Worth complaining?

charlesworth82

Hi - recently went on holiday (booked through purpleholidays.com)

When we arrived we were told the pool was not in use for the next few weeks for fixing. This obviously put a spanner in the works as it was supposed to be a relaxing sit around do nothing holiday.

Was just wondering if its worth complaining as i cant see anything they can do about it now - other than warn people in future

thanks in advance

Darksun

It's worth complaining, if you don't ask you don't get. If the pool was advertised as a feature of the hotel, they should have really advised you it wasn't available and given you the opportunity to look elsewhere. I'd think a small refund would be in order.

Hope you had a good time anyway

pendulum

The pool being closed would be a big thing for me. Swimming is something I do all the time on holiday and the size/niceness of the pool at a hotel would be one of the main reasons why I'd choose one hotel over another.

You should get some money back.

pmduk

It's certainly worth complaining. A pool is a major feature in a holiday hotel at the very least you should have been warned of it's non-availability. Whether you can claim anything back is a moot point. Have you tried to quantify the effect on your holiday?

charlesworth82

this was their reply - basically saying i should have complained at the time:

I was sorry to hear that the clients were advised on arrival at "HOTEL" that the pools were closed for renovation. It is our policy to advise customers of any building or refurbishment works that we are aware of, however, having checked our records in this instance, we had not been advised of any such works prior to travel and, therefore, were unable to pass on this information to the clients.

As I am sure the customers will appreciate, there will be occasions where refurbishment or repairs are required and, for properties which are open throughout the year, unfortunately, these must be carried out when guests are in residence.

The On Holiday group provides a 24hr helpline number for customers to contact should they have a complaint whilst on holiday. Having checked the call logs I can find no record of these customers contacting the helpline and therefore we were prevented from intervening and offering any assistance.
Had we been informed of the pool closure and the clients disappointment we could have assisted in finding an alternative property which may have been more suited to the clients requirements.

In closing, there is little I can do after the event than offer my sincere apologies and hope that this did not detract too much from the overall enjoyment of the holiday.

pendulum

They do have a point in that you really should have complained at the time. Did you complain to anyone at the hotel at the time?

paulwellerfan

just out of intrest where did you go ?/

charlesworth82

pendulum wrote: »

They do have a point in that you really should have complained at the time. Did you complain to anyone at the hotel at the time?

Yeah looking back we should have complained at the time although to be honest after travelling and getting there i just wanted to go to sleep without any arguing on the first day. Should have done it second day :rotfl:

charlesworth82

paulwellerfan wrote: »

just out of intrest where did you go ?/

stayed at the orada apartments in Portugal, Algarve.

I have to admit the apartments were great, very clean and quite big and the pool looked great...

trumpton

No pool on a holiday to the Algarve would be a big deal for me. Who would book a hotel without a pool ? Whether they were aware of the pool being closed or not is neither here nor there - it was something you had paid for and didn't get. It would have been better to have complained at the time - they seem to suggest they would have moved you, though I think that's unlikely.

blue_haddock

A couple of years ago i booked a hotel in Cape Verde through lastminute.com that said it had a gym. When i arrived the 'gym' was a wonky old exercise bike that had no saddle, a dusty floor mat and some weights made by filling water bottles with sand - not exactly fitness first!

Whilst i would of liked to use the gym it wasn't a make or break thing for me. When i got back i emailed their customer services and after a few days the creditted approx 1/3 of the cost back to my card no questions asked.

I was a happy bunny.