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“HOTEL WAS OVERBOOKED FOR OUR HONEYMOON”

written by Naomi_Lesniewska on 05/11/2014

This was the first time we'd travelled with Olympic holidays and will certainly be our last.

We booked our honeymoon with them in July and were thrilled with what promised to be a fantastic two week break in beautiful Rhodes. The holiday set us back £3,500, and had been paid for by our family and friends as a fabulous wedding present. The resort was a 5* accommodation, boasted fantastic evening entertainment and looked stunning. After the stress of wedding planning (and a mini-disaster on the day of losing all power to our venue) we were thrilled and couldn't wait to get there.

We arrived at the resort at 1am on July 21st and wanted nothing more than to grab something to drink and chill out in our room. The gentlemen behind the desk seemed genuinely surprised to see us, and said that he hadn't been expecting any checkins that night/morning. He proceeded to check against the bookings for our name but could not find us. My heart sank and after getting him to check again, and again he apologised and said he had no room for us - and that we weren't due to arrive until the following evening. The hotel was fully booked, and so we were sent on up the road to their sister hotel to what I can only describe as their staff quarters. I wish I could attach images as the room was awful - it was no bigger than a shoebox, had no air-conditioning and was dirty, with wires hanging exposed from an electrical compartment open in the wall. There was also no bottled water for us to drink, and with the hotel shop and restaurant closed we had no way of getting any.

I broke down into tears - our £3,500 honeymoon was starting off in a dingy hotel room.

The following morning, after a rather uncomfortable sleep in what felt like an oven of a room, we went down for breakfast. Our hotel was fully inclusive but rather than allow us to eat there, we were asked to stay where we were and eat from their buffet. The food was terrible, cutlery was dirty and I'm sure it's what gave me a stomach bug that lasted three days into the stay.

Finally, after waiting at the reception for half an hour we were told our room was ready and were carted back off to our original hotel. After arriving back we immediately told the staff whilst checking in how upset and disappointed we were, we told them that it was our honeymoon but the issue was brushed off and we were actually told 'Well at least you can say it's been an experience.' I could have cried all over again.

After that our holiday did go quite smoothly, but the hotel definitely didn't live up to the description in the brochure. We only witnessed two evenings of entertainment for the 10 nights we were out there (we were due to stay for 14 nights but chose to leave early) and I certainly wouldn't class a middle aged couple singing old hits at a keyboard for two hours a 'speculator evening show.' The resort lacked any atmosphere, and our room was basic at best. We did have a small, private pool which we were grateful for, but it had a public walkway along side and before it and so wasn't very private at all.

Overall we felt thoroughly let down and so decided to meet with the travel agents representative at the hotel. We explained to her what had happened and what had been done but she wasn't overly apologetic and echoed the receptionist 'at least it's been an experience.' She practically blamed us for having booked the honeymoon as a late deal! She did nothing for us to find out why the overbooking had occurred, and her apology wasn't sincere in the slightest.

After the stress of our first night, getting sick from the buffet, and being disappointed with the hotel in general, all we wanted to do was go home; and so we paid for new flights in order to leave early. The night before we left we got talking to an elderly couple in the hotel's restaurant - we explained what had happened to us and were so shocked to hear that the same had happened to them on arrival! And that they too had been sent to this sister hotel. Clearly the hotel was taking over-bookings so as not to lose custom, and instead were sending their guests off to the hotel up the road until a room became available for them.

Once back in the UK I sent my complaint straight to Olympic Holidays, and after waiting 28 days for a response was told quite clearly in the letter that yes, over-bookings do commonly occur and that this is all down to the hotel manager's discretion. Although they 'vaguely' apologised the only refund they offered us was of £50 - a 'good will gesture' they say. We were disgusted! This had been our honeymoon! A holiday that cost us £3500 and that had been paid for by our wedding guests. After writing them back and re-enclosing their cheque, explaining how we felt it was an insult, they followed up with an upped cheque of £80. There was no letter to accompany this and so I can safely say that their customer service was as poor as their holiday. £80 doesn't even cover the cost of the night we lost on their holiday.

I've never felt so let down by a tour operator before, and rather than fight this further (although I do wish I had the energy to) I will simply leave this in the hope that future honeymooners/holiday makers might avoid them.

I reiterate again just how disappointed we are with their service, and that we feel our honeymoon was wasted because of them.