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“Vietnam Holiday”

written by Schmint on 03/05/2017

We had a holiday booked with Elegant Travel and Tours, flying Heathrow to Hanoi, then on to Phu Quoc then finally to Ho Chi Minh City for April 2017. We were then advised by ABTA that the company had failed and we could apply for our deposit back. We were then approached by Tropical Sky who asked if they could look to fulfil our holiday as previously arranged and at the same cost. They then told us they could provide the same holiday at the same cost and so we agreed to travel with them. Our initial flight was 4/4/17 from Heathrow at 3pm, but we were then advised that the flight was being brought forward to 11am. I asked Tropical Sky if the hotel had been informed of the change and their exact words were 'all of our ground operatives have been made aware and the transfer has been amended accordingly'. We arrived at our hotel in Hanoi at 6am and were then told that check in is 2pm and we were pointed to the sofa in reception and invited to spend the next 8 hours camped out in reception. Now being 2 pensioners having been on a 13 hour flight and to then be expected to spend 8 hours camped out on a sofa is unacceptable. Luckily the hotel really put themselves out (well done Thien Thai in Hanoi) and we actually got in to our room at 10:00am. I lay the blame for this fully at Tropical Sky's door and think they should have instigated a conversation with us regarding access to our room on arrival even if that involved an additional charge for an extra night at the hotel, but they did not, hence the 3 star review. All other aspects of our holiday were fine, but I believe they have an important point to learn and whilst I appreciate it may have been difficult to raise an additional cost for an extra night at the hotel, it should have been done, and discussed fully.