Woman complains because Spanish hotel has too many Spanish people in it
This just in, folks: a woman has literally complained about having too many Spanish people on holiday with her. In Spain.
A pensioner from Lancaster, England, was horrified once she got to her hotel in Spain and it was filled with Spaniards, complete with Spanish entertainment.
Freda Jackson, 81, stayed on the eastern coast of Spain, at Hotel Poseidon Playa on the outskirts of Benidorm with her friend and paid over a thousand pounds for her holiday, via Thomas Cook Holidays.
At the end of her two week trip in May, Jackson broke down crying and has now written a formal letter of complaint to Thomas Cook, according to metro.co.uk.
The retired care assistant questioned why Spanish people couldn’t go somewhere other than Spain for a holiday, and claimed she was almost knocked over at one point on her disaster trip.
“The hotel was full of Spanish holidaymakers and they really got on our nerves because they were just so rude,” she told metro.co.uk.
“One evening a Spanish guy nearly knocked me flying and he just walked off without even apologising. Horrified swimmers raced out in disgust after someone pooed in a pool.
“The entertainment in the hotel was all focused and catered for the Spanish – why can’t the Spanish go somewhere else for their holidays?”
Jackson and her friend are now demanding either a full refund from Thomas Cook or a free holiday. The retiree, who’s been to Turkey, Greece and Portugal in the past, also complained that the resort was on a hilly surface and that overall, Thomas Cook “mis-sold” and “ruined” her trip.
“I have never complained about a holiday before – but this one was a disaster from start to finish.
“My friend and I paid for it from our pensions and it was a struggle trying to fund it over 12 months and the holiday was totally ruined – I cried after. We wanted to go somewhere on flat ground and not in the hills because we have mobility issues.
“To top it off once we got to reception they told us we had been put on the 14th floor, thankfully we were moved to the second floor, and that it was 42 steps down to the hotel’s swimming pool,” Jackson said.
Thomas Cook initially offered Jackson and her friend a £75 ($130 AUD) holiday voucher as compensation. But after she declined, the company made a higher offer of £566 (around $1000 AUD), to be split between the two – which Jackson is yet to respond to.
Thomas Cook said they moved the pair to a second-floor room on the second night of the holiday and said staff offered Jackson assistance on a small slope at the hotel – which she apparently refused.
The holiday operator also only offered the compensation to the pair because a last-minute flight change – not because their Spanish hotel was filled with Spanish people.
A Thomas Cook spokesperson told metro.co.uk that Jackson wasn’t informed on her flight change until six days before departure because of a “system error”, and apologised.
“We are very sorry for the inconvenience this caused and are investigating to make sure it doesn’t happen again. We have offered Ms Jackson and her travel companion a gesture of goodwill to try and put things right which we hope she will accept.”
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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