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Barceló Lanzarote
formerly known as
Hotel Barceló Suites |
Complaint entered by tfpbarnes@tiscali.co.uk |
Complaint Date 30/12/2003
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All Your Complaints under one Roof |
Tell the World what went wrong and hopefully the world gets better |
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Last update 31/10/2007 |
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Barceló Lanzarote
formerly known as
Hotel Barceló Suites |
Complaint entered by tfpbarnes@tiscali.co.uk |
Complaint Date 30/12/2003
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I
booked a 2 week holiday for 5 at Barcelo Suites in Costa Teguise.
This party comprised my wife and I, with our twelve year old son and
my two parents; both in their seventies. An ESSENTIAL condition &
where we chose to stay was the provision of air conditioning. The
main reason for this, being the fact that I do not like the heat and
only go abroad in August because I am a teacher. In addition, my
parents although liking the sunshine, like to be able to go inside
to get cool, particularly my mother who is no longer able to use a
swimming pool. This hotel and the staff were excellent in most respects, but unfortunately ALL the public areas inside the building, were not air conditioned, 99% allowed smoking and all were permanently hot and stuffy. Not only were these areas hot and uncomfortable but it was also impossible to get away from smoke, except in our room. This made life very uncomfortable for me, as I suffer from Asthma and NEVER go anywhere where people smoke. On the whole, we had a good holiday, but there is no question that it was marred by there being no escape from the constant heat. The ONLY area where the air conditioning worked was in the actual sleeping areas, which thankfully meant we all got a good nights sleep. The living room areas of our suites were permanently hot and this is where my son was supposed to sleep, but we moved his bed into our bedroom area which was cool. We therefore had 3 beds squeezed into a relatively small area. I spent a considerable chunk of my holiday sat up in bed reading by artificial light, because the only comfortable area inside the building was our sleeping area. NONE of us EVER used any of the public lounge areas, and I missed most of the evening entertainment as the Timanfaya Bar where it was held was unbearably hot and smoky. The fact that the suites had cable TV and seating was therefore irrelevant as we couldn’t use that area. The fact that the hotel had two bars and a number of other seating areas was irrelevant as we couldn’t use them either. Although we had a good holiday overall and certain aspects of the hotel were excellent (eg. Food, sleeping area) I feel that we have paid for facilities that were effectively unavailable to us. I certainly did not travel to a 4* hotel in Lanzarote to spend a considerable amount of the time sitting in bed! In the 21st Century, there is simply no excuse for defective air conditioning. I examined every public area and the vents etc were in place, but were simply not pumping out any cool air. I have travelled to Florida a number of times and irrespective & the temperature outside, all the buildings are beautifully cool. We stayed at a modem 4* hotel in a relatively new resort, on an island that exists purely for tourism. There can be no excuse for ineffective air conditioning. I suspect that they don’t run it in order to save money. This is short sighted however as I will not return to that hotel as I suspect will many other people who are expecting a hotel with facilities they can use. I did bring this matter to the attention of the rep. on site, as well as one of the hotel managers and I completed a Customer Service form whilst there. I obviously feel we are entitled to an appropriate level of compensation for this |
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Direct
Holidays acknowledged this letter with the usual pre-printed response
and came back to Mr. Barnes on the 7th October 2003 when they sent to
following reply:
Dear
Mr Barnes Thank you for your letter regarding your recent holiday to Tenerife. May I begin by offering you my apologies for the problems you experienced with your recent holiday. It is disappointing to us as a tour operator when clients are not entirely happy with their holiday. With regard to your comments concerning your accommodation, I am sorry to note that you felt that there were shortcomings regarding the brochure description and I can only apologise for any grievances you experienced. I must bring to your attention that our brochures are compiled using information supplied to us by the agents we contract from and we do feel that our description is clearly indicative of that which actually exists. However, please be assured that your comments have been passed to our marketing department for their information. Once again, many thanks for bringing this master to our attention. I hope, despite the disappointment you have told us about, that you found all other aspects of your holiday arrangements satisfactory and that you will consider using Direct Holidays in future. |
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Mr. Barnes clearly was not happy with this reply - they couldn't even get his holiday destination right and sent yet again another letter on the 9th October 2003 which they totally ignored. He then wrote again on the 30th October 2003 without getting any response and he contacted us on the 30th December 2003. All in all, Mr. Barnes had spent nearly £5000 on this holiday and they did not even have the common courtesy to reply to his letters. We had not much success either when we wrote to Direct Holidays suggesting that they communicate with Mr. Barnes and make a reasonable offer of compensation as they clearly had not provided what they had promised in their brochure. The fact they were compiling their brochures using information supplied to them by their agents is of no interest to Mr. Barnes as this is an issue Direct Holidays will have to take up with them. As we had no response we suggested to Mr. Barnes to issue a Default Summons in his local County Court for approx 10% of the total holiday cost which we completed for him and which we understand has now been served on their registered office in Manchester. Let's wait and see what they will say when they file their defence |
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Update: 19th February 2004 |
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Mr Barnes has just sent us the following letter: I write to advise you that I have now received a cheque for £530.00 in full settlement of my claim, to include the cost of letters and the court fee as advised by yourselves. Can I take this opportunity of thanking you for all your support in this matter. I think the service you provide is brilliant, especially in the 'money grabbing' world we live in. |
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Although the final outcome is satisfactory it just shows to what length these companies go to avoid settling genuine claims. They are fully aware that most people who complain will not pursue this matter and simply give up when they get no reply |
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Complaint Status: closed
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| Overall Efficiency: |
Nil |
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| Respond Time : |
Nil |
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| Final Outcome : |
Satisfactory
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Further links to Direct Holiday complaints:
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