Another over sensationalised, ambulance chasing programme in the offing then

Sunaddict wrote:

Another over sensationalised, ambulance chasing programme in the offing then :(

You think they would get fed up of making these things that just consantly show people in a bad light and exaggerate things out of all proportion, can't imagine anyone still watches them. But in days when 500,000 is considered a good audience so it goes on, and on and ........

Bring back, 'Holiday' and 'Wish You Were Here.' please.

doe wrote:

Bring back, 'Holiday' and 'Wish You Were Here.' please.

I'm surprised they're not back in our TV schedules as they would fit the criteria of Overpaid celebs getting freebies

If anything should be brought back it would have to Duty Free , my wife has the DVD boxed set ( she watches them while doing the ironing ) they are really funny , they had an episode when wish you were here was being filmed with Judith Chalmers making a cameo appearance that is so true to life , but most of the episodes are non PC , quite amazing at was allowed to be said on TV , 20 odd years ago

You think they would get fed up of making these things that just consantly show people in a bad light and exaggerate things out of all proportion,

I get fed up watching them as well, see two bits of episode of the one that has been on BBC, all it was that i saw were people moaning about their hotel/resort tough you should do your research first,and others moaning they were refused on the flight.. one didn't have a visa for India and was blaming everyone but himself, another was a party that arrived at the airport in good time and were in the bar so missed their flights,and another a group of women who arrived late and didn't make the check in time, again the last 3 were all their own fault one for not checking if they needed visa's and group for being piss heads,and the third for not leaving early enough to catch the flight...

what we need is the old fashion report shows, not the lets blame everyone else because were too thick to do anything ourselves shows which is all we see

wiz

We did absolutely loads of research before we went to Cuba..booked it a year in advance - however nothing could legislate for the fact the hygiene standards were so poor at the second hotel and the food so bad that we had food poisoning for 11 days. No amount of research will tell you whether you are going to get food poisoning..and nowhere in any review we read about this hotel say that the food was left uncovered for hours on end and the birds and flies could freely help themselves to it before you did! That was just ONE of several issues.

We are not stupid by any means and we are experienced travellers and did not expect our holiday to be overshadowed in the way that it was.

That said, I agree that the good old fashioned "wish you were" programs were still on TV.

That's a shame Val there is nothing guaranteed more to ruin a holiday than a bout of salmonella or ecoli that you can't shake off and as you say you can't research for it, and it can attack the most holiday savvy traveller. Horrible when it happens, have had it myself s couple of times when away, twice from AI buffets, once in Kenya and once in Turkey, but have also caught it on a self catering holiday when we were eating out all the time, it only takes one dodgy kitchen.

Doe

i think the trouble with the holiday programmes like WYWH and holiday was that they increasingly covered destinations that were outside the range of most families, and so ratings dropped.
it is all very well seeing Judith Chalmers et al going to the Andes or Australia, but your average family wanted to know about the rainy season in benidorm and whether their was a british bar in their resort.
it was nice to see how the other half holidayed in all the exotic places, but they tended to forget about the average family and did not understand household budgets.

I quite enjoy the holiday complaint programmes.

even the most travelled of us can get things wrong. I would like to think that I knew what I was doing but I have missed flights and got caught with a taxi scam. Wizard- I am thinking back to a trip to Turkey you made a few years back. Things do go wrong. And as for the Indian visa situation- if you book through a TO you would think that they would alert you of the need for a visa. As we know on the Goa forum, that doesn't always happen. Things do go wrong that couldn't be predicted. We also had a regular in Mumbai during the terror attacks. Although I am not a particular fan of these types of programmes- they can at times stop folks from making the same mistakes

There was a programme on recently where the TO hadn't informed a couple of holidaymakers that there'd been a recent change in the Indian visa process & consequently they weren't allowed to fly and their holiday had to be cancelled. They had the visa that had been required but there had been a change in the meantime. During the show it was stressed by ABTA that the TO's can't be held accountable for visa problems and that it was essential that travellers regularly check the websites for updates, especially if they are visiting countries who are renowned for making changes. This piece of advice would have been helpful I'm sure to India visitors.

I'm not convinced that wanting to film a 'holiday of a lifetime' that turns into a disaster is a particularly noble concept to be honest. Seems more like a bit of sad vouyerism and implies people enjoy watching others dreams be chattered. Fair does if people like that kind of thing but I will give it a swerve and wait patiently for them to bring back factually programmes that show places to visit and what they have to offer, not just how to sue someone.

Instead of making these shows on what goes wrong it would be a novel and original idea to show that tour operators actually get the VAST majority of their packages right but where would the fun or ratings in that be, so instead lets just make yet another holiday hell programme

I enjoy watching the Travel Channel 251 & 252. Its not the same as WYWH but it shows some very interesting places and there is no one moaning how bad their hotel etc is.

doe wrote:

I'm not convinced that wanting to film a 'holiday of a lifetime' that turns into a disaster is a particularly noble concept to be honest. Seems more like a bit of sad vouyerism and implies people enjoy watching others dreams be chattered. Fair does if people like that kind of thing but I will give it a swerve and wait patiently for them to bring back factually programmes that show places to visit and what they have to offer, not just how to sue someone.

But these things do happen Doe unfortunately, same as there's always cowboy builders, and if you are made aware of the pitfalls then you can hopefully safeguard against it happening again. I remember years ago a complex in the Algarve that was notorious for poor reviews, due to cleanliness & health & safety issues. This was in the days before the Internet was as popular as it is now & many unsuspecting people were still being sent there. This infuriated me as, having had a bad holiday myself I knew how those involved must be feeling, having spent their hard earned money & having excited children in tow only to end up in some dump. The accommodation concerned was featured on holidays from hell programme & eventually after ruining countless people's dream of a relaxing break, was closed down.

We at HT over the years have helped countless people avoid a holiday disaster and, I don't mind any publicity regarding poor, sometimes dangerous, or, poor food hygiene in hotels being shown to the public. I'd certainly want to be made aware before I set off for my holiday if it applied to where I'd be staying.

one issue regarding being warned by the TV progs. the incidents they report on are usually ancient history by the time they are aired. The hotel may have changed hands or even closed.

Glynis HT Admin wrote:

doe wrote:

I'm not convinced that wanting to film a 'holiday of a lifetime' that turns into a disaster is a particularly noble concept to be honest. Seems more like a bit of sad vouyerism and implies people enjoy watching others dreams be chattered. Fair does if people like that kind of thing but I will give it a swerve and wait patiently for them to bring back factually programmes that show places to visit and what they have to offer, not just how to sue someone.

But these things do happen Doe unfortunately, same as there's always cowboy builders, and if you are made aware of the pitfalls then you can hopefully safeguard against it happening again. I remember years ago a complex in the Algarve that was notorious for poor reviews, due to cleanliness & health & safety issues. This was in the days before the Internet was as popular as it is now & many unsuspecting people were still being sent there. This infuriated me as, having had a bad holiday myself I knew how those involved must be feeling, having spent their hard earned money & having excited children in tow only to end up in some dump. The accommodation concerned was featured on holidays from hell programme & eventually after ruining countless people's dream of a relaxing break, was closed down.

We at HT over the years have helped countless people avoid a holiday disaster and, I don't mind any publicity regarding poor, sometimes dangerous, or, poor food hygiene in hotels being shown to the public. I'd certainly want to be made aware before I set off for my holiday if it applied to where I'd be staying.

I take your point Glynis, and obviously I support what HT does but I feel it's a completely different concept to sensationalising something on TV.

I have real live experience of one of these so called holiday hotels from hell. It was the Red Sea Holiday Village Sharm el Sheikh.

As Del says the programme was put out about two years after the hotel had a problem, so totally unfair on the hotel with loads of people on here in the days when the Egypt forum got 20 posts a day, asking if the should cancel etc. in truth it actually was a beautiful hotel with flower filled gardens and wonderful staff. Most people who changed would have probably ended up at an inferior hotel. I'm not saying nobody that goes there gets ill they probably do it can happens anywhere and Egypt has its fair share of those kinds of issues but doesn't make it a hotel from hell.

I'm glad there are some people who obviously like these programmes otherwise there would be no point in them making them at all. Just hope the participants aren't ambulance chasers.

Doe

Kiltman HT Mod wrote:

Instead of making these shows on what goes wrong it would be a novel and original idea to show that tour operators actually get the VAST majority of their packages right but where would the fun or ratings in that be, so instead lets just make yet another holiday hell programme :zip

Lol, I love the idea of a programme that is all about the thousands of holidays that go right Graham but I fear it will never catch on, people only want to watch the whingers, too boring watching people have a good time, no cockroaches, thin walls or low quality AI food to moan about.

Doe

In an ideal world everyone's holiday would be just that a holiday, place to relax, chill out and have lasting, happy memories

I know Glynis I have had so many lovely holidays over the years, that I am sure at some point I will have an absolute stinker. Based on the law of averages it will have to be my turn soon.

Doe