Hi Julie

I hope you haven't been put off HT by some of the responses you have received. One way HT gets new members is via the complaints thread as often people don't know about us until they have a problem. They then decide to stay, join in the various other threads & help out other members.

tfstraveler is a previously banned poster called samsung who tries to put off new people from becoming full members, by putting negative or sarcastic responses into complainants threads.

I still think it is a bad decision for a hotel not to put out sunbeds when temps are 73/74 degrees and the other hotels in Lara Beach have theirs out & would also have felt cheated if I had paid 1300 for a weeks winter-sun only to be told I couldn't sunbathe because beds weren't available. (Like silverpixie1uk, the more I think about the more ridiculous it seems )

I hope you have more luck with your next holiday.

Doe

Hi julie!

Like doepsmc sayrs, dont let one idiot put you off posting on here. I think I'm in the minority here agreeing with you. If I read (or heard)that some facilities were not available, - I would presume, it would be something like, the kids club, maybe certain aspects of the entertainment (not a full program), maybe the bars etc restricted to certain hours - it would not cross my mind for one minute it would mean no sunbeds out for guests,- (or to ask upon booking), That is something I would expect - no matter what month. I have been to cooler resorts in Feb, and the sunbeds have always been out.

When you have saved all year for a holiday (and payed the amount - you did , I would have felt exactly the same.). - Especially if the other hotels in the area, had their loungers out, and pool in use. After all, that's why we go on holiday - To relax, - in whatever way you want!

Take Care Julie, and I hope the next holiday you have is Great!

Belly

For what it's worth Julie I'm with you and bellyballyboo here. If I was to book a winter sun holiday, I would at least expect to be able to sit out 'in the sun' and have something provided to do it on and like you probably wouldn't even have considered that the pool might be one of those facilities that was unavailable. OK the pool might only tempt the very brave but at least it would be available. Really it shouldn't be sold as a winter sun holiday, if those 'standard' facilities you would expect don't start until the summer season. I would be cross as well, and regardless of any small print would complain to FC.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but really how many people when booking over the phone cross question the person on the other end. I consider myself to be meticulous in our holiday booking, but we all make assumptions and sometimes get it wrong. I booked a pet friendly cottage assuming it had a garden, it didn't, but then again the brochure didn't actually say it did when I looked back at it. It seems a bit harsh that some people are being so unsympathetic, we all work hard to save for our holidays and then take valuable annual leave to go on them, a bad holiday is a major disappointment.

Good luck with the next trip Julie

Having read this whole topic again, I understand that the original poster complained to the tour operator on the pool and sunbeds not being open.

The hotel then stated that they were horrified about the sunbed and pool situation, yet didn't want to do anything about it./

The point I'm making is that we quite often read about the length of time tour operators take in replying to complaints we make to them. Some of these complaints are much more serious than the one being discussed here and in my opinion something that is most probably covered in the brochure in any case.

Whilst I'm sympathetic with the original poster, I feel the complaint to the tour operator would have been a no goer from the start and could well have resulted in more genuine and urgent complaints being delayed as somebody still had to deal with this complaint.

Sorry to sound harsh, but that's my opinion.

Mark

Whilst I'm sympathetic with the original poster, I feel the complaint to the tour operator would have been a no goer from the start and could well have resulted in more genuine and urgent complaints being delayed as somebody still had to deal with this complaint.

A complaint is a complaint whatever the reason for it is!...I think it is a bit rude of you to say that Julie's complaint was less 'Genuine or Urgent' than anyone elses....

Of course a complaint is a complaint but can you imagine if each and every one of us wrote to the tour operators for the smallest of inconvenience that was caused on holiday (and things do go wrong).

The system would come to a standstill.

You may find my response rude (and it is a personal opinion), but then your emoticon at the end of your post was rather rude too.

Mark

Mark makes a good point. TO's receive many complaints. From too many foreigners, beach too sandy, sea too salty, no English food, it rained (honestly) etc etc to accidents, illness, death in resort, flight delay problems, thefts, muggings - the list is endless.
They still have to be answered within the timescale laid down. These are not answered in UK BTW, they are sent to the office of the resort which the complaint relates.

I'm sorry that the Julie is upset about this, and she obviously is or the subject would still not be under discussion, but I would be very surprised if she received anything other than a quote from the back of the brochure.

Louby

I think one of the reasons Julie feels so aggrieved, is because in Lara Beach, there is no resort centre, no bars/restaurants, very few shops etc. The beachfronts are owned by the individual hotels and are therefore private to that hotel. So if your particular hotel doesn't have any sunbeds around the pool, where are you supposed to sunbathe and indeed where are you supposed to sit, if you want to go outside the hotel???

In somewhere like Side or Marmaris for instance, if your hotel didn't have a pool available, you could use a different hotel's pool (maybe at a charge) or you could go to a public beach and hire a sunbed and shade. In Lara, that is not possible. As there are not any public bars or restaurant in this area you couldn't even have the option of sitting at one of them.... Thinking about that, would any of us be well pleased if that hapened to us??? And unless you had previously been to Lara beach, how would you know???

Denny

The point here is whether any complaint would be justified. What does the back of the brochure say about facilities not being available all year round?

As stated already, research is important. That is why the likes of Holidaytruths aids in concluding whether a certain resort is for you. Would you buy a television (which is cheaper than a holiday) without researching it first, looking at reviews or walk into a shop and buy the first one your see?

On a final note: if you were to speak to a solicitor and asked them to fight this case in court, would they take the case on knowing they're going to win it?

Mark

In the Eclipse Winter Sun brochure (same company) each page (on Lara Beach, Turkey only, -interestingly!!) simply says 'Please note: not all the facilities are available during the winter' -RIGHT next to a photograph of the pool with WATER in them and SUNBEDS around them!!!! Surely that is misleading, if nothing else? Denny

Just wanted to make it clear, I'm talking about all the hotels on Lara beach in the brochure - not the Miracle hotel, that Julie stayed at. That hotel is not listed in the brochure. Denny

I spoke to a hotelier friend here in Cyprus - also an all year round destination. He says that in the cooler winter months here, some hotels lay off the pool/outdoor staff as there is not enough work for them.

Its quite possible this is the case at Julies hotel. If they had put the sunbeds out due to demand from guests when the weather picked up, they would then have to have at least one dedicated member of staff cleaning them every day, sweeping up, tidying the whole area, emptying ash trays etc etc. If they did not have a member of staff available, the area would become dirty and then there would have been complaints about that instead.

Not Julies problem I know. But just a thought.

Louise

I hope you had a good holiday despite the lack of sunbeds and pool. Sometimes you have to just make the most of it(believe me, I am speaking from experience of my recent holiday ) You will not get anywhere with a complaint I'm afraid. I also dont think it was warm enough to worry about shade on the beach. For your next holiday- research, research, research.
And for the record- I went to Turkey before I joined here and found it wasn't the resort I had imagined. I vowed that wouldn't happen again.

So where does it end?
Do we have to check every detail? Should we expect everything?
Should we be calling the tour operator and saying 'Is there going to be a couple of beds in the rooms?, What about a shower or a toilet?' All of which I bet 100% of us never ask when booking our holiday but if when we got there there was just a rug on the floor they would be covered by the smallprint!

Now I know the above is very very unlikely but I do think that if you're advertising a hotel in a WINTER BROCHURE using pictures of a pool with sunbeds around it then it is misleading if those beds are not their. I think there should be something on the page saying 'POOL SUNBEDS MAY NOT BE OUT, PLEASE CHECK BEFORE BOOKING' Then it would be fair as people would be checking!

I know Julie isn't likely to get anywhere with a complaint but How many of us reading this will now check when going away in winter time what will be available? All of us!

She has every right to complain no matter how small a matter it is to some of you. She probably won't get anywhere with it but still.
As for all the 'more important' claims then, maybe if they actually dealt with them properly in the first place instead of wasting time sending out 'standard' letters hoping people won't write back, maybe they'd have more free time for these not so important claims!

Julie I think some of the replies you've had have been very rude from something which obviously affected your holiday!

I guess the only good thing for you is that from now on you'll be checking every last detail before booking!

All of the above is just My Opinion of course!

I think the hotel themselves were the ones in the wrong - and that is why a complaint won't get anywhere (because of their 'catch all' of some facilities not being available). The hotel should have been aware that easter was earlier this year and they would have known this, their bookings at that time of year would almost certainly have reflected it.

I think it's a good idea of Julie's to note her dissatisfaction with the TO because it highlights to them as agents that facilities that should have been provided, purely by the common sense of the hotel management, but weren't.

It's a combination of being unlucky that we had such an early easter and the hotel not being prepared for that. The liklihood of this particular problem occurring again is very low as we won't have such an early easter for many years to come.

The staff were remiss in their handling of what the guests needed and wanted when you take the weather into account.

I wish you a better holiday next time Julie.

I'm sorry Chiva69, I don't agree with you here:

Julie I think some of the replies you've had have been very rude from something which obviously affected your holiday!

Other than the post from someone who has been banned from the website, I can't see that any of the other responses have been rude.
In fact, most of us have expressed sympathy with Julie's experience.
Just because someone disagrees with a point of view does not necessarily mean it is rudeness.

Denny53

In the Eclipse Winter Sun brochure (same company) each page (on Lara Beach, Turkey only, -interestingly!!) simply says 'Please note: not all the facilities are available during the winter' -RIGHT next to a photograph of the pool with WATER in them and SUNBEDS around them!!!! Surely that is misleading, if nothing else?Just wanted to make it clear, I'm talking about all the hotels on Lara beach in the brochure - not the Miracle hotel, that Julie stayed at. That hotel is not listed in the brochure.

I don't think this has anything to do with the issue under discussion here. As Julie has already pointed out:

why did all the other hotels have pool and sunbeds out then? - and not ours. on lara beach stretch there are 7 or 8 5 star hotels - we were the only one with no pool or beds.

Julie unfortunately chose the wrong hotel. Maybe she would have made a different choice if she'd had a brochure in front of her, maybe not.

Julie asked in her first post:

would you complain?

She has received opposing opinions about her experience, there is nothing to stop her from writing to the Tour Operator.

Polly

Ok maybe rude was the wrong word but shooting down others opinions isn't what this website is about!
Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know! I agree with the 'no case to answer' part but it doesn't make it right!

I don't think it's right that she shouldn't complain just because there are others with bigger complaints!
Maybe her complaining will make the Tour Operator re think how they advertise their bookings. You never know! It's a consumers right! The words 'Some amenities may not be available' is not enough! Because with a statement like that they can do what they like!!! Or is it because if they actually state what may be missing then no-one will go?

Well I have to agree with Chivas here.

This is someone putting their first post on as a member. While its fine to give advice I feel sometimes there is a little bit of lecturing going on. Of course its important to research a holiday - Ive been a member here for four years now and its invaluable - but as Chivas says - research what? If a brochure shows a photo of a pool with sunbeds around it -even though it says "some amenities may not be available" etc....................I certainly wouldnt have thought that the use of a pool and sunbeds would have been available.

Its all very well to look back in hindsight about what you would or wouldnt do - and giving an opinion (whether it is or is not what someone wants to hear) is what we are all here for - but I cringe sometimes at the "tone" of some posts............not everyone is experienced or thinks to research every little detail - hence the reason for the post in the first place..........

I again agree with Chivas that I dont think you are going to get any joy out of this - but to be honest I can completely see why you are so miffed about it - and complaining may not help YOU - but if this issue is highlighted - whether it be with the hotel or the Tour Operator then perhaps the TO will amend their brochure to ensure folk know about it in future - or a small chance the hotel will look at changing their policy on the opening of the pool/beds.............which contrary to some other people - I do feel would make a significant impact on the enjoyment of my holiday.

And sometimes it helps just to hear another member say that they understand how you feel about something even if they cant help you sort it out.

sorry I dont see an edit button - what I of course MEANT to say was that I thought the sunbeds and pool WOULD have been available