I should have said is it in Brit Tour Op brochure Sanji as I can't understand how they'd let that bath set up pass the safety standards?

Nowt worse than poor food in hotels. We tend to go s/c as I'm so nervous about forking out for H/B. In saying that, when we have gone H/B ie when it's not been much more than B&B we've been lucky, the Calypso in Benidorm food was lovely

I should have said is it in Brit Tour Op brochure Sanji as I can't understand how they'd let that bath set up pass the safety standards?

Thomas Cook, Monarch holidays? maybe they looked at the hotel's photos, which shows an entirely different bathroom for the superior rooms? and imo haven't inspected the majority of bathrooms.

Sanji x

Tut tut, they'll be in deep doo doo if one of their customers has a fall as a result I would have thought. (sorry Sanji I got embroiled in the 'canteen' saga & only TR registered )

Do tour operators actually go over and inspect hotels, or do we think that maybe they just take things on trust ?

If they do the later then I guess a lot of inaccurate photos can end up with an hotel being rated above how it should be. I have never really understood the ratings system and have wondered if it more done on a trust basis than anything else ie tour TO's getting a load of information in and making a 'best guess' (I know that doesn't sound very professional) I just can"t imagine in these cash strapped times them having either the human resources or the cash resources to do any proper checks - I guess that is why traveller reviews are so important now.

My son and his friends are going to Majorca for a week at the beginning of July so not technically in the peak weeks.

I had nothing to do with this booking so couldn't research anything and was presented with a fait accomplie they have been charge £550 per person for a weeks half board in a three star hotel and that is sounding quite expensive to me, especially as I think they may be three to a room, but maybe I am out of touch ?

Doe

I've a feeling Doe that the TO is responsible for the safety of their guests and this included any hazardous items ie no stickers on glass patio doors etc (I seem to remember watching one of those documentaries about Tour Operators and the woman walking round with a clip board advising the hotel of any health and safety issues that needs to be put in place).

I've always been led to believe that star rating are for the services provided ie a gym, sauna, pool etc

re star ratings for hotels this link may help explain the spanish system, which is based on facilities rather than service.it does vary slightly on an area by area basis.

in the old days, before this interweb thingy turned everyone into travel experts, tour operators used to have holiday representatives in every resort whose job was to assist holidaymakers and ensure they enjoyed their holidays.
that is why the welcome meeting was held; to help the new tourists understand the local culture, point out do's and dont's and to provide general assistance in the event of problems. it was usual for them to actually speak the local language. they would also put on a local show in their hotels where all the resort reps would contribute. they would also book people on a limited number of local trips where you could get a taste of the local culture and assist in hiring a car by telling you of the best local deals.
of course, for providing these local trips/car hire they got a little commission (or backhander) to augment their salary and some reps did very well for themselves by being good at their jobs
then the accountants found out

part of the reps job was to do checks on the hotels they looked after to ensure they met the standards demanded by the tour operators and to feed back to the TO information from the resorts like norovirus reports, hotels closing early or opening late, building work and general safety issues etc. so Sanji's bath would have been highlighted, and possibly fixed.
they tended to stay in a room in one of the hotels they looked after and so were very aware of any issues and so the TO was aware and, in theory, holidaymakers could be advised of problems before they booked as travel agents were updated.
Once the accountants started digging, they discovered all the little “fiddles” that the local reps were working and decided to incorporate them into the normal reps job. So selling trips became a “must do” part of the job and their wages were reduced to encourage them to earn commission to get their basic wages back to what they were. Then corporate contracts were introduced for things like car hire and more perks were lost to the reps.
The reps job then became less of a career for people interested in the local culture and helping people enjoy their holidays, and more akin to working in a shop with sales targets, rules set in stone etc and so the quality of the reps dropped and local knowledge was replaced by sell!sell!sell!
After a while, and with people becoming more internet savvy, people started to realise that they could book trips, hire cars, use local transport, find out about local culture without the need for listening to some 18 year old, wet behind the ears rep who was really there to party away the summer rather than have any interest in helping the holidaymaker.

Despite the accountants best efforts, or because of them, the sale of trips etc declined and so, with good accountant reasoning, they decided that if the reps could not sell the trips they would save money by cutting the number of reps. So now the local reps who survived had many more hotels to cover, and the job description changed to make selling trips their number 1 function, and so the reporting back was left to be little more than report anything really serious, and we all know what is really important to an 18 year old party animal.

So, once again the accountants were tasked with providing a solution and that is why reps are now a thing of the past, and reports of building sites, norovirus, wonky baths etc are no longer available through TA's and TO's but generally only from sites like this one and trip advisor.

Disclaimer: this may seem like a dig at reps but it is definitely not. I know some excellent reps in the catalonia area, who have worked there for many years and who provide a great service to all holidaymakers, not just those that travel with their company. Reps were, and still should be, a very important part of the holiday experience but should be paid a reasonable wage for the job they should be doing.
The number of complaints could be reduced drastically if the old-fashioned type reps were still employed in the resorts to sort out holidaymakers issues. If they went back to this model -even calling them the more modern In-resort Customer Service Advisors, and selling trips/car hire (even if they are corporate brands) for a small commission then they would be able to employ the right people and almost certainly save money in the long term by reducing the number of people in the complaints departments.

PS
I do accept that some companies cutting the number of people who deal with complaints from 2 to 1 wont produce great savings, but these companies are in the minority.

Aren't they

↑↑↑
Good post Jim.
As the link explains -In Spain the national and fundamental criteria for ratings, starts with the room size.

Glynis HT Admin wrote:

I've a feeling Doe that the TO is responsible for the safety of their guests and this included any hazardous items ie no stickers on glass patio doors etc

Absolutely correct Glynis It's part of the Package Travel Regulations.

A direct responsibility placed on tour operators for the safety of their customers. Tour operators are legally responsible for the components of the package - coach transfers, hotels etc, if negligence is proved. They cannot avoid responsibility by attributing it to their sub-contractors. UK customers can sue operators in UK courts and no longer have to pursue action against contractors in overseas courts

http://www.fto.co.uk/operators-factfile/legal-requirements/

Sanji x

Talking of plate glass windows......
A few years ago we decided to try another hotel in Torremolinos - I think we booked with TR- and I seem to recall no British TO's in there - they were all Spanish and TC's trading arm of Neckerman.

Anyhow, I'll try and make this brief - the hotel was full of glass- all the frontage of the hotel from ceiling to floor and glass doors everywhere.
I walked into a door of glass and apart from being embarrassed and feeling a complete idiot, I wrecked the frames of my spectacles.
Dave was bending my ear saying things like "Why don't you look where you're going" & " It's going to cost you for a new pair of spectacles" blah blah blah

A few days later, a Spanish man of the same height as myself, he did exactly the same as me - yes he felt embarrassed too and tried to laugh it off.
This glass door had a sticker on it (a big red dot) but it was placed too high on the door to be of any use to anyone of average height, say 5 ' 4' - you'd need to be nearing 7 foot tall to notice it.

I went to see the manager, who was a Directora (a woman manager) and I explained that all these panes of glass from ceiling to floor they were bluddy dangerous and she's going to be getting a child running into one. (although not those exact words in Spanish). Let me tell you, that she nearly pood herself, when she thought I was going to report it to someone above her head and claim for my spectacles - and within 48 hours, every plate glass door in that hotel, they had another big red sticker on them, LOWER down.

I'm nobody special, I was just one of the thousands of people passing through for 2 weeks, and I'm not deluding myself that those extra stickers were placed there just to please me .
So, the moral of this little tale - is that in this day and age, the majority of the Spanish hotel owners (now being part of the EU and its directives and part of the global market) they are very much aware of being sued.

What I think may have happened in the hotel with the wonky bath, and this is just my own thoughts, and I may be completely wrong.....

The hotel has recently been refurbished and no doubt they've used the existing 1960's plumbing - The power of the showerhead which looked relatively new with its various settings, it would send water passed the small wall and onto the floor, therefore making the floor wet and dangerous. (the shower screen did get wet).
So, they've added a 'fixed' shower screen onto the wall to solve this problem. Then they've realised that the only way in or out, is at the end of the bath.

To stick another plaster on the problem, they've installed a grab handle, but the bath slopes at that end and apart from having to walk the length of the bath, (not being crude) you have to open your legs wider to span the distance from the flat part of the bath - spanning the slope - and finding the floor with your other leg/foot.

If you're a bloke and you miss your footing or your foot slips in the bath when spanning the gap, you'll have tears in your eyes and be singing in alto. ouch!

Sanji x

Great post Jim I didn't see as you having a go at reps at all. It's more complicated than that and is more about how an industry has evolved over 40 years, and something that could have been a good career for people has sadly disappeared probably forever due to a mixture of the involvement of the legal profession and possibly the shifting nature of travel with travellers themselves being more experienced. DD's friend was a rep last summer between the end of first year Uni & beginning second year Uni, the company's now seem to offer very short term contracts, she was only there for six weeks and what they pay is laughable. She was looking after kids in a kids club, face painting, playing with them but worked long days, it's almost got to the point where all you get is your bed and board, guess she's not too worried though as long term she is going to be a solicitor, the irony. She loved it though.

Oh dear Sanji, that must have been an Ouch moment. I did something similar some years ago, might have been in Greece though, no spectacles involved as I wear contact lenses