Hi 12noon. I know what you mean. I usually judge each hotel on its appearance as people get dropped off. Can't say I've been overly worried about seeing the one I've booked as I've normally researched it quite a bit before booking. However one year on arrival at Ibiza airport, we were told that they'd moved us from a half board hotel to a self catering complex as the hotel had overbooked. What worried me most was that I had no idea where we were headed. It was the same resort as we'd booked and once on the transfer bus I remember thinking through the whole journey (oh my God where are we going to end up?). As it turned out we had a great place which was much better located than the one originally booked.

we normally avoid these coach drop off things like the plague as they take forever and we just know we will be last drop off.. however on our last holiday in Gran Can, we checked and as we were first drop off, we took the coach. Transferring back to the airport, we were first of course and travelling through PR we saw some right doss holes which were so far away from the beach it was a 2 day trek by donkey to get there anyway.. needless to say we were very grateful that we had got a really nice hotel to stay in..

I know exactly what you mean. My heart is always in my mouth dropping off.
It happened to us last year in Benidorm. We dropped a few people off at some lovely hotels then came to ours (which was recommended to us by our travel agent!) and we died of embarrasment getting off the coach, it looked awful compared to the others and did not meet our usual requirements.
However it was not the case this year as we picked one of the swanky ones we'd dropped off at first.

Don't have this problem with taxi transfers or car hire from the airport. If the place is a dump no one else to see...luckily have not stayed in a dump for quite a few years.

I only have those feelings if I am going to a new Resort for the very first time, but if I am returning to somewhere like Benidorm, then no. As I generally know exactkley where I will be staying.

and of course it is so much quicker to go direct by a taxi transfer. Last time we were in Los Cristianos we sorted ourselves out and we were at the apartment, checked in, unpacked and in the bar by the time the bus arrived with loads of very frazzled holiday makers on board...as a matter of courtesy we always find the rep at the airport and tell them we will not be on the coach.. it saves holding everyone else up while they do a head count....

Don't know about anybody else but I often have a double worry on the transfer coaches,
does my hotel look as good as the ones we've already dropped off at
and is that noisy mob at the back of the coach getting off at the same hotel as me

Still we live in hope, Tom

Thomas1951 wrote:

that noisy mob at the back of the coach

That "mob" have been on the same transfer coach as I have I think!

is that noisy mob at the back of the coach getting off at the same hotel as me

I often try to get a glance at people's luggage tags as they're being loaded onto the coach, to see if they're at my hotel, sometimes I'm even peeping at their tags in the check-in queue at Manchester Airport Last year in Lanzarote it turned out that the entire coach full of people was just for our hotel - a very large popular family complex - and it was all the same people on the coach going back to Arrecife airport two weeks later

We've never had the noisy mob dropped off at the same hotel as us, but we do tend to hope someone else gets dropped off at the same hotel as us.

I don't know why, but its nice to have someone else check in to the hotel at the same time as us.

My first holiday abroad was to Italy, just me and my slightly older brother, both in the flush of youth............about 17 yrs old I think?

We'd booked a Cosmos coach tour of Italy (hadn't heard of 18-30's then! )and having been picked up by one coach was to rendezvous with another from the midlands, exchange passengers and head our seperate ways. On our coach were half a dozen pairings of extremely attractive young ladies. The Coach from Birmingham was bringing, so we were told, a dozen or so nurses from the local college.

Things were looking good!

We rendezvoused somewhere around Heathrow. All the good looking girls got off of our coach and in return the 'nurses', who were i'm sure very nice people in themselves, scored a ton of the scales and minus 2 on the loveometer!

GUTTED!

Hi All

Our holiday requirements differ as we get older to those we used to enjoy as youngsters. but unfortunately in my youth I could certainly have been accused of being part of a noisy mob at the back of a coach. (Sorry to all those families that travelled the same time as me and my mates back in the 70's and 80's)

Unfortunately it seems you don't have to be in the flush of youth now to be part of one of those noisy mobs. Although very quiet and reserved during transfers etc. we have come across some horrendous families who are on holiday together and feel it is their god given right to make as much noise and mess as they can whilst around the pool/resort and sneer at people who just want to chill out and relax. Have a laugh my all means but please respect other holidaymakers.

Rgds Jackie

Getting back on topic, sort of, do you often think as soon as you are dropped off at your Hotel that if looks nothing like the pictures in the brochure? Do you find the accomodation looks better than the pictures, or worse?

Touch wood, so far, all the places I have stayed in have either lived up to the brochure images or surpassed them.

Mostly the places I've been to have been much nicer than the pictures portrayed.

Except the one in Gran Canaria because the brochures didn't feature the cockroach infestation, obviously. Eeeeuw, the sight underneath our fridge was something to behold - horrid creatures both living and dead, our lights were left firmly on for the whole time so that they at least stayed in dark places.

we went to one place in Lanza that was beautiful in the brochure and indeed when we had been past it before in previus visits to Lanza, we always told ourselves we would stay there one day as it was in the perfect location on the sea front.. so we stayed there and oh my days.. it was the worst hotel ever and nothing like the brochure

even the cockroaches had packed up and moved out and the cats were prowling round in fours for their own protection it was that bad..

i won't name it here as i have said plenty about the place in the reviews section and in another thread about worst AI places ever...