EasyJet Holiday Nightmare

gemmaalouise85

Hello, sorry for long post!

We have recently returned from the worst holiday to Sharm El Sheik, what would be the best way to complain, I have emailed / tweeted / FB and Insta messaged, had no reply other than, they are really busy with complaints?

Below is the email I have written which gives the basic details?

Having just returned from what was a complete nightmare of a holiday I feel that we need to contact you to make an official complaint.

This was the first holiday we have booked in 4 years due to covid with the family and were hoping for a relaxing break to spend time with the family, this did not happen and was far from relaxing.

We initially booked 10 nights in the Parrotel Aqua Park, we received an email from you stating that:

"Unfortunately, we’ve been informed by the Egyptian tourism authorities that Parrotel Aqua Park Resort has been downgraded from an official 4* rating to a 3* rating. As a result, with the enjoyment of your holiday in mind, we've taken the decision to move your reservation to an alternative hotel in Sharm El Sheikh. You'll now be staying at Parrotel Lagoon, a 5* hotel in Sharm El Sheikh". 

You also stated that if we were not happy we could change the hotel, however after looking at the cost of moving this would have added another £2000 to move to another hotel, which cost more than the original holiday, therefore, this was not an option.

You also stated the following:

Just so you know, there’s some building work taking place on the road outside the Parrotel Lagoon. You won’t be able to see or hear this work when you’re inside the hotel during your stay, but we wanted to make sure you were aware"

This was NOT the case, the hotel was a complete building site, there were no roads outside, there was diggers, trucks, builders and dust everywhere, we were not able to leave the hotel as it was in the middle of nowhere, the description of the hotel said there was over 200 shops with a mall, this was not the case, it was in process of being built, there was no restaurants, again in the process of being built. The trip down to any shops cost over £25 and the taxi driver would leave you amongst the builders and diggers to climb over the mountains of sand and dirt to get to the actual hotel as there was no other access.

Now the main reason of the complaint, the hotel rooms were dangerous, we had a 4 year old and 7 year old, the room had exposed wires on the plugs and hair dryers, the rooms were filthy dirty, the rooms were not cleaned for the duration of the trip, no clean towels, no toilet paper (which was a big problem) the bathroom flooded, the bathwater was yellow and we had to fight to get drinking water in the room, this is not acceptable for a "5 star hotel"

The pool and aqua park, there was pins in the pool which the kids stood on, the sunbeds were broken and had splinters, the aquapark had people defecating in the pool, people were sick in the pool and on our towels, then walked off. The toilets by the pool were a health hazard, covered with faeces and urine over the toilets and floor, this was also the same in the lobby hotels.

The restaurant, only 1 choice of restaurant again not as advertised, our children starved for 10 days, the hotel did not cater for them at all, all they had to eat was bread rolls, the children section had Egyptian locals emptying the food before anyone could even get a look in and when we checked the food, there was nothing suitable for them anyway. It got to the point where I had to get a taxi to the shop to buy Jam and Cheese so they could eat something. The food for the adults was cold in the middle, uncooked and blood on the chicken, I ended up with severe stomach pains, sickness and diorreah for 4 days and my husband the same for 3 days, we were both in agony, hence the toilet paper issue, breakfast and lunch was a sham, nothing again to eat other than cold rice or cold Beef Ragu, I am surprised somebody didn't end up in hospital.

 Everyday we had to fight for a table, cutlery and drinks as they were not available, we caught locals licking the spoons and fingering the food - A complete joke, you are lucky the children didn't eat, otherwise they may have had them in hospital! In the end we had to spend money of food being delivered to the hotel!

Drinks availability was very limited, cocktails that were advertised were not made as displayed, with many of the ingredients unavailable. Drinks for the majority of the time were served in small plastic cups, was luke-warm, and preference was given to Egyptian customers over other guests, much the same service as in the restaurant. The selection of drinks was limited with a choice of around 4-5 options.

We tried to speak to a rep, however were fobbed of, we spoke with staff and management for them to laugh at us, we had no WiFi as they disconnected it so guests couldn't contact you direct.

  

Generally, the overall hotel was dirty and in need of a deep clean and inspection.

You need to understand the severity of my complaint and be lucky to no one ended up.in hospital.

To confirm, I will now be claiming for a FULL REFUND of my holiday, as well as COMPENSATION FOR ALL EXPENSES incurred.  

Please advise that you have received my email and the next steps!!

eskbanker

Sounds like a disappointing holiday, but was the purpose of your post just to vent/warn about the hotel and/or EasyJet Holidays, or were you looking for assistance of some sort from forum members?

Edit: re-reading your post after seeing the one below, I now see there was a question in there about other routes for complaining beyond the four you've already tried - you could try phoning or writing but if they've acknowledged your complaint and promised a response (was that conveyed in the 'we're busy' reply?) then it seems unlikely that repeating the complaint would get it addressed any quicker?

Contact Us | easyJet holidays

Ganga

eskbanker said:

Sounds like a disappointing holiday, but was the purpose of your post just to vent/warn about the hotel and/or EasyJet Holidays, or were you looking for assistance of some sort from forum members?

I think they are asking for help as to get their problem resolved ,they have e mailed etc but want advise on how to proceed correctly.
Personally i would have moved out on day one and claimed on return as well as contact the holiday rep and the travel company as i was moving out ,kept as much info as possible and at least have a holiday we would remember for the right reasons.

sheramber

Were there other guests staying at the hotel?

What was their reaction?

'Gippy tummy'  is a common occurrence in Egypt.

My husband suffered from it while on a business trip. He was staying in a good hotel.  His Egyptian colleagues told him that when they return to Egypt after spending a few years elsewhere they also suffer from it.

Westin

“ what would be the best way to complain, I have emailed / tweeted / FB and Insta messaged,”

The best way to register your complaint is to do so following their laid down procedure.

https://www.easyjet.com/en/holidays/help?helpCategory=postholiday&helpQuestion=complaint

So use their online form.   

It is then a case of waiting for them to investigate your complaint and to provide you with a response.  They suggest you should allow 28 days.

sheilavw

I would want a refund too, it looks disgusting

Pollycat

Your complaint is far too long.
Complaints should be brief, to-the-point, unemotional and contain no irrelevant facts

Good luck with your complaint though

Ganga

Pollycat said:

Your complaint is far too long.
Complaints should be brief, to-the-point, unemotional and contain no irrelevant facts

Good luck with your complaint though

I agree BUT there is a lot to complain about ,looks like the holiday from hell.

Pollycat

@ Ganga

I'm not disputing that there's a lot to complain about.
That's why I wished the OP good luck with the complaint.
But complaints need to be effective.
That's for the OP to consider for next time.

Lavendyr

OP, here is a suggested rewording which I think should get the points across succinctly. 

"I am writing to make a complaint following our holiday dated XXXXX to YYYYY.

Our original booking, 10 nights in the Parrotel Aqua Park, was amended by you with the following message

""Unfortunately, we’ve been informed by the Egyptian tourism authorities that Parrotel Aqua Park Resort has been downgraded from an official 4* rating to a 3* rating. As a result, with the enjoyment of your holiday in mind, we've taken the decision to move your reservation to an alternative hotel in Sharm El Sheikh. You'll now be staying at Parrotel Lagoon, a 5* hotel in Sharm El Sheikh.""

You also stated that if we were not happy we could change the hotel but the incremental cost of doing so made this impossible.

You also stated the following:

""Just so you know, there’s some building work taking place on the road outside the Parrotel Lagoon. You won’t be able to see or hear this work when you’re inside the hotel during your stay, but we wanted to make sure you were aware.""

This was NOT the case. The hotel was a complete building site. There were no roads outside, there were construction vehicles everywhere, the hotel was in the middle of nowhere, there were no restaurants and no shops. Amenities advertised were severely lacking. 

The hotel rooms were dangerous and put our young children at risk. There were exposed electric wires. The rooms were filthy on arrival and were not cleaned for the duration of the trip. There was no toilet paper, the bathroom flooded and the bathwater was yellow. [We requested drinking water and this was not provided until xyz.]

The pool and aqua park were also dangerous. The sunbeds were broken and the pool was entirely unsanitary, with people vomiting, urinating and defecating in and around the area. 

The restaurant was unacceptable, lacking sufficient space and tableware for guests. It failed to cater for our children in particular. The food was insufficient in quantity and variety. We ended up purchasing food for our children. [See enclosed receipts for which we are also claiming.] [I/We also suffered gastric problems for X days of our holiday.

Customer service on site was dreadful; when we tried to speak with staff, we received no assistance [and were laughed at]. We would have used WiFi to lodge a complaint with the company but it was not available. 

I expect a prompt response to the concerns I have raised. I consider the appropriate response to be a full refund of the cost of the holiday [plus £XX in respect of the cost of the food we had to purchase to feed our children - see attached receipts]."