YOUR HOLS

[enaid]

Saw my sisiter today she has just come back from the worst holiday ever.
She went to the Dominican Republic with her hubby and little lad.
As a few have probably heard already gobby did not have too good a time in Cuba.
My sister said she has joined this site as you can share your bad and good holiday experiences.http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ForumHome apparantly you can put up any resort or hotel and it will give you an honest review.

[biscuits]

Re: YOUR HOLS

Excellent idea!

[Paradox]

Re: YOUR HOLS

www.holidaywatchdog.com is another good site for reviews. You can also google the name of the hotel with the word review and you'll usually find a few sites with reviews on.

Another thing to note would be that whilst many people will quickly moan / complain about somewhere if it's not good, lots of people won't compliment a good hotel / service.

[theGobbyOne]

Re: YOUR HOLS

I had holiday from hell in Cuba......here is a copy of email I have sent to Thomas Cook 25 times a day since I got back..........hehehehehehehehe....and I have also sent a copy to the CEO............lemme know what ya think................

Re: booking reference number: H036049J

Dear sir/Madam,

Myself and my family have just returned from the what can only be described as 'the holiday from hell'. We went to Cuba firstly to a hotel called Alantico and below are a list of the events and complaints that took place whilst we were there.....

1) Food was so inadequate that we could not eat anything but rice and bread or burgers.
2) The restaurant was filthy with dead flies everywhere including in the hot and cold food and both fish and raw meat being cooked on the same filthy grill.
3)Cockroaches and spiders the size of the palm of your hand in the rooms.
4) Staff refusing to help us with our luggage for over an hour after arrival at hotel because we were a big family.
5)No entertainment at all despite the hotel advertising to the contrary in the villa section.
6)Only 1 restaurant available as opposed to the 2 that were advertised (however refer to item 2)
7)My four year old son cut his big toe open in one of the childrens pools on broken tiles and the WRONG pool was drained.(photographic evidence of his injury is available if you request it from me)
8) We ate in one of the so called a la carte retaurants and my 14 year old daughter digested several dead flies from her ice cream before realising that what she thought were chocolate chips were indeed flies.
9)The representative was patronising and we complained on a daily basis about all of the above, however, it wasnt until several diferent parties of holiday makers went to him together with our compiants that he treated us seriously and opted to move us all to the Brisas hotel next door to the Atlantico. Things were just as bad there if not worse.

After being assured that the Brisas was far better we found it to be awful. On several occasions thee were dead flies on our table and we were scorned upon when we complained to dining room staff they appeared to find it rather amusing in fact.
My husband and I had to sleep in different rooms with our children as the hotel said it had no connecting rooms available however when we spoke to other holiday makers they told us that they arrived later the same day as us and were put in conecting rooms even though they had NO children with them. My husband is recovering from cancer and recent treatment for Hepatitis C so being in different rooms was an added strain and worry for us. I even offered to pay for this facility and yet again was told no.
The dining room staff were rude to us choosing to serve the Cuban holiday makers in preference to us even if we were in the queue before them we were just ignored and served when the Cubans had got what they wanted.This included the chef serving the best cuts of meat and fish to them and serving us the scraps unless we protested which we had to if the food being served looked edible.

The snack bar staff had the same attitude, however, we avoided the snack bar after seeing cockroaches and dead flies in the food. It was very very dirty. They only had 1 knife and it was used for raw meat, cooked meat, slicing cheese and bread and cutting pizza,s. There was also rat dropings in all the eating establishments and we witnessed 3 rats on our balcony even though we were on the 2nd floor of the hotel.

Again my 4 year old son was injured in this hotel which culminated in the loss of his front tooth 2 days after we returned home(again pictures available if requested) .The injury was caused by the filthy state of the side of the pool was kept in. There were plastic cups in the pool due to the use of swimming pool bar. Food stuffs in the pool and indeed on the side of pool, which is how my son slipped and banged his nose and mouth which left him unable to eat for a day or so as it made his tooth loose and he was upset by this. He was given inadequate first aid by the hotel staff and in fact we used the contents of a first aid kit we took with us to clean him up but no no one would give me an accident form to complete stating they didint have them in Cuba.

The pool also smelled very strongly of urine and the water always had a slight film over the top of it. There were lights positioned round the edge of pool that appeared to have exposed wires that anyone could have messed with. again when this was mentioned to the hotel staff nothing was done.There were also many exposed filters in the pool with the blargest being at least 36 inches in diameter, this is an accident waiting to happen. We also all had stomach upsets if we used the pool and ear infections ( which we had to seek medical attention from a doctor for)and 3 of the party have sores on our lips and in our mouths which I am sure the pool has contributed to. There were also cigarette ends in the pool on a daily basis. The area was skimmed over by 2 bar men every evening but no 'cleaning ' of the area was done.

The air conditioning in all 3 rooms was inadequate and was cold by day but didnt work in the evenings for some reason, again nothing was done by the hotel staff. Overall this has been the worst holiday we have ever had and we all very let down by Thomas Cook. We have holidayed with Thomas Cook in the past and have always had enjoyable holidays and quite frankly I am both shocked and disappointed that Thomas Cook continues to send people to these hotels at all. They are cetainly not worthy of the stars you appear to think they are. It is with sadness that the best meal I ate in the 2 weeks we were away was the in flight meal on the way home.

I am willing to negotiate a compensation package that is satisfactory for both myself and my family and Thomas Cook without the need for me to instruct a solicitor to litigate on my behalf. This I believe will save yourselves the cost of legal services and time on both sides. I trust you to consider my complaints seriously and offer an adequate settlement at the first instance. I would ask that you respond within 28 days to my compiants as per se the same time scale you give customers to register a complaint.

yours sincerely

[mistie]

Re: YOUR HOLS

Holiday truths is another good site and anyone going the dominican should use....debbies domincan or DR1......

We were suppose to be going the dominican but reading the bad reviews on this hotel , we have changed holidays.....shame really as we was looking forward to it....

Enaid where did your sis go ?????

[enaid]

Re: YOUR HOLS

Holiday truths is another good site and anyone going the dominican should use....debbies domincan or DR1......

We were suppose to be going the dominican but reading the bad reviews on this hotel , we have changed holidays.....shame really as we was looking forward to it....

Enaid where did your sis go ?????

Hi mistie,
My sister went to the Gran Ventana Hotel
Puerto Plata she said it was horrible, spent all their money on eating out. Big complaint going on will let you know what happens. Enaid xx

[Sapphire]

Re: YOUR HOLS

Ffs Gobby the suspense is killing me can't you just type out a copy of the email on here, pretty, pretty please hun :rolleyes:

sapphire

[theGobbyOne]

Re: YOUR HOLS

I had holiday from hell in Cuba......here is a copy of email I have sent to Thomas Cook 25 times a day since I got back..........hehehehehehehehe....and I have also sent a copy to the CEO............lemme know what ya think................

Re: booking reference number: H036049J

Dear sir/Madam,

Myself and my family have just returned from the what can only be described as 'the holiday from hell'. We went to Cuba firstly to a hotel called Alantico and below are a list of the events and complaints that took place whilst we were there.....

1) Food was so inadequate that we could not eat anything but rice and bread or burgers.
2) The restaurant was filthy with dead flies everywhere including in the hot and cold food and both fish and raw meat being cooked on the same filthy grill.
3)Cockroaches and spiders the size of the palm of your hand in the rooms.
4) Staff refusing to help us with our luggage for over an hour after arrival at hotel because we were a big family.
5)No entertainment at all despite the hotel advertising to the contrary in the villa section.
6)Only 1 restaurant available as opposed to the 2 that were advertised (however refer to item 2)
7)My four year old son cut his big toe open in one of the childrens pools on broken tiles and the WRONG pool was drained.(photographic evidence of his injury is available if you request it from me)
8) We ate in one of the so called a la carte retaurants and my 14 year old daughter digested several dead flies from her ice cream before realising that what she thought were chocolate chips were indeed flies.
9)The representative was patronising and we complained on a daily basis about all of the above, however, it wasnt until several diferent parties of holiday makers went to him together with our compiants that he treated us seriously and opted to move us all to the Brisas hotel next door to the Atlantico. Things were just as bad there if not worse.

After being assured that the Brisas was far better we found it to be awful. On several occasions thee were dead flies on our table and we were scorned upon when we complained to dining room staff they appeared to find it rather amusing in fact.
My husband and I had to sleep in different rooms with our children as the hotel said it had no connecting rooms available however when we spoke to other holiday makers they told us that they arrived later the same day as us and were put in conecting rooms even though they had NO children with them. My husband is recovering from cancer and recent treatment for Hepatitis C so being in different rooms was an added strain and worry for us. I even offered to pay for this facility and yet again was told no.
The dining room staff were rude to us choosing to serve the Cuban holiday makers in preference to us even if we were in the queue before them we were just ignored and served when the Cubans had got what they wanted.This included the chef serving the best cuts of meat and fish to them and serving us the scraps unless we protested which we had to if the food being served looked edible.

The snack bar staff had the same attitude, however, we avoided the snack bar after seeing cockroaches and dead flies in the food. It was very very dirty. They only had 1 knife and it was used for raw meat, cooked meat, slicing cheese and bread and cutting pizza,s. There was also rat dropings in all the eating establishments and we witnessed 3 rats on our balcony even though we were on the 2nd floor of the hotel.

Again my 4 year old son was injured in this hotel which culminated in the loss of his front tooth 2 days after we returned home(again pictures available if requested) .The injury was caused by the filthy state of the side of the pool was kept in. There were plastic cups in the pool due to the use of swimming pool bar. Food stuffs in the pool and indeed on the side of pool, which is how my son slipped and banged his nose and mouth which left him unable to eat for a day or so as it made his tooth loose and he was upset by this. He was given inadequate first aid by the hotel staff and in fact we used the contents of a first aid kit we took with us to clean him up but no no one would give me an accident form to complete stating they didint have them in Cuba.

The pool also smelled very strongly of urine and the water always had a slight film over the top of it. There were lights positioned round the edge of pool that appeared to have exposed wires that anyone could have messed with. again when this was mentioned to the hotel staff nothing was done.There were also many exposed filters in the pool with the blargest being at least 36 inches in diameter, this is an accident waiting to happen. We also all had stomach upsets if we used the pool and ear infections ( which we had to seek medical attention from a doctor for)and 3 of the party have sores on our lips and in our mouths which I am sure the pool has contributed to. There were also cigarette ends in the pool on a daily basis. The area was skimmed over by 2 bar men every evening but no 'cleaning ' of the area was done.

The air conditioning in all 3 rooms was inadequate and was cold by day but didnt work in the evenings for some reason, again nothing was done by the hotel staff. Overall this has been the worst holiday we have ever had and we all very let down by Thomas Cook. We have holidayed with Thomas Cook in the past and have always had enjoyable holidays and quite frankly I am both shocked and disappointed that Thomas Cook continues to send people to these hotels at all. They are cetainly not worthy of the stars you appear to think they are. It is with sadness that the best meal I ate in the 2 weeks we were away was the in flight meal on the way home.

I am willing to negotiate a compensation package that is satisfactory for both myself and my family and Thomas Cook without the need for me to instruct a solicitor to litigate on my behalf. This I believe will save yourselves the cost of legal services and time on both sides. I trust you to consider my complaints seriously and offer an adequate settlement at the first instance. I would ask that you respond within 28 days to my compiants as per se the same time scale you give customers to register a complaint.

yours sincerely

just wanted to thank Sapphy for posting a copy of my email to Thomas Cook as I am a computer reatard..........well actually am just a retard full stop lolmsl:

[Sapphire]

Re: YOUR HOLS

Gobby you had a reply yet hun ? :kiss:

sapphire

[theGobbyOne]

Re: YOUR HOLS

Gobby you had a reply yet hun ? :kiss:

sapphire

Yes just bog standard crap...........They going to investigate my complaint and come back to me soooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnn.......I know for sure that other families have complained because they all emailed me a copy of their complaints too.................BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cinders]

Re: YOUR HOLS

any news yet on this one? im dying to hear what they have to say!

xx

[theGobbyOne]

Re: YOUR HOLS

any news yet on this one? im dying to hear what they have to say!

xx

Nothing yet lou lou...................I know they will insult me with a crap offer first but if and when they do that I shall then sue them for negligence for my sons injuries..........He only 4 and has no front teeth due to the ****e hole they sent us to....and a rather large gash on his big toe from broken tiles in pool.............Am afraid TC dont realise what they have let themselves in for

[mistie]

Re: YOUR HOLS

OK reply email thomas cook sent to gobby.....any advice please.......


Dear Mrs Gobby

Holiday - GUARDALAVACA - 22/08/2007

Thank you for your letter regarding your recent visit to Cuba.

Having read the content of your letter I can see that aspects of your holiday, particularly with regard to the general standard of your accommodation, have given you cause for concern. I am extremely sorry that this is the case and would assure you that as a business, we utilise feedback to ensure that our products are improved and enhanced to reflect the needs of our customers.


It is clear from your letter that you were generally dissatisfied with the standard of your room and it is regrettable that this was the case. We understand that when you are on holiday, the room is your “home-from-home” and you want to be as comfortable as possible. We certainly expect hoteliers to ensure that properties are maintained and serviced to an acceptable standard and on this occasion, we have no reason to believe that this was not the case. Our records indicate that the property is operating satisfactorily for a unit of this rating, though it is unfortunate that you were so dissatisfied personally.
Food is such a difficult subject on which to comment, as in many cases this is purely down to personal taste. In cases like this, the opinions of other guests as well as our staff can be very useful, as general customer feedback can give us an objective, unbiased view of the food offered. The feedback we have received would indicate that that, in general, the food served is of the right standard for a hotel within this classification. I am sorry, however, that you personally were disappointed, but would thank you for bringing your views to our attention. Your comments will be held on record for any future reviews of the property’s performance.




Insects and cockroaches are very common in hot climates. I do appreciate that the sight of them can be off-putting, as we are not used to seeing them, but they are part of life overseas. They are usually harmless and are not necessarily signs of dirty or unhygienic accommodation, as often thought. We do appreciate, however, that the sight can be concerning to UK holidaymakers, so we are careful to warn our customers of their presence in our brochures. Properties overseas do take precautions to prevent insects but no system is foolproof and it is impossible to guarantee that they will not gain access by some means. We do, however, expect hotel staff to act accordingly and issue preventive sprays to customers

It would appear that some of the issues you have raised were not brought to the attention of our representative in resort, including the deeply unfortunate accident suffered by your young son. In our ‘Booking Conditions’ we do state that all customers must bring any concerns or disappointment to the attention of our resort office staff immediately. Our representatives are available 24 hours a day either via the 24-hour emergency telephone number and the resort office number (available at the welcome meeting and reception). Our representatives are also available on selected days at your property for any guests to approach them with any problems. In order for us to minimise the impact such problems may have on a holiday, it is imperative that we are informed so that remedial action can be taken at the time and I am confident that had this been reported, our staff would have been able to resolve this locally for you. The laws that govern package holidays also focus on this point stating that compensation claims can become void if the tour operator has not been given the chance to address any issues in resort.

In light of the above information Mrs Gobby I am regrettably unable to offer compensation in this instance. I do however hope that the explanations provided have clarified the reasons for my decision.
Notwithstanding the above, I would like to take this opportunity of thanking you for taking the time to bring this to our attention. I will ensure that your comments are held on file for future reference.

I trust that despite this, you were able to enjoy some of the many facilities this area of Cuba has to offer holidaymakers.


Yours sincerely




J.........

Customer Relations Executive

[Tempty]

Re: YOUR HOLS

is he taking the **** here
Gobby hunni I didn't know you'd had such a bad time in Cuba.
I really would recommend that you send in a complaint to watchdog over this.... Also get the other holiday makers to do the same. Send in any evidence you have... your son's injuries etc.
They really were very helpful to my mum when she had a similar experience in Greece.... I'm not sure... but I think this was with Thomas Cook too, they got her full compensation in the end.... gotta be worth a try a least.
Good luck with this Hun.... I really am sorry it ruined your holiday

[theGobbyOne]

Re: YOUR HOLS

Tempty hun could you please let me have addy for watchdog......I also contacted ABTA but they not even acknowledged my letter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!