Mis-sold holiday with TUI

penniejane

Can anyone offer any advice as TUI has offered maximum of 15% cash - holiday paid for via credit card:

Our decision to book a holiday was based around one member of our group of three guests who is registered disabled. Her disability heavily influences any of her decisions and indeed, in this case, as to which resort we could potentially stay. Prior to booking, we had an initial in-depth discussion with TUI whereby our conditions regarding disabled access were heard and Fuerteventura was offered. We were informed that this particular resort was disabled friendly with on-site beach access consisting of a total of only 15 steps. The disabled guest accepted that these confirmed access arrangements would therefore be manageable for them – assuming these were standard steps on a disabled friendly beach/resort.

Upon arrival to the resort, it became immediately evident that disabled access was not as advertised:

· Steps with a steep inclining path and long walk to and from our apartment to the main restaurant or reception and bars: we needed to walk this a minimum of three times a day to access meals/bars

· Steep access and steps going down to the beach with limp rope ‘rails’ halfway down. Reception staff advised an alternative beach access route, although this was less steep, it had high steps and no railings once halfway down

These barriers caused significant physical stress to the disabled guest throughout the duration of our holiday. We notified the on-site TUI Rep, who dealt with our complaints from day three (5th August 2022), but she did not notify us of any entitlement to a hotel change until 13th August 2022 (11 days into our holiday) – she stated that she “does not tell guests the option of a hotel change”. No other alternatives or suggestions were offered at any time when discussing the lack of disabled access.

Unfortunately, by this point, we found that we were confined to the pool area only for most of our holiday thus far. And walking to and from the restaurant for each meal was a stress we all had to endure each day as the disabled guest had to wait for pain medication to be optimised in order to begin the walk up to the restaurant and climb the steps. A flat and short walking distance would have been much easier and less stressful for us all, which is what we had hoped for with a disabled friendly resort.

Additional issues were prominent from the outset relating to the substandard hygiene at the main restaurant:

· Dirty plates and cutlery (we had no other choice of restaurant, and our only option was to look for clean plates of which there were next to none). Hard food visibly stuck firmly to plates/cutlery, grainy plates with food not visible to the eye from hard, baked on specks of food could be felt by hand – on complaint, the restaurant manager said it was due to a broken-down machine which they were waiting to be fixed – see attached evidence

· Cockroaches seen on and under counter islands, and within cracked wooden display blocks which were stored next to and underneath counter food

· Broken disabled toilet door in restaurant – door opened while on toilet and guest unable to get up to close it

· Cockroaches crawling up walls in main restaurant toilets into the wooden door frames

· We tried to book the alternative speciality restaurants, but they were all fully booked no matter how far in advance. We also deduced that as plates were cleaned in the same restaurant area it was likely the hygiene standards would be the same: subpar.

· We made an initial complaint on day two, but we found they did not include the photographic evidence we had provided, and we were denied a personal copy of the report when requested. In addition, we were not told that Guest Services was internal only and that we needed to report to our TUI Rep as an external complaint – this was misleading given that the Guest Services representative was wearing TUI uniform

· It took many days and several requests for the complaint reference number to be given to us. On enquiring with the TUI Rep, she stated “they were confident they had sent it”. On arrival back to the UK and visiting the Farnborough TUI store, it was confirmed that the handwritten reference number given to us by the Rep was incorrect – and, as yet no electronic copy has been received

Problems also arose on our last day regarding our return flight and pre-booked private transfer:

· Disabled assistance wasn’t booked for the return flight – (the Tui Rep kindly arranged that while we were making our complaint about disabled access and poor restaurant hygiene)

· When private transfer arrived, we found it to be merely a standard sized taxi to fit in three people, (one disabled), and 6 suitcases. Accepting this as ‘standard service’ for our mismanaged holiday, we endured the extreme discomfort of the very confined space for the 1 hour 20-minute-long journey to the airport

· One of our bags was inadvertently lost a few hours before the transfer arrived. Two of us went back to where we had been sitting but it wasn’t there, so we went to Reception to enquire but they denied anyone reporting a found bag. Luckily one of us spotted it out of the corner of their eye laid just inside the reception desk and pointed at it – it was on their desk! Losing a bag can happen and we would hope that someone would be able to assist at that time but there was not a hint of assistance from the staff. The bag had money and passport in for a flight home that day. When speaking with staff telling them it had a passport in and we were going home that day, the reply was to go back after 6pm to check again later. We had to reiterate slowly that we were going home. They said there was nothing they could do

· The on-site luggage scales didn’t work despite costing 1€ per case. Upon asking the reception staff if there was an issue – they said, “it works, yes”, but upon Check-in at the airport we found they were inaccurately weighed and hugely exceeded our individual allowance

One additional problem relating to a booked excursion

· We booked a diving excursion for 2 people via the TUI rep but when we arrived, we were told that only one person had been booked - this resulted in additional cost, and not at TUI discount price, when we arrived to the excursion. By this time, we had become apathetic and did not report it

To conclude – by week two, nothing had change, nothing was resolved, we heard nothing about our complaint, therefore, we had no alternative but to accept the situation and remediate by ourselves, which meant:

- adding external trips to a local easy access beach via taxi

- purchasing food/drinks at local shops to eat/drink in our hotel room

- eating at restaurants near to the easy access beach

- and missing mealtimes altogether if we the guest was in too much pain to go out and/or none of us wanted to eat in the restaurant

Indeed, we had breakfast there most mornings, but we only chose foods which we could eat with our hands and tried to find as clean a plate as possible every day.

Of note, we were advised by the TUI rep that an external food safety investigation would be instigated due to our complaint but as you will see from our evidence that on day 14 there was no difference whatsoever in the state of the plates and cutlery being put out for use for the 1,800 guests each mealtime.

All in all, our holiday cost £1,500 per person but, in reality, it cost a lot more, not only in terms of money but our health, our mental health due to stress, and one of the guests physical discomfort and additional distress. The aforementioned problems caused great distress to all passengers and additional physical strain to our disabled passenger. All relevant evidence has been attached including photographs, videos, and voice recordings for your convenience.

turnitround

Which hotel and resort was it?

penniejane

Hi Turnitround - it was TUI Magic Life, Fuertaventura

NoodleDoodleMan

It's a pity you were unaware of the official complaints book that must be available in Spain and the Canaries - hoja de reclamaciones.

Threatening to go down that route would initiate action from the hotel management.

tightauldgit

A tricky one this as it really sounds like the hotel wasn't up to snuff but it may come down to what you have documented and what was promised to you vs what was assumed. 

Was the hotel and resort 'as described' in the brochure/website with respect to facilities and access. Is there any definition of what 'disabled friendly' means in TUI terms and is this something TUI put in their materials or was it just something a travel agent said? How much of the conversation is documented?

With regards the restaurant yes it sounds sub-standard - do you have photos etc? 

With regards the service do you have documentation of interactions with staff and complaints made that weren't actioned? 

Things like the excursion - you should have a receipt showing 2 people booked, no? 

Seems like a formal complaint to TUI with all the points laid out and evidence provided is probably the first step and then see what they say - or are you saying you did that and they offered 15% back in cash? 

If you can't come to an agreement then the next step is ABTA I believe?

What do you think is fair in this case? I don't think you are going to get a full refund as you did go on the holiday and got some level of enjoyment out of it. 

[Deleted User]

You can certainly claim for any costs you had due to the hotel not being as promised, assuming you can prove that they promised it. Might be worth sending the a DSAR and asking if they have a recording of any telephone conversations you had with them.

Claiming for loss of enjoyment is trickier because they will argue that you still had a holiday. Best thing is to just suggest what you think is reasonable compensation for what happened, as a proportion of what you paid for the holiday, and see what they say.

penniejane

tightauldgit said:

A tricky one this as it really sounds like the hotel wasn't up to snuff but it may come down to what you have documented and what was promised to you vs what was assumed. 

Was the hotel and resort 'as described' in the brochure/website with respect to facilities and access. Is there any definition of what 'disabled friendly' means in TUI terms and is this something TUI put in their materials or was it just something a travel agent said? How much of the conversation is documented?

With regards the restaurant yes it sounds sub-standard - do you have photos etc? 

With regards the service do you have documentation of interactions with staff and complaints made that weren't actioned? 

Things like the excursion - you should have a receipt showing 2 people booked, no? 

Seems like a formal complaint to TUI with all the points laid out and evidence provided is probably the first step and then see what they say - or are you saying you did that and they offered 15% back in cash? 

If you can't come to an agreement then the next step is ABTA I believe?

What do you think is fair in this case? I don't think you are going to get a full refund as you did go on the holiday and got some level of enjoyment out of it. 

Hi, yes we have evidence of photos, videos and receipts. We can have 15% in cash or 20%TUI voucher. 

I personally feel another holiday to replace that one free of charge would be fitting. 

We didn't enjoy much as I have new onset fibromyalgia and had to look after my disabled daughter so we endured what we could and made the most of it by paying extra and going elsewhere.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. 

Pennie

turnitround

It is difficult because presumably there is no proof of what was said between yourself and the agent. Looking at the reviews online it is clear that the hotel and resort are not really suitable for disabled people.  The hotel is described as being above the beach and says that there are steps. Having said that there are also recent reviews from a disabled traveler saying how easy it was to get around so much is down to expectation.
Did you do any checks yourself before booking or just rely on the agents advice? I certainly dont see them offering you another holiday. I suspect the 15% cash is as good an offer as you will get.

onashoestring

Was the resort described as having “Disabled access” or as being “Wheelchair accessible” ? Is any of this in writing ( brochure/on website/ any e-mail or live chat correspondence prior to booking ) .

Wheel chair accessible is a frequently used term which indicates that there are slopes or ramps enabling wheelchair users to get around  but does not mean that there won’t be “long” walks between facilities .

You have said that you were all able to access the pool area . Also prior to booking you were made aware that there were 15 steps to the beach and still went ahead with the booking -so  I don’t think you can expect a refund for these parts of the holiday .

To get the best chance of an increased offer from TUI  you need to list the ways that the holiday did not measure up to what you were told/ in relation to “disabled access.” 

Include any written information you have from TUI in relation to the facilities being accessible for guests with limited mobility. 

Were the rooms provided suitable for someone with mobility difficulties  ( ground floor or lift )  ?

 What was the access to the restaurant coming from the rooms or pool area ? Were there steps or ramps or lifts ?  

 I note that you said that there was there was a problem with the disabled toilet door at the restaurant -making it in effect unusable - this point should be highlighted.

Other issues such as faulty weighing scales whilst annoying will not be relevant to a claim for any refund so I would leave these out and focus on the big things that you have photos and evidence of .