Athens- When they dreamed of their perfect Greek getaway, they thought they were in for pristine pools, blue skies and five-star facilities.
So holidaymakers were left angry and disappointed when they arrived at their hotel – and found it was still a building site.
Families flew out to Halkidiki looking forward to relaxing at the supposedly five-star Blue Lagoon Princess hotel.
They were shocked to discover unfinished buildings, diggers and piles of earth scattered around the site when they arrived.
Jess Woodhouse, 19, spent £1 600 (about R30 000) on a trip for her and her mother Julie, who was celebrating her 50th birthday. Miss Woodhouse, from Derbyshire, told MailOnline: “It was advertised as a ‘platinum lifestyle’ five-star hotel.
“But when we arrived we could see it was a building site. There was a kind of swamp in front of the hotel. There were diggers everywhere. It was a death trap.”
She added: “One little boy found lots of screws on the floor. In another place there was what looked like live wires hanging down. We waited six hours before we were taken to another hotel. Some people ended up in two-star hotels.”
The Thomson website had told holidaymakers to expect “free rein of four outdoor pools, as well as another heated one indoors”.
It said “tennis, basketball and football will also be on the cards”.
But 27-year-old Rob Orr from Surrey said: “Rubble and heavy machinery was everywhere. Rooms had no doors and glass was all over the place to go in the windows.
“Rooms were being decorated and workmen were putting a roof on the restaurant.” He had spent £900 on the all-inclusive break for his young family, but has only been offered £148 in compensation.
Other holidaymakers complained online after some shelled out around £1 000 a week for a holiday at the resort.
Sam Pascoe posted: “Arrived for my honeymoon today and the hotel is a building site. Booked sea-view room with jacuzzi and after six hours waiting for key was told it won’t be finished for another week.
“In the end (after whole day waiting with our nine-month-old baby) they moved us to a different hotel.”
A company statement said: “Thomson would like to apologise to the small number of our customers who were impacted by the completion of final work on the hotel.
“Our resort team arranged suitable alternative accommodation for affected customers. We also offered a gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience.
“We would like to reassure customers that guests currently at the hotel are enjoying their stay.”
Daily Mail