Yeah that was kind of my worry too Alex, as I'd booked the Palace. But my point is, I may have booked to stay in the Palace part, but I booked a holiday village, not half of one! rofl

Gonna go look at links and email my local trading standards office.

C x

Oh Emma, just had a thought! Probably just as well your wedding is cancelled, the wedding Gazebo is at the TROPICAL!

Have just spoken to our local trading standards officer, who advised that yes they are breaking their terms of contract and should be offering some form of redress. He advised putting it into writing, even email, and asking them what they intend to do about it (I have already did this). He also suggested dropping ABTA a line (has anyone did this already).

I asked what would happen if FC refuse to acknowledge and compensate for this, or allow cancellation without penalty, he said then trading standards will take it on as a complaint and deal with it. So come on first choice, you're in the wrong here! GET IT SORTED!

People POWER!

C xxx

Thats good to know ScottishMum

It will be a big relief for a lot of people to know they have Trading standards on side.

First Choice have been getting away with too much for too long

I have spoken to FC, because my daughters school friend is going to the Place in July and they dont know why the Tropical is closed, but if you check on the reservations their are still lots of availability left at the Palace,May, June and July so i think intead of having two hotels more than half empty to cut costs they have closed the Tropical until the kids six weeks holidays when they can sell most of the rooms.

In reply to a post of a few days ago:

There are not 2000 rooms - only 1,000 (500 in each property) - to over-exaggerate by 100% is a little misleading

I have never been told by a travel agent nor have I ever asked or been particularly bothered what the mix of nationalities is at a hotel - it is not something normally disclosed.

The brochure has never (to my knowledge) stated that it was in the heart of a busy bustling commerical centre......in not saying that people should infer it is therefore in the countryside.

My friend has just looked at the FC brochure and it looks like we will miss out on -

Indoor pool
Poolside snack bar
one of the themed restaurants
Spa garden

So i have decided to write to FC after reading what trading standards have to say and see what happens.

Shuggy,

There is a poolside snack bar and a an Indoor Pool at the Palace...but you are right about the themed restaurant...also I do believe that there is another Restaurant in the Tropical (A Pay One) but that opened after I had been.

Katy

Hi Shuggy

The indoor pool was in the Tropical and i dont know for sure that there isnt one at the Palace, but would add that it was only used when we were there on one day when a mini tornado came through the hotels! Would not say you are missing out on that.

I stand to be corrected but i am sure there was a poolside snack bar at the palace also!

Themed restaurants! Well before they opened the tropical last year the themed restaurants were at the palace so that may be the case again.

Finally the spa garden. This was a lovely part of the complex and is on the Tropical side and to me this is one of the biggest losses as it was so beautiful. Had a barlian massage there and it was fantastic.
Katys Clan has beaten me to it but there you go as she has said there is an indoor pool at the palace also.

She has just reminded me the restaurant that you are talking about is probably the fish restaurant which she is right in saying that you had to pay for so i did not choose to eat in there for two reasons. Firstly i am not too fussed about fish and secondly i would object to paying for a meal on a complex where i have paid for all inclusive.

Katy is correct, there is a restaurant at the Tropical (pay one) which served fish dishes, I think it opened the day we were leaving. Also from an earlier comment, the Football pitches are already at the Palace so can't see how they can "move" the soccer school there.

The night club is also at the Tropical and correct me if i'm wrong, so is the welcome meeting ballroom where both palace and tropical meetings are held together.

i really hope that the guests concerned on here who are going may/june/july keep up the pressure on FC. Last year they were monitoring the site, I know this for a fact. On the coach from the airport, one rep stood at the front after the coach was full and into the mike shouted "so how many of you in here follow the HT website!!" Half the coach stuck there hands up, including me and he spent several minutes trying to guess our names!!!!

Thanks for all your advice. I tried to get hold of first choice last night but was left holding for 50 mins and gave up. Im going to email them now and talk to trading standards etc.

Sorry guys but we had the same problems last year with FC don't expect to get any truthfull answers when they eventually answer your E-mails etc. We got a refund last year because we didnt have all the facilities and also the place was still a bit of a mess, entertainment was awful, kids clubs (when we were there, teenagers) was awful gave the kids colouring in books and pens (it got better as the season went on, I believe) the food was so repetitive and you couldn't even buy anything different, also there was a part of the day when no food was available.

Saying that, following this thread people seem to have had a great time after we were there and some of the problems had been addressed. There was also a wedding at the Palace when I was there as the tropical was not opened yet.

The facilities at the palace, if they are fully operational should be great, the pools and the slides were great (the best part of the holiday) so go and have a great time.

Hope everything goes okay for you all.

Marion

I have just spoken to trading standards and advise you all to do the same. They have advised me to write to First Chioce by recorded delivery giving 7 days for them to respond. They have given me a case reference number and have asked me to let them know if I dont get anywhere.

I have also just emailed watchdog which may be another good idea to see if we can make forst choice listen.

Will do prettyinpink, do you have the email addy for Watchdog?

C x

Edit: Its ok, I found it on their website, there is a submit story option on there. Hope everyone else will follow suit.

Right we need to let ABTA know, Im not good at writing letters to the point so come on someone volunteer an e-mail to voice our concernes

The internet site for ABTA is http://www.abta.com afterall they are there to "monitor the standards of ABTA members"!!

PEOPLE POWER

Sam
x

MICHAEL Im sure Jack wld love a big playfreind in Tweety Club!!

We spoke to ABTA before we got in touch with Trading Standards and got nowhere!!! E-mailed Watchdog at lunchtime today, so they should've heard about the Pegasos a few times now. Surely if we all carry on as we are they will have to listen....sorry I forgot we are on about FC here!

Sorry i am new to this posting lark but i have been reading this site since last summer as we booked from the first issue of fc brochure before it all blew up on the holiday nightmare program, i have been very nervous about the holiday, but we are willing to go with an open mind since reading the mixed reports on this site. But i have now rec'd letter telling us our room type has changed, thought nothing of it but am concerned this will now mean they have changed our hotel without informing us??
I need to go home and check my new invoice !!!!! help

Hi PurdieBlue

What hotel did you book and when are you due to go? If you booked the Tropical and were due to go before mid July you will have been changed to the Palace as the Tropical is closed!

Glad to see you followed suit with the watchdog thing! We will have to wait and see what happens. I emailed a copy of the letter I have sent to FC to them last night so we will see if we get the replys we wanted. Consumer Direct advised me to inform them of what I wanted for a resolution. I dont want to change my booking as I have been looking forward to it for sometime now as we booked a year in advance but I do feel we should be compensated in the form of a discount as we are losing out on many facilities.

I went on holiday 18 months ago to the Sahara Beach Hotel Tunisa which was in the middle of knowhere. You didn't feel so away from everything as there were other hotels around you. I cant imagine what it is going to be like staying in the only open hotel.

Reading past reviews the hotels sound similar so when I get there im sure we will have a great time but the only thing that worries me is that on my word, my brother in law and partner have booked to come with us. What if it is a real let down?