A family of four left a TUI partner hotel after they discovered disgusting conditions at the venue including ants in their room and a toilet that wouldn’t stop flushing
A family left their TUI partner hotel after finding horrible conditions at the venue(Image: Kennedy News and Media)
A family left a TUI partner hotel early after discovering it was “unfit for humans” and left in a state so poor the two children were in ‘tears’.
Clinical resourcing partner Vikki Ashton, from Leeds, had travelled to Sousse, Tunisia with her husband and their two children in July this year for an £1,800 two-week all-inclusive holiday.
However, when they arrived at the hotel, they found it was very different to how it was advertised. It was in such a poor state, in fact, that TUI would later remove it from their site.
Vikki, 49, explained that one of the first warning signs occurred when the family arrived and found the hotel pool was green rather than blue. This was before they entered their hotel room and found lights off the walls and a toilet that wouldn’t stop flushing.
Vikki recalled: “While we were walking to our room [after checking in] we saw that the pool was green. It looked filthy. On the website the pool is blue. People were in it. It was in full use. We got in the room and saw it was pretty basic. The side lights were hanging off on wires, not even attached to the wall.
“We went in the bathroom and the toilet was filthy and it wouldn’t stop flushing. The noise was awful. The bathroom door handle just came off. It was falling apart. It wasn’t fit for human habitation. The public toilets that run from the all-inclusive bar to the toilets were covered in dirt. It was filthy. We were horrified.”
So concerned about the state of the room was the family that Vikki said she was worried they would “end up getting poorly” as their two daughters found ants “all over the room and all over the bed”.
In response, Vikki called TUI to express her worries about the venue, but claimed they told her they could not move the family due to it being peak holiday season. This was despite Vikki claiming she had seen availability online. Taking matters into their own hands, the family decided to rebook with another hotel privately at the cost of £3,200 for the rest of their holiday.
Vikki explained: “We told reception we need moving. We rang TUI again the next morning and they told us they couldn’t move us because it was height of the season. But they could’ve moved us because we could see right now there were several hotels in the area with availability today.”
Vikki added: “We said give us the money back for this hotel and we’ll move ourselves. They said they wouldn’t do that. We tried to work with TUI to get this resolved but they were not very forthcoming.
“It was either pay for another hotel ourselves or go home. The girls were in tears. The next hotel was fine and we stayed there for the remaining 13 nights. There was no way on earth we would’ve stayed at the first hotel. You could hear people in the hotel saying ‘get me out this place’.”
Upon their return to the UK, Vikki claimed that TUI was only willing to offer the family £105 in compensation for what had happened, an offer the family declined. Vikki, saddened at what had happened, said they hadn’t been expecting luxury, just “the basics”.
After Vikki’s case was raised, TUI have since claimed they reviewed the matter, including issues at the property Vikki mentioned. TUI has also claimed one of their team was in contact with VikkI and have since offered to fully reimburse them the price of the alternative accommodation they organised. Alongside this, they say the original venue, which was the source of the complaints, has also been removed from sale.
A spokesperson for TUI said: “We’re very sorry to hear about Ms Ashton’s experience. We want everyone who travels with us to be able to do so with confidence and to receive the standard of holiday they expect.
“We have since resolved the matter directly with the customer and, following the concerns raised, taken the decision to remove the property from sale, meaning it is no longer available to book through TUI.”
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