Ruined holidays

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.

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.

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!!

Rah rah Trip advisor!

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

When we were young, before we were married, OH and I booked two single rooms (well we hadn't yet got to that stage...) at a B&B in Wales. We booked in, unpacked and went out to find a meal. When we returned, OH had been moved to another B&B down the road as the one we were booked into had had a 'better' booking!

It rained torrentially all week, and the B&B women wouldn't let us into either place to shelter. We found there wasn't a lot to do in Port Madoc in the rain...

We're still together, but it was a very long time before we holidayed in Wales again.

Don't get mad, get even. Take photographs, keep a notebook diary. Then get a refund!

Yes definately have this in uk. I use tripadvisor for recent photos as a lot of the photos were put on websites when the rooms etc were refurbished and could be dirty now. My shower is mould free at home and my house clean so a break away whereby it isn’t something I would like to live in ruins it. I went to Castleton last year and the room made me want to cry, dust, mould, no heating as the radiator needed bleeding and cracked tiles in the bathroom complete with hand print on the wall above the loo. Thing is some people’s perception on websites of quality and cleanliness varies.

Worst hotel I stayed in was in LA - room was clean but motel obviously not the place that people stayed all night - or you took your wife to! Bed had a huge mirror on the ceiling , big bowl of condoms in the bathroom and there were holes drilled through the bathroom wall to the room next door! TV only seemed to show porn movies!
We were so tired that we plugged the holes with loo roll before falling asleep and leaving early in the morning after having a disturbed night as cars were coming and going all night !

Theres always something.uk or abroad.usually for me its getting there to find theres no bath after all only a shower!(a luxury for me as we only have walk-in shower at home)and they always say " all other accomadation is full"! Agreed to a swap of hotel by travel agent before we departed for cyprus once, as they were having work done at chosen hotel.turns out we were shoved in little chalet style rooms which were plagued by tiny bugs of some kind! Horrible!

Oh yes, booked the most picturesque cottage in the west country. However on arrival it was grotty, incredibly dirty etc. We took photos and decamped to a nearby Inn the following morning. The cottage manager disputed our complaints, however on receipt of the photos a full refund followed.

I had a terrible holiday in Lanzorote in 2005. Thankful it was for just a week. The food was inedible and we had paid for half board. I have never been back to Lanzarote again. Our spending money went on meals out. Thomas Cook gave us £100 compensation. Also, the reps at the hotel couldn’t care less. Just awful memories. We had water in the safe. Had to pay for extra pillows and pay to use the television. Ugggg, thinking about it sends shivers down my spine.

I have only ever left one bad review on trip advisor and that was partly to counter the trillions of 5 star reviews this very mediocre hotel received. Rude staff, poky room and strange rules. When I left my honest review I was contacted privately and begged to remove it in return for a free holiday! Needless to say I left it up.

Last year we went to our first ever airbnb and had a strange experience.
There was nobody in this b & b. No obvious room with bed made up.
I made myself at home, like goldilocks I made a pot of tea and sat and waited then we left for the evening with the other guest who had met the same empty house with no answer when we tried phoning.

We came back later to be met by our landlady, very jolly with a large party of her friends. We chatted and I asked where we were sleeping. "Oh sorry I forgot to make the rooms up!"
We helped her and breakfast was nice but it was a bit too casual for me.

Still, those terrible holidays are the ones you remember best.

My Dniece asking if she could adopt the furry animal she had found "stuck" down the toilet.
Washing our clothes in the sea. (not a good idea)
Angry Welsh farmer. Angry Scottish farmer. These both relented and became our firm friends. The Scots one kept bringing us rabbits to cook on our camp fire.

A few years ago, we booked a hotel in gran canaria,we played extra for a garden view, as reviews said they were all in a quiet area. When we got to our room, we overlooked the swimming pool,and entertainment area.which had music blaring out , went down to reception and asked to change rooms as we had asked for garden view, the very arrogant and miserable person on the desk,said can you see a garden,which I replied only in the distance,a garden of a villa down the road,we regard that as a garden view so I won't change you. Very angry and wanting to move hotels ,but the next morning someone else was on reception desk,he was entirely different, couldn't be more apologetic told us to come back in a couple of hours and he would make sure we changed our room, which he did,to a lovely quiet room overlooking the gardens. I did put a complaint in to the rep about the other receptionist, but not sure she did anything, we also had a problem with miserable receptionist when we complained about a leak coming from the ceiling, he told us it was condensation,as it's a hot country,when I said I know what condensation looks like, he told me I was just coming down looking for an argument. When someone else came on the desk a little later, he got someone to come to our room there was a problem with the air conditioner which took him about an hour to repair. And again I complained about the rude reception to our rep. But still nothing was said to him. Glad to get home from that holiday. Hotel wasn't that good either.

Arrived in Miami to a pre booked hotel booked on line. It didn't seem a very nice area and the reception was scuzzy with a lot of men hanging about. It was late at night and we were only there for one night so we decided to go ahead and stay.

The room as a sight to behold. Purple shag pile carpet, a round bed with a horrible stained nylon coverlet. The ceiling above the bed was mirrored and there was a jacuzzi in the centre of the room. All night long there were the sounds of comings and goings in other rooms. He had booked us into a brothel!

I allways look at review first and if going to a hotel never go below 4 stars
With airbnb i always chose a super host

First time we went to Turkey, on a last minute deal, got there late had to step across an open sewer to get into the room. Not a good start. The room was damp, dirty and had broken toilet and shower.

Next morning couldn't contact the Rep so went to reception, who were dismissive and smug, to see the manager.

Manager told us that was the room we booked. No it wasn't. Yes said he. So I pulled out OUR printed copy of the booking, the description of the deal and the fact that we had paid for the best of the deal on offer not the lowest. Even at the lowest the room was not fit for purpose. We weren't backing down so he took us to his office.

Didn't tell him about the staff discount, not his business. The room was wrong on so many levels for any occupier.

Manager was still arguing but agreed to move us to a better part of the complex but still not what we'd paid for.

Then OH, bless him, pulled out the trump card, he said OK I'll just call my office :-)

Manager was smug and said OK call your office, never asked who's office OH was calling, far too arrogant for that.

OH made the call, thank goodness for mobile phones, told his office s what was happening, said bye and we waited. Hotel manager was now really smug and we waited and waited.

Then OH's office called the manager on his office phone and asked to speak to OH so he could tell another department what was happening. Manager wasn't looking so smug and when OH office told him to put the Hotel manager on the phone he really wasn't looking smug by then and was really, really apologetic after the call, stupid man.

We were offered the best suite in the hotel, that was nice but not the point.

Biggest shock for the Hotel Manager and the Staff was OH worked for the travel company who booked out all this hotel.

This wasn't just about us but about how the company's customers were being treated. They had Secret Shoppers for the following 2 years that we know of.

OH won't go to Turkey again and I'm not really that bothered. We've had a few holidays where we've been glad it was only a week but that was by far the worst and how they thought they could put anyone in that room was a joke that really backfired on the Hotel.

Oh so many. DH always believed we should take what came along as we drove around motels or inns you name it. He liked to feel he was a free agent who could land and survive. We have stayed in so many dreadful impromptu places ,that I eventually put my foot down. It has to be five star luxury or I refuse to go and it has t be prebooked.
There was a gite in the Pyrenees where when they washed the cow byres out the stench filled the house and the little son of the farmer arrived for every meal. There was a motel in Seattle with a man who sat outside gazing into our room and where we couldn't walk on the carpet had to put newspaper down,a caravan on a lovely site in the Lakes but it streamed water and was mouldy and nothing worked. I complained on trip advisor and the owners plagued me to take the bad reveeiew down. A Michelin starred restaurant with rooms which were so awful that we just upsticks and left. They were very put out. So many more and I do now wonder why my heart sinks when we go on holiday. DH lives for holidays and he says I ruin them because we always have to change the room or insist on an upgrade. We are going away next week and I know it will be awful as he wouldn't let me have any input as "it's your birthday treat"

The worst accommodation we’ve ever had was near Tenby; it was a caravan site with additional cottages. We were told that the caravans were full so we booked a cottage. After a long journey we arrived in the evening to find a dirty, damp cottage, cobwebs in the bedrooms - disgusting! We had to put up with it until the next morning when we were miraculously moved into a clean, modern caravan. We never got to the bottom of it - we should have made more fuss but we were much younger then. Now I wouldn’t hesitate to complain!
We had another poor experience more recently, in Hawkshead of all places! Most of the cottages there look beautiful, but we booked one which belonged to a local pub, which turned out to be down a back alley and the downstairs area hadn’t been updated since the 1900s! It seemed as though the pub used the bedrooms (which were ok) as extra B&B rooms, although the cottage was also available for self-catering.
In the U.K. I would stick to properties which have been given awards which guarantee minimum standards.

We booked into the Plaza in New York - the one in the Home Alone films. When we arrived we had to join a long queue of people waiting to check in. Some were arguing and a couple in front of us went up to their room and then came back to say that there was already someone in their room. When it got to our turn, they didn't have the rooms we had booked so they asked us to wait in the bar. We were offered complementary drinks but they even managed to get the order wrong. My Mum and I had what they called a deluxe room. It was shabby and dusty and we had to wait while the cleaner cleaned the bathroom and then she changed the bed. We were told we could get drinks from the minibar but the minibar had been removed. My daughters were put in a room the other side of the hotel which was also very shabby. There were curtains above the bed but the wall hook holding them back had come out and was dangling down and there was somebody else's sock on the bed. It was very late at night so we decided to stay anyway as we had just flown from London and we were very tired. We went down for the buffet breakfast next morning. There was not much available and it had gone cold because they were very slow to refill dishes. We moved to another hotel after breakfast. We had thought we were treating ourselves to something special and it was special but not in a good way!

A package holiday to Bulgaria about 30 years ago.
My youngest burst into tears as soon as we boarded the plane and wanted to get off .....he had a point, the over head lockers were netting!
The holiday was a disaster from tummy bugs grim food and a regime that I couldn’t bear.
I was off course a cheap option.

Yes!!!
Booked a cottage in Dorset a couple of months ago, for last (Bank holiday) weekend, following on from attending a wedding in Suffolk (500 mile drive from the Highlands) then onwards for another 200 odd miles.
We eventually arrived at 5:30 after start-stop traffic on the M3, looking forward to unpacking the car and settling in for a holiday on the Jurassic coast.
No parking as stated in property details. Eventually found a space some way from the property.
Opened front door and was overwhelmed by awful stink of rotting onions and dead flies everywhere. Rubbish bags piled in the uncleaned kitchen. Disgusting.
I then went upstairs to look at the bedrooms; beds still had dirty linen from the last occupants, mouldy towels in a heap on the floor outside the shower room. Horrible smell in the shower room (which was at least fairly clean).
No phone reception so DH went off to find a signal to phone the letting agency, who promised a cleaner would come out immediately.
By the way, the 'garden' was a tiny weedy area of concrete with a pile of garden furniture covered with lumps of concrete and a couple of upholstered garden chairs covered in bird poo, and other unknown stains, plus wheelie bins and other rubbish. Lovely.
There was no way that we were going to stay there, even if it was cleaned.
Being a Bank holiday weekend, there was no accommodation to be had in the extended area so we rang our daughter to see if she could get somewhere for us to stay for the night. The stress of the already bad day and the thought that we might be sleeping in the car or under a hedge was awful.
DD (in Inverness) managed to find us a hotel, another 50 miles away. The people at the hotel were lovely - Lanes Hotel, near Yeovil, thank you all.
After a websearch for another cottage, DD and I found a cottage in Shropshire, where we are now. It is lovely but not Dorset.
The agency that we booked the original cottage with did offer us (eventually) an alternative (an upper floor apartment, no garden…………..) which we would have to pay for!!!
Rant over. We are now settling down for a relaxing holiday.

But even, as has been pointed out, you book only places with outstanding reputations there's always a first time for everything!

The hotel we've been staying in in Ireland until yesterday was very nice. If I'd read all the reviews first I'd probably have gone somewhere else but what some people don't like, others don't mind.

This place was in a beautiful position and every room has sea views. They encourage families and although there's a summer play scheme some of those children were tearing around at midnight even in the bar! But I didn't mind that at all. It made it lively and very funny at times. I enjoy people watching.

Holidays can be awful due to illness or disappointment.
Up to a point they are what you make them.

Not a horrible place but an owner who didnt seem to have any boundaries. The layout of her house and the two holiday cottages (one vacant) was an L shape. We did have our own entrance on the street side if we walked anywhere but the parking area was in their garden on gravel and the owners were the sort whose door was permanently open so they could hear us coming back in the car or walking to it and without fail the female owner would appear wanting to engage in conversation. First couple of days it seemed friendly but then got a bit wearing. One day she mentioned she had been in and got some mats out for us to put things on (silly me thinking I could out things on a worktop without a mat under them!). In many years of holiday cottage renting before and after that we have never had owners who just went in when they felt like it. The last day took the biscuit when having realised we were up and about she came in, told us she needed to get the bedding or it wouldn't be dry for the next guests and marched upstairs! I think it was about 7.30!! Clearly "vacate by 10" didn't mean our usual 9.59!!

It was a shame because the cottage was nice and only recently finished, but she needed to learn that guests might want space!!

Binghamton, NY State was supposed to have a Best Western Hotel, oh it has not been built yet. A motel was the only one open. We found out why at 2 am when the 3 mile freight train clanked through on the other side of the road ?