzled how you don't undestand about star ratings.
You can't get a refund for having a bed that was not soft enough for you.

Mrs_Thrify

Hiya, my opinion is that I do not think you will see any refund. How many people went on the holiday?
Did you look on Trip adviser for other people's opinions of the Hotel before you booked?

M4RKM

Highstreet54 wrote: »

D...extremely low bed which had a wooden surround to it. The surround stuck out of the bed for 3 inches all the way round (except for the head end)

Upon investigation, the mattress was found to have been placed directly on to wooden planks which provide no additional springing.

just taking these 2 points into consideration..

the type of bed is called a platform bed.. it is designed exactly how you said, and reminds me of my bed in my bedroom
the mattress does sit directly on the wooden slats, which do provide some movement, or springing as you call it..

just because you're not used to this type of bed, doesn't constitute a reason for a refund.

also, who did you request the quiet room with. Personally, speaking to anyone but the hotel reception, who can pull up your reservation, and add on notes, it probably is a waste of time asking anything....

now, the only real complaint i see you have, is the smell, and the probably poor quality breakfast... you obviously complained about one of these to the rep, (the smell) and should have some sort of complaint there to make, as that is IMO unacceptable... now.. did you complain about the breakfast at the time... if not.. you can't do squat... it's just the way package holidays work!!!

M

baileysbattlebus

4 star hotels in parts of Europe and eastern countries bear no resemblance to 4 star here. Sewage smells aren't that unusual either.

Sink / bath plugs in a Muslim country are not usual, unless you are staying in an internation hotel - in some places we have stayed you have a water hose next to the toilet to wash your behind.

We have had a 4 star hotel in Egypt with a concrete bed base, also had the same in Greece (wasn't 4 star though), and Portugal (3 star apt)

Beds with wooden slats instead of divan bases are common, wouldn't have thought you would get compensation because you didn't like the beds, on the other hand I like a firm bed and don't mind the type of bed you describe.

If the food wasn't properly refrigerated you should have complained to the rep at the time - though often the refrigeration is setting the butter in a bowl of ice and setting the plates that hold the meat / cheese / fruit etc on a tray of ice.

You need to check to see whether the rating is "local" if it is it will certainly not be like a 4 star here.


As someone said always check on Trip Advisor or Holidays Uncovered before you book.

shellsuit

If the only reason you incurred extra costs, is because you were unhappy with the bed, so had to move, I doubt you would be refunded anything at all.

Some people like hard, some people like soft, some people like in between....a hotel cannot possibly cater for everyones needs in the bed comfort department!

On holiday, so long as I have a bed to sleep in, I don't care what kind it is, because I know I'm not going to have the same luxury I have at home unless I take my bed with me.

hollydays

THe OP has been to 33 countries including morocco ,egypt,angola etc,must have had this before?

r18rws

Cant see any refund. Hope you dont get anything taking into account waht you say happened. A hard bed........Whatever next?