Couple on bargain honeymoon thought hotel staff were 'joking' over weird one-cup rule
It's fairly commonplace now for holiday resorts to have their own rules to ensure a sense of law and order whenever tourists rock up to the premises.
Rules against sunbed-hogging to dressing appropriately when checking out certain destinations are fairly understandable, but one couple on a bargain honeymoon had the shock of their lives when they thought hotel staff were 'joking' over a weird one-cup rule.
Guess you really do get what you pay for.
Booking a trip can always be a bit stressful when you're just going off some online reviews and photos. However, this unlucky pair ended up having the holiday from hell when what should have been a cost-effective romantic honeymoon, booked through loveholidays, soon turned into a total 'nightmare'.
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The lovebirds, Magdalena Brylinska-Beaton, 36, and husband Andrew Beaton, 37, checked into their two-star resort in Majorca, Spain, in the hopes of having an affordable beach holiday - opting for the Sun Club El Dorado in the 'picturesque' Puig de Ross resort.
"There were bad reviews but there were also good reviews saying, 'Not as bad as people say'," Magdalena explained.
"All together, we paid around £860 including the transfer and extra luggage.
"It did say that the hotel was basic, but that wasn't a problem for us provided that it's clean, because we wanted to go out and explore anyway."
The couple, from Inverness, Scotland, grew wary before they even rocked up to the resort last month (15 May) after telling a local cabbie where they were headed to.
"We went up to the transfer desk and the driver asked where we were staying," Magdalena explained.
"He said, 'Oh, Sun Club El Dorado' and then started laughing. That was the first thing I should have picked up on."
And it only got worse from there.
Magdalena and Andrew were then handed two brightly coloured plastic cups at check-in and told they needed to present them whenever they wanted to order a drink.
"The first night I went to the bar and asked for a sangria and the guy says, 'Where is your cup? You must have been given cups at arrival?'" she said.
"I was like, you have got to be joking me. They expected us to use the same cups for the coffee the next morning - it was the weirdest thing."
According to Magdalena, guests were made to use their one cup for 'alcohol, our tea, juice, coke, sprite, whatever'.
She added: "They weren't even washed properly, I had to wash them myself using my own shower gel."
Yikes.
The whole fiasco was the farthest thing from a bargain as the unlucky pair ended up having to fork out for another place to stay after finding out flights to go back home early were way too expensive.
They ended up paying £425 for five nights for the new lodging.
Upon leaving the first hotel, Magdalena said: "I went to reception and asked for a refund for the five unused nights but the only thing they gave us back was €11 tourist tax money."
They landed on an affordable alternative hotel in Palma, the island's capital, with Magdalena explaining: "When we arrived in Palma, I thought I had been let out of the I'm A Celebrity camp.
"We sat in a coffee shop holding an actual coffee cup in our hands."
Not exactly the luxury treatment, but definitely a welcomed change from their previous cup-gate drama.
Magdalena said the rest of their holiday was 'really good' with 'great food' and 'normal cups'.
Ticks all the boxes then.
She has since used her experience as a cautionary tale for other holiday-goers tempted to cut a few corners: "What I've learned is that times are changing, if you book cheap it's a disaster."
Magdalena also declared she won't book a holiday with the company 'for the rest of my life'.
A spokesperson for the loveholidays has since issued a statement on the matter.
They said: "We're sorry Magdalena Brylinska-Beaton's experience did not live up to her expectations on this occasion.
"While we always encourage customers to raise any issues with our dedicated in-resort team at the time so we can address them, we've reviewed her case and issued a refund for the days she did not use the hotel."
A spokesperson for the hotel said: "Since Covid, customers' expectations are very high. It's normal for a website to advertise the best photos of a hotel.
"They have to take into account the value for money and this hotel is one of the cheapest."
Topics: Travel, UK News, World News, Sex and Relationships
Rhiannon Ingle