Park was Ok hotel such a disappointment
Dear Aime,
I am following up from my complaint made during my stay from 28th-29th May. This was a trip for my granddaughter's 5th birthday, last year we did Gulliver's which was amazing and this year we chose your resort.
We arrived at around 12.30, had a lovely welcome from reception, they said our room was ready. We took our keys and said we were going to continue to the park as my granddaughter and niece were very excited.
We had a fantastic time in the park, albeit queuing for a few rides that then had technical faults, so we had to leave the queue, a bit frustrating for two young children.
On returning to the hotel, we went straight up to our room, 116. We were all very excited. On opening the door, a vile stench of sewerage greeted us, my granddaughter said, 'nanny why does it smell like poo?'. As it was 6pm, my sister-in-law and I quickly got the girls dressed for the entertainment and out of the room.
While the girls enjoyed the entertainment, I was left away from them sorting out the issue with a lady manager, not sure of name. She came to the room as said she would get maintenance to fix the issue as there were no available rooms. After an hour, I popped back to the room, and nothing had been done at this point. I then went back to reception to be told the manager was sorting an issue in the other hotel. Could I give them a little longer. I agreed, we went for food in the buffet restaurant as had to be seated by 8.30 (incorrect information given telling us we only had until 9pm to each, everything rushed and at £83 it was not cheap. We then noticed others entering and food not being tidied away until 9.30. We did meet some lovely staff at this point who engaged in good conversation). A ember of reception came to me and explained they were really sorry, they have had to move my room, no longer a twin but a double (not a major issue as I was with family).
At around 9.30, we made our way up to the rooms (old 116, new 117), this was initially great, no smell and it overlooked the reserve. I then observed the dirty cups in the sink, the used tea tray with mess all around, rubbish in the bins, all over the side and mess on the bathroom floor. Pictures were taken. At this point I was furious and went down again to reception. They were so apologetic and embarrassed as they are front of house. The new night manager (a male), was dealing with an issue in another area, and I was told he would be up to see me. First to arrive was a cleaner, who abruptly exclaimed, 'you have a problem'. We showed her the issue, she huffed and threw her hands in the air and stomped off. She returned with cleaning products. Cleaned everywhere, proceeded to swill out the dirty cups in the bathroom sink and wiped the area that held the tea tray with the same cloth from the bathroom, then wiped the spoons with this cloth. Absolutely disgusting, I was recovering from a serious chest infection that that weekend before I was hosptilised with, not a chance was I going to use those items (I removed the items from 116 to use).
The manager then arrived; this was about 10.20. He was very sympathetic and listened to all of the poor experiences. He offered passes for the next day, but I paid for these at the time of booking. He said to give him 20 minutes and he would try to make things better. He returned with gifts for the girls and some snacks plus £40 of Merlin money. He said he would authorise a 50% refund too. A this point it was nearly 11pm, I had barely spent time with my granddaughter when we should have been playing games, laughing and having fun before bed. Instead, I was racing up and down to reception, still not fully recovered from my illness and moving our baggage.
I also did not have an email a month before like I read after examining everything to invite me to book breakfast and the splash pool. I managed to book this for a rubbish time of 9.45 and the night manager said he'd booked me in for breakfast at 8.30. This was not great after the evening we had as we were all very tired but knew the girls were looking forward to the splash pool. When we arrived at breakfast we were not booked in! I explained all what had gone on and the lovely lady seated us. We went into the splash pool which the girls really enjoyed.
We then continued our day after packing our car. On arrival at security, the man was rude. Grunted, 'open your bags' to which I said, 'please wouldn't hurt'. It was very busy on this day, and we queued for rides that again shut due to technical difficulties and Zufari didn't have the measure on entering and because when we got to the ride, they didn't have the tool that sits on top of the head, it looked like my granddaughter was slightly short, she is actually dead on 100cm which was evidenced on other rides which she rode. So disappointing.
At the end of the day, we went back to the hotel to meet the Gruffalo, we were told they would be out in 10 minutes, we waited 30.
I cannot explain how disappointed and embarrassed I am over this whole visit, I drove over two hours for this experience when we do have parks closer to Birmingham. It was an experience I was so looking forward to, making memories with my granddaughter and niece is important to me and I was so deflated, feeling like I have let them down.
In summary, the refund has not been given and quite honestly, on reflection, and the way it has impacted me mentally, I expected a full refund so I can recreate this experience again. I do not feel I should pay for a service I have not received. The fact you are trying to put people in unhealthy rooms (the cleaner said that that room always smells that way, which I thought was a disgrace if you think it is ok to put my family there).
This activity isn’t bookable for now.!
London
Mobile Ticket
24 hours (approx.)
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