we've all seen the advert...

russetred

No laughing now but we've all seen the advert where you arrive at a fabulous exotic resort and one by one all the guests are dropped off at their luxury hotels on the beach and then the minibus turns inland, up hills and it dawns on you your "beachside location" is nowhere near the sea and you have arrived at Seedy Sanchez' resort and diner.Well guess what happened to us!Virgin holidays brochure says "stunning beachside location, 800m from the beach", try 2km. I can laugh at the comedy of our expressions now but seriously we spent nearly £3000 to take 3 adults on a "beach holiday" where due to distance,lack of public transport and phones out of order so no taxis we were trapped and only got to the beach for one day.Particularly upsetting as it was our autistic son's dream to go to Thailand and he saved hard to get there.At the resort we complained and along with others asked to be moved but the local rep could do nothing and the virgin helpline never replied to our phonecalls.A complaint letter has been sent on our return but advice from others would be appreciated.

Aiadi

Sorry to hear about your plight. These things make my blood boil and it is unfortunately the way things seem to be going in all fields of services in the great nation of the big rip-off where people can be taken for such a ride without any fear of deterrent or punishment. Have a think about contacting Trading Standards and probably take the b*****ds to a small claim's court. Hope others could give you a more detailed advice.

saveapenny

Try https://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=49 there is a very good travel solicitors details on there and they can offer very down to earth pratical advice

Donnie

Hope that you can get it resolved.

I dislike package tours for this very reason.

General advice: Please ask here before anything is booked. There's almost always someone who has been there before you.

bagand96

Take a long hard study of the The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 particulary the bit about brochure descriptions. It sounds like they have violated these so you should have a good case.

Also, find out Virgin's ABTA number (will be on your documentation) and call ABTA. They will probably tell you just to write in for now. But the good thing is your complaint will be lodged with ABTA from now, so any help from them in the future should be quicker, as they are aware of your case. You may actually need to write to ABTA to get your complaint logged and get a reference number from them.

Also try calling Consumer Direct, a government run consumer helpline, they were pretty helpful when I rang them concerning a holiday problem, went through the regulations with me, what my tour company had done wrong, what my rights were etc.

I second the advice to visit the holiday truths website, some very knowledgeable people hang out there!

Sam_Bee

Can I ask what the hotel is?

russetred

Thanks to everyone for your support and practical advice.I am checking out all the websites mentioned.One says not to give in and accept compensation below what you asked for which should be fair and reasonable.What is fair and reasonable? The holiday cost £2958 for 3 adults, a two centre with 4 days at a perfectly fine hotel exactly as described in brochure then 10 days at the hotel in question.We would never have picked such a remote location if we had a true picture and were happy to pay extra to be relocated to a better hotel but virgin never got back to us. Any thoughts guys? Oh by the way the hotel in question is The Nova Samui resort in Koh Samui.A little unfair to call it Seedy Sanchez Motel and Diner as it was a nice enough hotel though the staff being rude to anyone who carried a little extra weight like calling them Budha or suggesting the men needed bras, did mean there was a rather unpleasant atmosphere.Basically it wasn't where the brochure said it was.

lisyloo

where due to distance,lack of public transport and phones out of order so no taxis we were trapped and only got to the beach for one day

Unless I've misunderstood you were just over a mile away from the beach, which is about 20 minutes walk.

Did you have toddlers, babies or disabed people with you?

I know it's not ideal, but I'm just trying to work out why you couldn't walk for 20 minutes.

A bit annoying as you can't take deck chairs, windbreaks etc. but it should be quite walkable for able-bodied adults and children (or did I get the distance wrong?).

We would certainly walk this distance pushing a disabled adult in a wheelchair as long as it wasn't over rough terrain i.e. there were pathways.

Sam_Bee

russtred,

I've just seen it in the Virgin brochure, there do clearly state it is 800 metres, but a cursory look at trip advisor suggests it was much further away. Did you actually ever find out how far it actually is?

Just to help you in your complaint (and i'm not playing devils advocate - but you need to think about these)

1 - Did you make your complaint to the rep in resort? What was their response? Did they try and resolve it? If you didn't state your dissatisfaction, Virgin could argue that you didn't give them the opportunity to correct matters at the time.

2 - Whether it was 800 metres or 1800 metres, would it still not have been too far to walk on a hot sunny Thai day? The hotel has half hourly shuttle buses intended to mitigate the distance, and surely you would have used these most of the time anyway, so in the end there was little difference.

3 - How far was it ACTUALLY? As the bird flies it might be 800 metres, but on a windy, hilly Thai road in the heat of the midday sun it could feel a lot further.

I feel for you as you paid a lot of money, and I really do not think there is any justification for not being on a beach in Thailand, no matter what your budget is, and you were badly advised. And then the nearest beach ends up being Chaweng - I wouldn't be happy!

Let me know your thoughts about the above, and i'll see if I can think about the best approach.

lisyloo

Yes you are probably right that in a hot country it may have been difficult to walk.
Would be interested to know what happened to the hotel shuttle buses though.

Donnie

I've taken a look at the hotel in question on the Virgin Holidays website.

There is no mention of a 'beachside location'. Are you telling us that the description in the paper brochure is different?

To be honest, the description seems reasonably accurate.

I'm not sure about the 800 metre claim, but I think that you were also guilty of not doing your research.

You actually have to make an effort to be that far from the beach on Chaweng.
Even if they moved you, there would have been a considerable supplement if you wanted to stay on Chaweng Beach, as both the Regent and the Central Samui Beach Resort are considerably more expensive.
Moving to another beach would have been more likely. At least you would have been closer to the beach, as all of the other properties have a beachfront location.


Flights: 1,650 pounds(max. for indirect(Emirates/Qatar) or 2,100(max.) for direct flights(EVA/BA/Thai), 2 bedroomed 1900 sq ft luxury suite next to the river and the Skytrain in Bangkok for three nights; 325 pounds, Beachfront bungalow on Chaweng Beach for 3 people for 7 nights; 160 pounds. All transfers; 30 pounds. Total; between 2,155 & 2,605 pounds. These are maximum prices.

This is why one should avoid package holidays, unless, you know it's a bargain.