ellie_meg I know you said you have spoken to Ros and got her advice. If she hasn't already suggested it/or you haven't yet done so. I would suggest you download and take with you the Safe and Sound Booklet, written by Ros, with you on holiday for reference in resort. Also give her another call with regards to the update of your situation.

The booklet is available via my signature.

yes ill ring ros today as diane only rang me quickly last night, shes taking loads of photos , because its out of season im not getting much of anything else in offers this is the main problem, being only 1 flight with thomas cook going and returning with sun express turkish airline and as the accommodation was booked through instant holidays via med hotels they are refusing to let me look at any other hotel sights only med hotels and they have only 2 available one is a 3 star and ive paid for a 5 and the other is a 5 but on special offer and they refused any refund when its cheaper than what i paid so thats not fair, so frustrating all of this, cant see any reviews on either of these 2 hotels, divan tayla or dedeman, although 1 woman from here said dedeman was good thats the one thats cheaper, ill ring ros she what she has to say on this latest news

i wouldnt refuse the accommodation when you arrive into resort, as you will find yourself footing the bill for the new hotel you stay in, plus when you arrive back home youll have the added stress of trying to claim that money too

courtney jade

Obviously, it is up to you whether or not you accept the accommodation, ellie_meg.

However, you might want to bear in mind that accommodation booked directly in Turkey tends to be dirt cheap, and if you decide before you go that you will be definitely making a claim anyway for the hassle you have had over this so far, then I don't see that switching hotels to get the holiday you want is going to make much difference to the stress levels involved in bringing a court case.

The only thing you are risking really is that at the end of the day, there is an extremely slight chance that you might end up footing the bill for the other hotel. However, given the unreasonable behaviour of the Travel Agent so far and their flagrant disregard for your legal rights, my view is that if you do bring a court action when you get back, then the courts will be almost certainly bound to side with you. See what Ros has to say about it.

If you do decide to reject the accomodation when you get there, remember to take some photos of it as proof of why you feel it is not up to 5 star standard.

Incidentally, as Ros will no doubt tell you, if you are switched to a cheaper hotel, under law the tour operator is obliged to refund you the difference. Yet one more condition of the contract that has been breached.

BTW, you mentioned elsewhere in this thread that the original flights you were booked to go on were not cancelled at all, but are still operating. I would recommend you get hold of some evidence to prove that if you can, before you go away.

regarding the flights that was another error told to me this time by thomas cook, grr she made a mistake apparantly they have been changed, im getting so many conflicting reports from them my head is spinning lol, after speaking to pam as ros's office i have decided to go ahead and go armed with video camera that i wasnt going to take and camera incase , horrible to have to go away knowing its not going to be good we will know more when diane returns next week, she said food wasnt good im qualified in catering oops lol, so it better be ok, as long as i get my wedding booked then thats my main priority, ive written the letter today as didnt get chance yesterday and im sending it recorded delivery,i was told to put i reserve pursuit of a claim upon my return and to accept under protest ive put both this in the letter, so hopefully ive covered myself,cant wait for diane to come back and give us her version of events

hi

latest up date ive had a letter sent to me from instant travel absolutely full of lies, wow this has really rattled my cage, i accepted the change of room in protest so i could claim once i returned if need be, i put all the things down i wasnt happy with, change of flight and flight co changed in dec then this recent change of room , when i was informed about flight change in dec i wasnt happy and was told there wasnt anything i could do about it ,basically tough !!i even asked for a refund then and was refused now they are saying if i had contacted them and complained in dec about flight changes i would have got a full refund ,wow what lies, i did complain in dec!!! disgusting company, boy have they got a letter from me today, im going to speak to ros when i return, this sort of thing should not be allowed, changing your complete holiday and then lie about it, not a happy bunny

Hi
Back from our week at the Talya Hotel. Elle-meg has given you some feed back from me but would add that the one swimming pool the Hotel had was closed for maintanence after our 3rd day for re-grouting. Hopefull it will be opened again for Elle-Megs holiday. My main complaint for being moved was no indoor swimming pool and at the other side of Antalya
The Hotel food improved after a couple of days to coincide with the arrival of a large party of Americans - very grateful!
On the plus side did enjoy Antalya.
But to have the Hotel changed at such short notice and the tour operator refuse a full refund is very wrong and are now looking for compensation for loss of facilities as originally booked.
Thanks for all the help on this site
Diane

welcome back diane, ill let you know how we get on when we return 29th, im going armed with camera and video lol, expecting the worst ,sounds awful to have to do that !!!

Ellie, have a good holiday!

hi

thanks queen bess, im going for a reason so as long as i get that sorted then thats my main priority, sort out any problems when i get back

as im back now thought i would give you an update, not sure what to do as hotel was ok but not up to 5 star standard nor was it in a nice area of antalya, a few things to mention, we were the only uk guests, it was full of german, dutch & belgium so therefore food was catered mainly for them so wasnt that impressed with the food, we had stains also on our carpet and walls, holes in sheets, duvet and curtains, which you dont expect from a 5 star, more 3-4 star accommodation, we had no rep to help us,staff on reception were very unfriendly which was unusual for turkey , brown water coming out of sink tap, and drinks megga dear for turkey, ie bottle of water was £2, a small beer £4.50, sprite etc £2.50 a small glass a lot more than ive ever paid, not that impressed at all ,going to see if its worth complaining or not as i would never have chosen this hotel and was given it 3 weeks before departure

Ellie
You said your hotel was "ok" and then proceded to list some horrors! What a pity you did not get what you paid for. I would go ahead and complain.

hi

it was just ok but not as i expected a 5 star to be, but didnt know if these problems were trivial in comparison to other holiday problems, i will talk to ros about it as the whole way we were treated from the beginning was disgusting, i should mention antalya old town was lovely we were in a built up area surrounded by car hire companys, beach was a concrete slab and hotel is advertising its own beach what a joke !!!

Keep us informed!

Hi Ellie-meg
Hope you got everthing sorted for your forthcoming marriage.
Our experience at the Talya Hotel just the same as yours!
I have written to the tour company requesting a refund for facilities not provided by the hotel - ie no indoor swimming pool or tennis courts.
Let me know what you decide.

Diane

hi

the swimming pool was open when we were there , yes thanks got all paperwork sorted for the wedding £225 not too bad, are you going through ros to complain, i was also told whilst we were there that the falez isnt being refurbished but has gone bankrupt did you get told the same ?

We were told by the security guard at the the Felez that it was closed for refurbishment. But I must say we saw no work going on - the place looked deserted. So would not be suprised if bankrupt.
Thought I would give it a couple more weeks to see if any positive response from tour Gemstone Travel re compensation.
Pleased you have the wedding plans in place

i would deffinatly complain as soon as possible,dont forget to send your letter recorded delivery and state you want a reply within 10 - 14 days i would also send this direct to med htls as the travel agent hasnt been to helpfull

glad you got everytrhing sorted for the wedding

ive spoken to pam at solicitors and she said i should complain, so i have to put a letter in writing to holiday company first, diane did you get your bed changed forgot to mention this too, my bed didnt get changed until i complained to reception on day 5, i explained to him i knew it hadnt been changed due to the hole in the sheet next to my pillow unless they had found another sheet with the same size hole in the same place , very unlikely, so it got changed once in the week we were there, i asked reception how often sheets were changed and i was told either every day or every other day, absolutely no way did this happen, i got the impression by the staffs behaviour towards us they knew we were on a package and therefore we were treated differently to the business people, another thing to mention !!!