Ruined holidays

Not strictly a holiday but youngest DD and I had cause to stay in London in an hotel, a couple of years ago; she had an early medical appointment and we decided to travel up the day before and I looked at a hotel not far from the hospital which was on last minute . Com the reviews seemed ok but the hotel was the most disgusting I have ever stayed in! The sheets were grey and we found hairs on them! There was a hole in the bedroom door! The floor was filthy and as it was late when we got there we had to stay but slept in our coats due to the state of the beds! No one was at reception when we tried to get the room sorted out and the phone wasn’t answered. We were only there one night thank goodness! We did manage to get our money back and left an appalling review on trip adviser

Rah rah Trip advisor!

A work colleague was stranded in Amsterdam many years ago and needed to find a hotel for the night, she found a beautiful property with wonderful views of the canal, gorgeous public area's etc however, her room contained a very large St Andrews cross complete with chains for your entertainment, it also had an array of other equipment ?.
She spent the night listening to squeals from the other room's!!

luluaugust
I too collected those tokens (if they're the Daily Mail ones you're talking about)
I booked into the Elcot Park Hotel near Newbury, Berks with my two youngest daughters many years ago, before it was taken over by Mercure.
It was a fabulous few days between Christmas and New Year so decorations were still up and I had taken a box of posh crackers to pull at mealtimes.
We were shown various rooms to choose from and settled in one next to the spiral staircase down to the swimming pool.
Meals were fantastic and because the place was half empty, all the guests were treated to extras.
We paid £10 bnb per room per night and we dined in on all 4 nights at a reduced rate.
We were met each evening at the door to the orangery and escorted to 'our' table, all silver service and damask linen.
We did another trip using tokens, to a farm in Lancaster.
The paper gave you several venue choices.

Two sides to everything. We have stayed in some appallingly dirty cottages and gites, I have cleaned them thoroughly on arrival so that the family can enjoy and left them clean and tidy for others. Nowadays I just complain and either get upgraded or have the place cleaned by the owners.
On the other hand we have owned and rented out holiday cottages which we maintain to a very high standard and clean thoroughly at every changeover. The feedback always comments on the high standard of cleanliness but unfortunately the cottages are often left in a poor state. From crumbs and sticky floor spills to broken and damaged furniture, from hair dye stains on towels to dog poo on carpets, the average holidaymaker can be pretty awful.

As a guest house owner in a tourist resort, I see things from the holiday providers point of view. Although most of my guests are lovely and keep coming back, there have been some horrendous ones. I could tell some stories about some of the things I have come across over the 12 years I have had it. Luckily I have some brilliant TripAdvisor reviews.
When I go away myself I do a lot of research before I go, but have had some bad experiences in the past.

A remote cottage in Somerset. No TV, damp walls and a shrub (like an over-sized Swiss cheese house plant) outside by the dining room window which attracted flies.

Very tatty - as if furnished by cast-offs which you couldn't get rid of in a charity shop. We peered in through the next door cottage belonging to the owners and it was the height of luxury.

DH felt put out as the owner demanded an extra £10 deposit for possible damages before he even got out of the car. We left a day early as we couldn't bear another night in the lumpy bed.

Years ago holidayed at a hotel in Crete where the owner and his young son were the only employees.The pool was covered with leaves and breakfast was ready plated with each plate having one slice of bread and a slice of sponge cake, asking for more was forbidden so every time the owner left the room there was a dash to claim another plateful. Felt sorry for the last guests to come down as there would be no breakfast left!

We rented a villa in Spain in April many years ago - amazing photos showed a glistening sea view and there were claims of proximity to beach. What it didn't show was the main Malaga Marbella road between us and the 'beach' or the rubbish dump behind the villa. The smell of the dump and traffic roaring below us was awful.

If you want a laugh and have a few minutes/hours to spare, have a look at the reviews for the Burstin Hotel, Folkestone (they have the nerve to append 'Grand' in the front of the name!)

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g190749-d284150-Reviews-Grand_Burstin_Hotel-Folkestone_Kent_England.html

More times than I care to think. But mostly, in the more distant past. Nowadays I thoroughly check all reviews and as much about it that I possibly can, online before booking....and if in doubt, I choose somewhere else. I hate noise especially and that’s always hard to judge but general quality of accommodation is easier to gauge from reviews. I’m off to an ‘cheap’ Airbnb rental soon....this conversation is making me nervous!?

I won a holiday to Disneyland Paris and it was going to be wonderful. We and our grandchildren were so excited. However, although all the Disney hotel and park side of things were faultless, the communications between the prize provider and Disney was terrible. We spent 3 of the 5 days trying to find out if we had to pay for the holiday in full - over £2,000, which we had no way of doing. The stress was terrible, although we tried to shield our grandchildren from it all. Soon after I became ill with M.E. which I put down to the stress of it all. It was all sorted out eventually, but a very bad experience.

Once back in the 70s I stayed in a hotel in Newcastle where the bed had obviously not only not been changed but even made! Being in my 20s and with not much gumption I didn't say anything.

And in Scotland with DH in the noughties in a holiday house, the carpet in the living room had dog hairs woven into the weave, seemingly unremovable. But we liked the location so stayed and put up with the hairs and smell!

KatyK our first gîte from Gîtes de France was similar but we were novices at the time.
A French friend and her family came to visit us and were appalled at the state of the place and even more horrified that we thought that was what we could expect. We complained, but in the days before mobile phones it was difficult to arrange contact.
Second bad experience was in Portugal-James Villas. The villa was big and fairly well equipped, but the kitchen was dirty and the owners, who used it when it wasn’t let, had left personal belongings, (tatty slippers, underwear etc.) in the drawers and cupboards. In addition, the pool was green for 9 out of the 14 days were were there. Complaints to the owners and the local agent in Portuguese and to James Villas brought a much more prompt response and eventually a sizeable refund from James Villas, but we remember that holiday for all the wrong reasons.

Worst holiday we ever had was many years ago to Bulgaria when it had just started as a holiday destination. I had a 13 year old 6 year old 18month old a 3 month old baby . The water was off in the hotel for 20 hours a day .The meat at that time seemed to all be fatty. There were dancing bears on chains . My father in law and mothe in law were with us and he was just starting to show signs of Alzheimer’s. We all got Ill but you couldn’t even but disinfectant in the shops ! We tried to change our flights to come back sooner . Worst of it was we were stuck there for a fortnight! We still laugh about it now though - couldn’t get any worse than that !

A couple of years ago, I 'won' a Turkey and Tinsel break , for a few days, to a place on Hayling Island. Wonderful, I thought, so off we went.
When we arrived and found the reception, it looked like a waiting room for those not long for this world. We were told where to find our room, and set off. On arrival the door looked as though it had been attacked by a sledge hammer, big dents in several places. Once inside, I just couldn't believe what we had been allocated.
It was small/ tiny, with old bedding, damaged plugs, and anyway, the door didn't close properly. I needed the loo, and that looked as though it hadn't been cleaned in a long time.
I didn't cry, but felt like it, but I did take photos and went to find reception. After a chat! we were given a better room, in a sort of chalet place. It was better, but not by much. While we were gathering our thoughts, a team of cleaners came and gave us a 'welcome' / apology, pack of bits and pieces.
We did go and have dinner, and when speaking to our table mates, they seemed to like it there, and had returned frequently. The food was OK ish, but we decided to go home the next day after breakfast. I couldn't have stayed there any longer.
Driving home, we were overtaken by a huge lorry, and as he passed us, a sheet of solid ice detached itself from the roof and cannoned into our windscreen, blinding us momentarily, but thankfully, no damage.
I have never been so pleased to be home.
I wrote and emailed the holiday company, with photos, but it seemed as though they were not bothered.
I still get mailings from them!! Thick skinned, I should say so.

We took our young boys on a Christmas holiday to the Rhine in Germany. The hotel looked fabulous like a swiss chalet on the river bank but internally it was a dirty, unsafe flea pit! We didn't unpack our clothes, in fact daren't sleep in our nightclothes everything was so dirty, in fact when we returned home my younger son had a skin infection on his face caused by the filthy pillows!
The food for Christmas day was a small, hard baked potato each with a tiny piece of tough meat & dessert 2 small profiteroles, we had to substitute our meal with a tin of biscuits which we took to top up the kids. We ended up sharing the tin with the rest of the tour group. Not a magical Christmas for a 5 & 7 year old. We did sue on our return & got a refund on the hotel though.

I consider myself lucky as although I travel fairly frequently, usually twice a year, I just cannot think of any holiday which was a disaster. There have been bits of some which I didn't exactly like, but on the whole not too bad. In Kashmir we stayed a few days on a house boat where we were looked after by a delightful young man called Yussuf. It was lovely but his meals were not!!! Horrible grey sludge every time. I wish I had not looked at the mattress on the very comfy bed!!! Indescribably covered in red and yellow stains! In India we were followed by a lot of beggars, sometimes several at once. Sometimes these things are expected.
Then in Vietnam it rained most of the time and the whole party spent the time in rain ponchos. There was a lot of flooding too but we stayed away from it. Could hardly cross the roads as the mainly motorbike traffic was always all over the place emitting fumes, and I had to wear one of those little masks like they do in the news about the Hong Kong protestors.
Otherwise all my holidays were lovely and as I am always the oldest on my escorted trips I get treated like royalty by the reps and other holidayers. I am sorry about your bad experiences, especially in Britain, where we expect high standards.

For DH's 70th we had a family gathering in self catering accommodation. I was surprised on arrival to find that the beautiful leather sofas which had featured on the website were festooned with throws and 16 cushions. We were a bit concerned about what may be underneath so we left them in place. Big mistake! The rest of the house was fine. However: on the second day I went to sit down on the sofa, misjudged my aim and caught my coccyx on its arm. There was a sharp crack and searing pain. I was the main driver and in some discomfort throughout the holiday. There were a couple more incidents where I slid off the sofa onto all fours and my husband sat on the arm and was tipped off on to the seat in an undignified manner (he was moving more slowly than I had and BTW, no alcohol had been taken!). We removed the throws and cushions and there were some suspect stains and marks on the sofas....but nothing too horrid...and no more incidents. It spoiled the holiday though as driving was uncomfortable and I could only wear leggings (usually only worn under trousers as they don't look great on me) as jeans were too painful to wear. The landlady arrived to check all was OK and I took the opportunity to explain our concerns about the proven hazard represented by the throws etc. I tried to explain I was not making a complaint but saying that my injury could have been more serious and others may make a formal complaint, which I had no intention of doing. She became very defensive saying it had never happened before and my daughter and her partner came along to calm things down! It was several weeks and many tubes of Voltarol before the discomfort disappeared. Such a shame as I was in constant pain throughout the holiday.

Many years ago elderly neighbours asked us if we would like to take their place on an holiday to Spain because his wife was too unwell and could not travel. He did not want any money from us but we insisted and paid them. On arrival we were very surprised to find it was a naturist complex. Our shock soon wore off and it was the best holiday we had ever had. We have been back many times since then.

When the children were small we rented a lovely cottage near the beach in Abersoch. Not so thrilled to find the elderly couple who owned it had just moved into the garage that was behind the house. We didn't feel we had any privacy especially as they wanted to come in occasionally to have a bath.

I did make a complaint that we should have been informed that the owners were still living on site but didn't get anywhere.

Might I add to my " tale of woe " that my friend was in her early 70's and me in my mid 50's at the time. Tough old bints, the pair of us. We used to have 5 holidays a year !
Bless her she was turned 98 when she died nearly two years ago. A grand lady was an understatement.

Always good to choose the hotel using Booking.com for the reviews, but book with the hotel direct. You will probably get a better rate.

A few years ago we went up to Manchester to visit our daughter who was at university there. We booked a very well-known and large Victorian hotel in the city centre. When we arrived at our room, there was a newspaper lying on the floor by the bed which had obviously been thrown there as somebody left the room when they heard us coming! We went into the bathroom and somebody had done a large poo in the loo and not flushed it!
We complained and were moved to another room. This one was in a corner turret with windows all round, with the filthiest net curtains I had ever seen. The bathroom was gigantic, with a Victorian-type bath stuck in the middle of it and no shower, just a spray from the tap and no shower curtain, so the water went everywhere if you used the spray. I have a dodgy knee, so I can’t sit down in a bath as I can't get up again, so I had to stand up and use the spray. It was then that I found that the bath was,’t properly attached to the floor, so it rocked and wobbled all the time, which was very unnerving if you were standing up! I complained, and the manager offered us another stay there at a slightly reduced rate! Thanks, but no thanks!

Deeda you were quite right not to ask. Many years ago whilst in Tuscany we got chatting to an Aussie girl who was travelling on her own. She had just stayed in an hotel in Naples for a few days but was kicked out of her room during the day to enable other occupants to use it. used to be quite common I think.