'Devastated' family 'scammed out of £1,800' when five-star holiday resort 'did not exist'
A family’s holiday has been ruined after they claimed to have been scammed out of a small fortune for something that never existed.
There’s only so many things that can go wrong on a family holiday.
Either you forget something back home, you lose something in a foreign country, or you become ill.
That’s typically it.
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However, a family have been left ‘devastated’, claiming they forked out £1,800 on a five-star resort from Loveholidays that wasn’t was advertised.
From lush pools to a play park and Smurf Village for their 19-month-old baby, Gemma Lane and Nicholas Preston stayed at the hotel in Antalya, Turkey last month thanks to a Loveholidays package deal.
The 'family-friendly' hotel seemed like the perfect option for them, until they realised that it wasn’t actually real.
The family arrived to the resort on 2 July and realised they had been 'mis-sold' as it looked 'nothing like the photos.'
Calling their hotel room 'dingy and outdated', she went on to claim that they even had no cot for their toddler, as staff said their baby could just 'sleep in the bed with them' instead.
Deciding to go and see what else the hotel offered, as per the photos they’d seen, they discovered more and more disappointment.
The 'play park' was just an area of astroturf and 'derelict land', with many of the features shown online not being present.
The indoor pool was closed and the 'Smurf Village' also looked 'nothing like the photos.'
The UK mum, who was in tears over the ordeal, said: "It was my partner's birthday. We just wanted to have a really nice time on holiday. We booked it specifically because it looked really good for babies.
"We arrived at midnight and they took us up to this room and it was this dingy, cave room. There was no cot for the baby.
"The lad who took us up to the room said we haven't got a [cot] for tonight. He said the baby could sleep in the bed with us.
"This is meant to be a five-star luxurious place. The room looked nothing like the pictures. It was dirty. It was so outdated.
"The pictures they had [online] didn't reflect reality at all."
To make matters worse, the pair had to pay out an additional £1,500 to move locations after calling the hotel ‘terrible.’
While Loveholidays apologised that their time 'fell short of their usual high standards' and opened an investigation, they allegedly shared their support team were not given time to resolve the issues before the couple packed up and left.
On the other hand, Gemma claimed since returning home, Loveholidays offered a £173 refund for their holiday, and they refused to take it, calling it a ‘scam.’
Gemma said: "It was like a big scam. We couldn't even speak to anyone at the hotel. Reception was completely unhelpful.
"I couldn't stay there and function with a baby. I was in tears. I was really upset.
"I would've rather got a flight home than stayed home. It was the worst hotel I've ever stayed in. It was more like a two star than a five star.”
A Loveholidays spokesperson said: "We're very sorry that Mr Preston and his family's experience at their hotel in Antalya fell short of our usual high standards.
"Mr Preston booked alternative accommodation before our On Holiday Support team had the opportunity to offer assistance, however we recognise the concerns raised and are investigating them further with the accommodation provider.
"We have been in touch with Mr Preston to apologise and have issued him with a full refund for the unused nights of their accommodation."
Britt Jones