It’s easier than ever to find out about hotels and holiday resorts. But while the descriptions in brochures and online often sound great, plenty of us have horror stories about places that weren’t quite as described.
You might think that dodgy hotel and resort descriptions were something we left behind in the pre-internet age of the 1970s film ‘Carry on abroad’, where a group of English tourists spent a disastrous holiday in the infamous Spanish resort of Els Bells.
With online booking and review sites, as well as lavish brochures, there are any number of ways we can learn about a hotel before we book, so this shouldn’t be a problem anymore, right? Wrong.
Your holiday horrors
We’ve had dozens of emails from Which? members telling us that the fancy brochure and online descriptions didn’t match the reality of what they found at their destination.
One member was promised a ‘lagoon-style swimming pool’ at a hotel in Malta. Sounds lovely. Except, it turned out to be a building site – a fact that (funnily enough) no one mentioned to them – not even the rep at their welcome meeting!
Has this happened to you?
Maybe your hotel was a building site when you arrived or the Olympic-sized swimming pool wasn’t nearly so grand.
Perhaps half of the bars and restaurants were closed or for the short walk to the beach walking boots would’ve been more appropriate than flip-flops. And was all-inclusive all restricted?
Was your dining experience more gastroenteritis than gastronomy? Or was your five-star dream hotel closer to a two-star?
Your rights when things go wrong
The good news is that when the holiday you receive isn’t as billed, you have rights. By law you can expect the package holiday you booked and paid for. So the holiday description must be accurate. If not, you have refund and compensation rights under the Package Travel Regulations.
Have you arrived at a hotel and found it wasn’t what you expected? Have you been told your booking would have to change? Have you had terrible customer service? Or do you have another holiday nightmare to share with us?
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