Saga

Yes, just once, probably never again. We booked for a 4 week holiday in Egypt which had good reviews on Tripadviser but only if you were with Saga. We got there to find the bedrooms OK but everything else was terrible. The pool was filthy, the food terrible, if you could get a table, there was supposed to be a Saga dining room and bar but there wasn't. Drinks by the pool were served in tiny plastic coffee cups so if you wanted a long drink you were backwards and forwards every 5 minutes. The Saga rep was a waste of space and refused to phone Saga with our complaints. Eventually I phoned Saga and told them I wanted to be moved then told the other Saga customers what I had done causing a rush of people doing the same.

They moved 29 of us to another hotel, a five hour drive away, where the rep did all he could to get us the conditions we had booked at the original hotel. I went down with food poisoning from the first hotel and ended up on a drip! The included trips were a waste of time and of course the extra trips were more expnsive as we were so much further away from Cairo and Luxor.

The problem with the first hotel was a change of management but, even after moving us, they still sent people there and when they complained moved them to our hotel! This carried on for at least 3 weeks.

On return home we all complained and were offered £100 compensation which was totally inadequte. When we couldn't get a bigger amount I found the email address of Ros Altman (their CEO) and as a result got £500 each but they only gave it to the people I was representing!

I have to say that most of the Saga customers we met there had been on several Saga holidays and were very happy with them. I'm told that the St Lucia and Cuba ones are really good.

I have heard that they are more expensive than some other companies. We have used Shearings and they cater for people over a 'certain; age. They were very good, but that was about three years ago and you know how things change !