Substandard hotel

Jamiemcgregor3147

Me and my wife booked a package holiday to Skiathos with Love Holidays. The holiday was not cheap, £2166 for 10 nights half board in a ‘4 star hotel’. Unfortunately the hotel is substandard and well below that of a 4 star hotel in Greece, or in fact the local area. There are issues with a dirty pool, repetitive, rotten and tepid food being served, lack of cot bed mattress and a dangerous poolside area. We have complained to the travel agent and hotel but are getting no where. My issue is that I believe I have been mis-sold a 4 star holiday that is more likely a 2 star holiday and have therefore breached the contract. Other UK guests in the hotel with another provider have the same complaint therefore there is corroboration. I believe that as Love Holidays haven’t honoured a stay in a 4 star hotel, they are obliged to find alternative accommodation at their cost. This has been flatly refused. Any suggestions on how to rescue our holiday and how to tackle the issue upon our return home? Thanks 

Westin

Did you check the official Greek rating of the hotel?  Look at any Trip Advisor reviews?

I think that with a lot of these online agencies that they pull hotel inventory from bed banks. Those bed banks allow the hotels to create their own copy and also their own 'star' rating.  I have seen some dubious bed and breakfast type pensions in Turkey with 4/5* ratings.

Which hotel is it?

TELLIT01

What is the name of the hotel.  If people on here can do a bit of investigating they may be in a better position to comment.

If you expected a 4* hotel on the Greek Islands to be of the same standard as a 4* hotel in the UK you were always likely to be disappointed.

onashoestring

Sound awful , however I don’t think a refund based on mis-selling will carry  any weight as Love Holidays T&C’s state that they don’t guarantee the accuracy of the ratings: 

“19. Accommodation Ratings and Standards.

Star ratings are used to symbolise the overall quality and level of standards of each accommodation type and are typically based on criteria including the range of standard facilities, the quality of the furnishings, the quality and range of the food outlets, and the overall level of service. However, there is no uniform and consistent method of star ratings and as such they can vary significantly by country, and often within countries. Also, not all countries have official rating systems. Therefore, the rating displayed is only an opinion and should only be used as a guide. If your Service Provider provides an “official” tourist board rating, we will endeavour to include that within the accommodation description. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of any ratings given. All ratings are as provided via the relevant Service Provider and are not our personal ratings.”

That said , regardless of what star rating a hotel has, it should provide mattresses for all beds and  meet Health & Safety standards so I would be focusing on those in your complaint not that you have been mis-sold the holiday. 

Take photos of the dangerous poolside, missing mattress and if food doesn’t meet hygiene standards -  ask the hotel to resolve the specific issues by providing the mattress, move you to a safer room . Talk to them first, showing the pictures and send an e-mail also so you have a record of your complaint. 

Pollycat

Didn't you check the reviews before you booked?
Issues that you describe are not likely to be things that just occurred at the time of your visit.

Sandtree

Star ratings are not universal and in some countries it is purely about facilities and not quality.

You could have the worlds best hotel but if it doesnt have 24/7 kitchen then it cannot be a 5* hotel. Similarly a hotel could be an absolute hole but as long as it can tick the boxes of having food at all hours, a pool (even if its dirty) etc then it can be 5*. Hoteliers obviously know this and some will play the game... a relative used to have a small boutique hotel that was considered 3* but by doing nothing more than closing their smallest single occupancy room the hotel went up to a 4* because of the impact on the average room size and the more they could charge for being 4* more than compensated for the money the small room had been generating. 

Double check the hotel's official star rating but think of it as a guide not a rule.

Jamiemcgregor3147

Westin said:

Did you check the official Greek rating of the hotel?  Look at any Trip Advisor reviews?

I think that with a lot of these online agencies that they pull hotel inventory from bed banks. Those bed banks allow the hotels to create their own copy and also their own 'star' rating.  I have seen some dubious bed and breakfast type pensions in Turkey with 4/5* ratings.

Which hotel is it?

The hotel is the Hotel Belvedere at Achladies. It appears to be renowned on the island for being poor. They also appear to have submitted a 5 star review yesterday evening after we informed them of recent poor reviews. This has been reported to Trip Advisor

Jamiemcgregor3147

Pollycat said:

Didn't you check the reviews before you booked?
Issues that you describe are not likely to be things that just occurred at the time of your visit.

There were no recent bad reviews at the time of booking and only average reviews in the build up to our visit. We assumed that the lack of reviews was down to Covid and no visitors

Westin

Trip Advisor reviews do seem very mixed but the overall blend is scoring the hotel 4.

The Greek Tourist category is also a 4*.  As someone else pointed out a 4* in one country can vastly differ from a 4* in another.  For Greece I would always knock one star off the official rating. 

Google’s consolidated reviews give the hotel 3.5*

Olympic Holidays rate the hotel 3.5* and TUI just 3*. 

Looking at just the photos on LoveHolidays and the hotel website, I wouldn’t class this as a four star either.

As you can see the grading vary and like customer reviews, can be subjective.

Sorry that you are having a disappointing time there.  You asked in your original post if LH were obliged to find and move you to another 4* hotel. Unfortunately that is not so.  I also sadly doubt LH will do anything for you.  Sorry, not better news.

Jamiemcgregor3147

Thank you everyone for your comments and I understand the issues around hotel gradings and perceptions of food quality. We have taken some photos of 2/3 star hotels we have visited whilst on the island, which are of a much greater standard to our hotel.

My argument and understanding now having conducted some research, is that both the hotel and Love Holidays have failed to supply significant elements of the holiday and the performance of the package has been so poor. As such we have protection under the Part 2 and 4 of the Package Holiday & Linked Travel Regulations 2018. Love Holiday’s failure to act to support us in anyway shape or form has shown clear incompetence, despite spending hours each day sending them evidence. Am I correct in thinking this?

The significant elements of the package that I am identifying are;

- No mattress for my baby. He is currently sleeping on a piece of foam from some seating, that is a suffocation risk. We emailed the hotel in advance to check they had one, which they stated they had. Me and my wife are taking it in turns in the night to check on him, and he has spent time in our bed, which is dangerous also. The hotel have promised numerous times to supply us with a mattress, yet it has never appeared. We have disclosed to Love Holidays that our baby is at risk, yet no action from them. They have actually argued that it is not a significant element along with the pool issue.
- The hotel pool is dangerous and dirty, therefore unusable. I have now inspected the pool floor and bottom, and it is dirt and not a stain as disclosed by the hotel. There are actually barnacles growing on the bottom! The surrounding area is also a health hazard due to collapsed grating, crack tiles and inadequate flooring. The availability of a pool was a significant factor in us booking this hotel over others.
- The lift is out of order and was
prior to our arrival. We are having to carrying our baby and Pram up and downstairs everyday. We should have been informed of this before our arrival as it was one of our decision making criteria in choosing the hotel. 
- We had a flooded balcony for 3 days, which the hotel refused to rectify.
- Brown water running out of our bathroom sink.
- Intermittent smell of drains coming from our bathroom.

Other factors, which could be argued as not significant elements but are contributory factors to our grievance are:

- Substandard, cold and unfresh food.
- No plug for our sink despite asking 5 times for one. This has resulted in us having to ask for washing up bowl from the kitchen.
- Unreliable hot water supply.
- Poor finish to our room.
- Unsafe balcony railings on our balcony.
- Unkempt gardens and communal areas, which contradicts the advert.

We can actually prove that the hotel
manager placed some fake reviews on Trip Advisor after we disclosed to him that there were negative reviews on that site (these have been reported to Trip Advisor) but are currently still on the site. He has also provided false information to the agent dealing with the complaint. 

I am planning on taking this matter to the small claims court upon my arrival back in the UK. We reported our concerns on our first full day on holiday and every day since, providing updated evidence as the holiday has progressed. We have also swapped details with other guests who are planning to do the same, so we can act as corroboration for each other’s cases.

Our holiday has been totally ruined by all of this, which was to celebrate by wife’s belated 40th from last year, and also our son’s first holiday abroad.

TELLIT01

I would stick to elements where you have solid photographic or written evidence e.g. unsafe balcony, copies of letters of complaint to the hotel.  Items such as unreliable hot water are a fact of life in many areas and your opinion of unkempt and that of locals may differ in respect of the gardens.  There may be a water shortage stopping the gardens being watered.

Gardens, poor finish to rooms, occasional drain smells are unlikely to be considered 'significant elements' of the holiday.

Unless you actually saw the manager typing fake reviews and have evidence to back up your claims I would be careful about making such accusations.