Susan Edwards said her holiday was ‘horrendous’ from the minute she arrived at the Greek island of Corfu with her daughter and three other family members
A fuming mum has vowed never to book with TUI again following a “nightmare” all-inclusive trip to Corfu, where she claims there was “no English food” or hotel entertainment.
Susan Edwards embarked on a seven-night holiday to the Greek island on 12 May. She stayed at the Lido Corfu Sun Hotel with her cousins, aged 77 and 78, her daughter, 30, and second cousin, 50.
However, Susan, 69, from Westerhope, described the holiday as “horrendous from the minute [they] got there.”
The holidaymaker explained: “It was all-inclusive, £750 each we paid and there was no food we could eat and we couldn’t have anything to drink.
“I have to be careful because I have ulcerative colitis so there’s certain things I can’t eat. The all inclusive drinks were wine, lager, ouzo, or brandy. Yes, there were soft drinks, but we had to pay €1.50 for water.”
Susan and her party arrived at the hillside hotel around 2pm on 12 May, ready to enjoy some food and refreshments after their long journey.
After climbing a large ramp to reach the hotel reception, Susan said she was told that pool-side food would be served at 5pm for guests, which she claims was a “one-inch square of baklava”.
Her dissatisfaction only got worse the next day when she discovered there was “no English food” available at the hotel. Describing the grub on offer, Susan said: “On a morning you could have toast, a hard boiled egg, or something in sauce,” Chronicle Live reports.
“There was no bacon. For breakfast there was mozzarella and sliced tomatoes. There was no hot bacon or sausage.
“We got chips one day. One day out of the whole lot. There was fish, sardines and rice – I was sick to death of looking at rice. There was pasta and salads, none of this was marked (labelled). One night there was a Greek night and they had kebabs, I couldn’t eat that. It’s the worst holiday I’ve ever been on.”
The mum says she couldn’t enjoy her preferred drink during her holiday because she doesn’t fancy ouzo and doesn’t drink brandy. She explained that she would normally have bottled lager or one Bacardi and Coke, which she said would have cost her €9 and would have been a different brand.
“By the time we paid £750 for the holiday, €70 tourist tax for me and my daughter and an extra £450 for both of our meals, I could have been to the Caribbean on that”, Susan fumed.
TUI’s website describes holidays at the Lido Corfu Sun Hotel as being “all about the laidback life” where “ping pong and pool are the liveliest activities on the agenda”, aside from the occasional live music and Greek night. It also says the four-star hotel has its own private patch of beach “just steps away”.
However, Susan claimed there was no entertainment at the hotel which is “stuck there in the middle of nowhere”. She added: “There was a private beach but it was so steep we couldn’t get down to it and it was 150 yards from the hotel.”
“There’s a ramp at the side of the hotel that you have to try and pull your case up when you arrive. My daughter was up and down, up and down, trying to pull everyone’s case up for them.”
She also expressed her frustration over not being able to get a second key for the room she shared with her daughter. Susan explained: “I asked for a second key for my daughter because sometimes I get tired in the afternoon and rather than lying in the sun and getting burned.
“But if I went up to have a sleep, my daughter wouldn’t be able to get into the room. She would have to wake me up to get in. I asked for a second key but I was told ‘no, too expensive’.”
Susan said she usually holidays in Spain with her cousins and would always fly with TUI as she felt comfortable knowing “there’s a big company behind you if anything goes wrong.”
However, this time, her confidence in TUI has been shaken due to what she perceives as an inadequate response from the travel firm.
She has been offered £100 in holiday vouchers by TUI, but she claims that other guests she met at the hotel have been offered more after complaining. Susan has declined TUI’s final £100 voucher offer.
“In the past I’ve paid more to get on a TUI flight because if anything happened I’ve always thought you’ve got a big company behind you if anything goes wrong. Not anymore. This holiday was a nightmare,” Susan said.
A spokesperson for TUI UK said: “Our priority is to ensure customers have the best possible holiday experience, so we are sorry to hear that Mrs Edwards felt dissatisfied with her holiday. We have been in touch directly with Mrs Edwards to come to a resolution.”