A family’s £2,000 half-term break turned to a holiday from hell when they took one look at their room – and caught the next flight home.
Paul England, 58, was back home within 24 hours of landing in Cape Verde with wife Kim, 62, and their 13-year-old son Zac after being left disgusted by the state of their four star hotel.
They were confronted with mould, dirt and a disgusting mattress in the room and the couple even sterilised a glass to have a drink of whiskey after their ordeal. After consulting with Tui reps in the hotel, they decided to get on the next flight back to the UK.
Paul, from Worcester, said: “I was devastated. My son saw the bed and said ‘I don’t want to stay here’. It was mouldy, the air conditioning was full of black mould.
“I thought if this is the state of the bedroom, what is the state of the food going to be like? That was even more foul when we went down for breakfast the next day.”
The family jetted off from Bristol airport on February 14 on a TUI package holiday to the four star Aguahotels Sal Vila Verde. But when they arrived at around 7pm after a six-hour flight, they found the entire resort in complete darkness due to a power cut.
And after waiting around two hours in reception, they were finally told they could not check in because the hotel had allegedly not received payment from TUI, despite the family having paid in full before travelling.
They eventually paid for the first night just to access the room at 11pm, only to be greeted by an eyesore, which was the first time they saw the state of the room.
The family then met with Tui reps in the hotel the following day to arrange a flight home, which they paid for themselves, and left the resort at 1pm.
Paul added: “Instead of enjoying a family break, we were back at the airport within 24 hours — stressed, exhausted and out of pocket.
“We didn’t get to sleep until 2am after we eventually changed the matress. The Tui reps tried to find us an alternative hotel,but I said just get us home.
“They really did try their best. I think they were more embarrassed about the room. But I had no confidence in any of the hotels.
“If this was a four star, I couldn’t stay in another four star hotel or anything less. I paid for the flight myself, it wasn’t about the money at that stage, I just wanted to get home.”
The family flew to Manchester as there were no flights to Bristol and had to make their own way home from there.
Wife Kim said: “It was disgusting. It was filthy, I had never seen anything like it. We needed a drink and I had to sterilise the glasses before we even drank out of them, it was that bad.”
Zac said: “When we got there, the lights were off but it didn’t seem like a four star place. When they came back on, I thought I was not going to do anything there. It was great to get home.”
Paul complained to Tui after spending an initial £1,720 on the trip and a further £750 to access the room and return home. The firm issued a refund an apologised for the state of the room, telling Paul: “We are truly sorry for the distress and disruption caused.
“I fully appreciate how upsetting and frustrating this must have been after a long journey, and I regret that your holiday did not begin as it should have.
“These circumstances are not reflective of the standards we expect for our customers, and we are very sorry for the impact this had on the start of your holiday.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.