Recently returned from what was suppose to be a holiday of a lifetime to Mexico with my parents and husband. Holiday was just short of £12,000 the four of us for an all inclusive two week stay in a five star resort.
We saved for years for this holiday and put our faith in First choice and trusted them with our hard earned cash.
Three days into the holiday i was hanging in the pool with my mother when a Canadian make sexually assaulted me in the swimming pool. My 60 year old mother witnessed the assault and immediately brought this to the hotel staff's atteniton. I was clearly in a bad way and very shaken up, my husband was understandly fuming and confronted the man who assaulted me. He was clearly very intoxicated and wanted to fight my husband and threatened to kill him if he reported him.
We went straight to the desk of the reps in resort who took statments from us all. They also called the hotel management. Who assured me they would resolve the situation.
A few hours later the hotel manager came to tell me that they had given the man a warning however they couldn't remove him from the hotel I explained this was not good enough, I wasn't prepared to stay in the same hotel as someone like this. As it was an all inclusive resort we had to share the same restaurants and facilities. There was no getting away from him.
I begged first choice for three days to move us to another hotel. I spend hours in their office, and sent 16 emails to the 24-7 customer services email whilst in resort, with no joy. They refused to accept responsibitly and said there was no space in any of the hotels within the area. After another 2 days of reasoning with them they said the only way we could move would be to pay £900 per person to move to a different hotel. I explained we couldn't afford that much money to move, but they said that was the only option.
Our holiday was totally ruined and I couldn't wait to go home. I sat in the room for the remainer of the holiday.
I have contacted First choice to express my concerns, however they are not accepting fault.
Do I have any legal redress for the suffering caused And the way First choice handled this situation?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Abi
This was clearly a very distressing situation for you - did you report the assualt to the local police at the time and what was their response if you did? It could make a difference to the likelihood of getting legal redress here with regards to First Choice and/or the hotel having any legal responsibility for the behaviour of another guest.
SM
SM
thank you so much SM for your reply. Yes the police were called and statements were taken. I also have copies of the statements made to the hotel as well as First choice. I really thought that First choice would look after their customers, but they were not interested at all! I feel bad on my family members as the holiday was ruined. I feel the hotel are partly to blame as they did not remove the man who assaulted me. First choice said they could not make the hotel remove him as he was not a First Choice customer and their hands were tied, but surely they have a duty of care over their customers? I am just so upset at the whole experience, I have also been signed off of work as I just can't concentrate or get this awful situation out of my head
Not a pleasant experience at all, but it's a shame you let it spoil your holiday. By doing that you allowed yourself to be a victim, and you allowed that 'person' to win.
I understand how you felt because several years ago I had a guy grab me, slobber all over my face (yuk) and 'touch' me very inappropriately when I was out for my usual early morning jog on holiday. This was a guy who I had been saying good morning to for years. After that I still went out every morning, but for that holiday I just made sure I wasn't alone. The following time we went I carried on as normal. No way was he going to stop me from enjoying myself.
I'm not sure that First Choice should have let you move free of charge. It wasn't their fault, there was nothing wrong with your hotel, and they have no control over how other guests behave, no matter how disgusting they are. The management should have taken a stronger stance IMO. I presume you reported the incident to the police. Couldn't they do something about him, especially as you had a witness?
I understand how you felt because several years ago I had a guy grab me, slobber all over my face (yuk) and 'touch' me very inappropriately when I was out for my usual early morning jog on holiday. This was a guy who I had been saying good morning to for years. After that I still went out every morning, but for that holiday I just made sure I wasn't alone. The following time we went I carried on as normal. No way was he going to stop me from enjoying myself.
I'm not sure that First Choice should have let you move free of charge. It wasn't their fault, there was nothing wrong with your hotel, and they have no control over how other guests behave, no matter how disgusting they are. The management should have taken a stronger stance IMO. I presume you reported the incident to the police. Couldn't they do something about him, especially as you had a witness?
Unfortunately not, they only gave him a warning, but think this was partly due to the fact he was a 'gold member' and had a time share in the hotel. It was almost as thought the hotel wanted to brush it under the carpet. I personally think they should have removed him from the hotel. Yes the police came and took statements but nothing was followed through. It was an awful experience having to look over your shoulder at each and every meal when you have paid so much money to go on what was suppose to be a dream holiday. What annoyed me the most as the fact First Choice has alternative accommodation showing on the website, but when we asked we were told it would be 900 each more expensive. But why when it was showing the same price online? They were the most unsympathetic money grabbing company I have ever had the misfortune in dealing with.
I'm sorry that you had such a horrible experience. I don't work for Thomson but I do work within the industry so maybe I could shed some light on the money aspect of it all....
Once you've paid the full amount of your holiday (usually 8-12 weeks prior to departure), the money then gets sent to the relevant departments/companies for flights, accommodation and transfers etc. once this has happened the hotel have your money, and would only be refunded if they were unable to offer you the promised room. as you had the room, and the money had already been given to them by Thomson/First Choice, they cannot transfer it over to a different property. The only way you could have got around this is by stumping up the additional cost, and then claiming it back once landing back in the UK. with the police reports and everything else, they would have refunded it back to you, but claiming against the hotel you stayed at. does that make sense?
I can totally understand that you couldn't understand it, and the experience was totally unacceptable, but they have procedures to follow to be able to get money back off suppliers. i hope this has shed some light on the way the company has acted, and I'm not saying that they are right for this either. But I do agree with the other poster, that the hotel management should have taken a stronger approach against that person. I hope you have posted on their Trip Advisor page to state what happened and what management did (or didn't do).
Unfortunately there are people like that wherever you go, and all hotels allow other companies passengers in, so maybe until you get holiday confidence back that you look at hotels exclusive for certain companies so you know that they can take relevant action. It seems that since the start of this summer season, travel firms aren't putting up with unacceptable behaviour from some of its customers, so i'd hope this would extend not only from flights, but through the rest of the holiday too.
If theres anything else i can do to help, feel free to PM me.
LJ
Once you've paid the full amount of your holiday (usually 8-12 weeks prior to departure), the money then gets sent to the relevant departments/companies for flights, accommodation and transfers etc. once this has happened the hotel have your money, and would only be refunded if they were unable to offer you the promised room. as you had the room, and the money had already been given to them by Thomson/First Choice, they cannot transfer it over to a different property. The only way you could have got around this is by stumping up the additional cost, and then claiming it back once landing back in the UK. with the police reports and everything else, they would have refunded it back to you, but claiming against the hotel you stayed at. does that make sense?
I can totally understand that you couldn't understand it, and the experience was totally unacceptable, but they have procedures to follow to be able to get money back off suppliers. i hope this has shed some light on the way the company has acted, and I'm not saying that they are right for this either. But I do agree with the other poster, that the hotel management should have taken a stronger approach against that person. I hope you have posted on their Trip Advisor page to state what happened and what management did (or didn't do).
Unfortunately there are people like that wherever you go, and all hotels allow other companies passengers in, so maybe until you get holiday confidence back that you look at hotels exclusive for certain companies so you know that they can take relevant action. It seems that since the start of this summer season, travel firms aren't putting up with unacceptable behaviour from some of its customers, so i'd hope this would extend not only from flights, but through the rest of the holiday too.
If theres anything else i can do to help, feel free to PM me.
LJ
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