Dog with a Bone!

Hello All, 

Finally, this week Mr. Warehouse and I receive a reply from Hays Travel, following my four-page letter over a month ago, complaining about our Honeymoon from Hell to the Continental Plaza Beach Resort Hotel Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. Suffice to say that the outcome was not quite as expected. Hays Travel opened by thanking us for taking the time to contact them and naturally they were very concerned to hear that "aspects" of our holiday had not met with our expectations, especially on such a special occasion as a Honeymoon. 

One of the first things they did was pretty much copy and paste the hotel description, seemingly from their database which was sadly mostly incorrect. "The Continental Plaza Beach Resort is rated 4 stars" however we were sold it as a 5 star. "The hotel facilities include 24h reception, several restaurants and bars, several pools, children's pool, water slides, spa facilities, fitness center, tennis court, and internet/wireless internet." Several pools? False - There were only 2. Water slides, spa facilities, fitness center, tennis courts? All totally non-existent. The swim-up bar also was missing and yet promised.

Hays Travel went on to describe the “hotel guestrooms are being equipped with hairdryer, TV, telephone”, however, we would disagree that any of these items were in any fit condition to be honestly and truthfully listed as a “working facility/equipment”. The TV barely worked, the TV remote either had no backing to it and was rusting or what batteries were in there were expanding (in which the next stage would have been explosion which could have been very dangerous considering we were in an interconnecting “family room”) and the telephone either didn’t work or was hanging off the wall with wires hanging out, again extremely dangerous and unsafe. And that wasn't even all of it.

Continuing the reply to our complaint email they stated that "some of the above facilities may be closed due to weather / seasonal conditions", however, I fail to see how weather or seasonal conditions would have any effect on whether or any of the issues we have brought up include but not limited to the filthy and tired decor, worn-out state of the hotel's common areas and WiFi. I fail to see how weather/seasonal conditions directly affect not being able to get a simple glass of wine after asking for this over five times or that it means a swim-up bar would be stocked and manned or the multiple restaurants not being as advertised and force-feeding guests unconfirmed and undisclosed food rather than the A La Carte experience as detailed and expected from not only ourselves but the other multiple guests who either complained or walked out – Or both! Interesting to see their reply to this nonsense phrase. 

The Travel Operator continued "it is difficult for [Hays Tour Operating] to comment on facilities we do not advertise". Now whilst we understand it is difficult for them or in fact any holiday travel agent to be clued up and 100% knowledgeable on any and all facilities in every single hotel or resort across the world, the fact that Hays Tour Operating sell holidays or in our case a Honeymoon, is based entirely off advertising and selling a holiday. My new husband and I were sold and paid nearly £1,700.00 for a five-star and expected this and nothing less and yet we barely received a 2-star.

Laughably, the UK's biggest travel agents claimed that "the issues faced with Wi-Fi, the speed of Wi-Fi depends on several circumstances and as technology is rapidly changing, not all areas will have the same connection speed" and that they regret any inconvenience this caused. However, this is simply not the case or our experience. When booking the hotel, this along with other items were very important to us and up there with some of the “must-haves” we needed and wanted for our holiday - and yet never received.

Amongst other topics of discussion, they stated that "the observations made regarding the cleanliness and maintenance of the hotel overall have been passed to the accommodation management with the view to make improvements where necessary and we will continue to monitor this element of their operation moving forward" and also that as a company they "appreciate our concerns in regard to health and safety as some areas of the hotel appeared to be under construction, the hotelier has advised these are restricted areas out of use and of little disruption to guests." 

As expected and predicted, Hays Travel said that since they were in a position to offer an alternative accommodation to fulfill our package, the Jaz Fanara Resort Hotel, which was booked for the remainder of our stay and we were happy with the change in hotels, the offering of not a reimbursement or compensation but a goodwill gesture. A goodwill gesture of £100.00. Ending their email response, Hays Travel said that they hoped this would "be accepted in the spirit in which it is intended". As in a joke? A mockery of our traumatic honeymoon? As an absolute fucking farce? No. This is not OK. 

So no Hays, £100.00, less than 10% of what we originally paid, is not really appropriate. Given the circumstances, that we were forced to experience this utter horror and the fact that the majority of our not just holiday but our Honeymoon was thoroughly ruined and our memories tarnished completely, Hays Tour Operating offering £100.00 is almost laughable and we feel is almost insulting considering the traumatic experiences we have had. And so I replied. And they responded and I have also to no avail. But be warned Hays Travel, I am not going to be letting this one go!

'Til next time, Love A.Lou x

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