Hotel dispute claim

Doyin

We had a family hotel at Melia in Cape Verde and it’s sold as a five star luxury hotel however it’s a three star hotel at most, I’ve been in contact regarding compensation and they offered points equivalent to €400.

Is it possible to claim more as this was falsely advertised as a five star hotel
and the state of it was shocking, we took photos and videos of our room and surround areas full of dirt etc.

Some of the issue we found are:

 Structure: In some areas, it is in a dilapidated condition, wood that is rotting, extremely dangerous handrails, iron parts exposed in areas where children can go.

The common areas are dirty: cigarette butts everywhere (garbage bags left in the same spots for days, dirty floors that have clearly not been cleaned for weeks. 

Glasses, plates, cups, and ashtrays left by guests around the pool are only occasionally cleaned.   The pools appear dirty, with insufficient chlorine, to the point that one of my children contracted a serious ear infection that required medical attention.

Wi-Fi: Extremely slow and not functioning in all areas, with a 2-days blackout in the room, working only in the reception.

Room: Uncomfortable beds, "wooden" pillows, dirt everywhere, walls covered in dead flies and mosquitoes with corresponding blood stains. The room had a kitchen, some glasses (two were chipped at the rim), and two plates, but not the necessary cleaning supplies. Dirty terrace with a closed staircase leading to the roof, but dangerous for families with young children who could climb it.

 Room cleaning: Apparently it’s every 2 days but we had to request this many times to have it and then it was very superficial and with products that smell terrible. Our Bed linens were NOT changed once in 9 nights

Beach: The beach is incredibly dirty, especially in the areas managed by the hotel, which should therefore be cleaned. From a 5-star resort, you would expect a bar service and food service on the beach, which is not available. Incredibly, there are no showers, unless you go back into the resort where some of them don't work.

Services:

Spa: Cold pools and jacuzzis, sauna not working, old areas, treatments lasting 10-15 minutes less than expected.

Kids Club: This was one of the reasons we chose this resort. For 3 days, the programs were not followed. 

 

comeandgo

Who did you book through?  Who stated it was 5 star?  Stars usually do not guarantee anything.

swingaloo

Stars are subjective. Ive stayed in 2 star that are nicer than 5 star. Which hotel was it?

Did you book through a holiday company and if so did you speak to a rep at the time or complain to the hotel whilst you were there?

DullGreyGuy

Doyin said:

We had a family hotel at Melia in Cape Verde and it’s sold as a five star luxury hotel however it’s a three star hotel at most, I’ve been in contact regarding compensation and they offered points equivalent to €400.

I thought this was going to be a business question, that you'd sold a business to a bigger hotel group etc. 


What is the name of the hotel? Who did you book with?


There are many star rating systems out there, many countries' tourist boards have their own, some tour operators have their own rating system independent to the local one etc etc. In most cases the star rating system is based on a basic tickbox process... does it have 24/7 reception? No? Then it cannot be more than 3*. Does it have 24/7 catering? No then it cannot be more than 4*. 

Its a system that can be gamed though, in a prior TV series they told a small hotel to stop offering its box room, that meant the average room size increased by about 2m2 which meant they became 3 star and could add £30/night just because they no longer offered the box room; nothing else at all changed and they said the box room was typically only booked a couple of nights a year 

Some star systems are harder than others to achieve a higher rating, there are some exceptional 4* hotels out there that are better than 90% of the 5* out there but they dont have an indoor pool so cannot be 5*. 

Westin

There are a couple of Melia properties in the Cape Verde islands, so perhaps you could name the one in question.

You should be able to find out quite easily if this is an official star rating, or a grading given by a tour operator.  If an official rating then again you can check this with the tourist board.

I actually think your complaint tact should focus on the failings you list rather than your feeling that the hotel should be a 3*. 

It does seem there are several areas that warrant complaint but the hotel seems to have acknowledged these in their offering of €400 compensation.  What level of compensation would make you feel happy? What would that represent percentage wise against what you paid for the hotel stay?

Doyin

swingaloo said:

Stars are subjective. Ive stayed in 2 star that are nicer than 5 star. Which hotel was it?

Did you book through a holiday company and if so did you speak to a rep at the time or complain to the hotel whilst you were there?

We booked directly on Melia website, they show it as a five star and also on google etc.
we spoke twice to the hotel manager and was offered a 25min spa voucher for our troubles which we declined. 

Doyin

Westin said:

There are a couple of Melia properties in the Cape Verde islands, so perhaps you could name the one in question.

You should be able to find out quite easily if this is an official star rating, or a grading given by a tour operator.  If an official rating then again you can check this with the tourist board.

I actually think your complaint tact should focus on the failings you list rather than your feeling that the hotel should be a 3*. 

It does seem there are several areas that warrant complaint but the hotel seems to have acknowledged these in their offering of €400 compensation.  What level of compensation would make you feel happy? What would that represent percentage wise against what you paid for the hotel stay?

We booked direct at Melia DUNAS Sal and their website and others say it’s 5* however I found out that the resort is split and the area behind where we were put is under Tui SUNEO Dunas and all the package holidays of Tui. We were not once offered to move when we asked about the main hotel as were told it was full.
As a family of four we paid €7000 on a wasted holiday, therefore I would expect at least 25% back. I would also be looking to get a lawyer involved and claim further if it came to that. 

This hotel is been mis-sold and it seems in the last six months it was handed to Tui but it’s still under Melias website as their brand, looking at the recent reviews from others, many faced the same issues 

swingaloo

Its too late now but the hotel has terrible reviews on Trip Advisor and others. Had you researched the hotel first you would probably not have booked it.

zagfles

DullGreyGuy said:

Doyin said:

We had a family hotel at Melia in Cape Verde and it’s sold as a five star luxury hotel however it’s a three star hotel at most, I’ve been in contact regarding compensation and they offered points equivalent to €400.

I thought this was going to be a business question, that you'd sold a business to a bigger hotel group etc. 


What is the name of the hotel? Who did you book with?


There are many star rating systems out there, many countries' tourist boards have their own, some tour operators have their own rating system independent to the local one etc etc. In most cases the star rating system is based on a basic tickbox process... does it have 24/7 reception? No? Then it cannot be more than 3*. Does it have 24/7 catering? No then it cannot be more than 4*. 

Its a system that can be gamed though, in a prior TV series they told a small hotel to stop offering its box room, that meant the average room size increased by about 2m2 which meant they became 3 star and could add £30/night just because they no longer offered the box room; nothing else at all changed and they said the box room was typically only booked a couple of nights a year 

Some star systems are harder than others to achieve a higher rating, there are some exceptional 4* hotels out there that are better than 90% of the 5* out there but they dont have an indoor pool so cannot be 5*. 

Yes, star ratings have nothing to do with quality, cleanliness etc, the vast majority of OP's complaints have nothing whatsoever to do with the star rating. I don't know why people take any notice of star rating unless they need 24/7 catering etc, do they really think it makes the hotel better? 

Grumpy_chap

Doyin said:

As a family of four we paid €7000 on a wasted holiday, therefore I would expect at least 25% back.

How have you assessed the 25%?
Why was the holiday wasted?  How did the hotel not being as nice as you expected prevent you from doing any activities that you would have done?
How much of the €7k was paying for the hotel?  How much was other elements such as flights?

DullGreyGuy

Doyin said:

Westin said:

There are a couple of Melia properties in the Cape Verde islands, so perhaps you could name the one in question.

You should be able to find out quite easily if this is an official star rating, or a grading given by a tour operator.  If an official rating then again you can check this with the tourist board.

I actually think your complaint tact should focus on the failings you list rather than your feeling that the hotel should be a 3*. 

It does seem there are several areas that warrant complaint but the hotel seems to have acknowledged these in their offering of €400 compensation.  What level of compensation would make you feel happy? What would that represent percentage wise against what you paid for the hotel stay?

We booked direct at Melia DUNAS Sal and their website and others say it’s 5* however I found out that the resort is split and the area behind where we were put is under Tui SUNEO Dunas and all the package holidays of Tui. We were not once offered to move when we asked about the main hotel as were told it was full.
As a family of four we paid €7000 on a wasted holiday, therefore I would expect at least 25% back. I would also be looking to get a lawyer involved and claim further if it came to that. 

This hotel is been mis-sold and it seems in the last six months it was handed to Tui but it’s still under Melias website as their brand, looking at the recent reviews from others, many faced the same issues 

Maybe ironically but Tui Suneo has a higher guest rating than the Melia Dunas Beach in Google

So presumably you originally booked to stay at the Sol Dunas which is next door to the Melia Dunas Beach? Looking via the WayBack Machine in May 2023 they weren't calling it a Melia hotel even though it was on their site so not sure of the history but they were always operated as two separate hotels with the non-branded one seemingly the cheaper option. 

It seems operation has passed to Tui and they've renamed it. Given people before the change were complaining it was looking dated and poor food and since the change people are still saying the same things it sounds like Tui haven't done much to it and it was old but Melia decided to get rid of it rather than renovate it. 

Assuming the above is correct then you got the hotel you were promised in a similar state to which it was in under Melia's operations. Sol Dunas was officially rated as 5* and ratings last until the next rating so nothing unreasonable about it being marketed and sold as such, many places are still advertising it under its old name. TUI however do their own rating, in part to offset the fact that what's 5* officially varies by country, and they rate the hotel as lower despite its official 5* rating.