Hotel Viking

My holiday was booked & paid in full on the day of booking on the 29th July 2007. This holiday was a disaster before we even managed to leave the UK. I am absolutely discussed with the way in which we were treated throughout our holiday & the poor standards & service which my wife & I received & to top it all off we had to use all of our savings for this holiday & it was our belated honeymoon as we were unable to afford one when we got married last August.
I have listed the points which I feel need addressing below
1. On arrival at Stansted Airport, we were informed that we didn’t have any tickets & there was huge confusion & doubt that we would ever get to Turkey, this was resolved by the ticket desk having to write out tickets for us.
After delays at the ticket desk we had further turmoil in the fact that the plain was delayed, we could see it had been delayed as we arrived as it was shown on the boards, but when asked we were told it wasn’t, it was showing half an hour delay... when we arrived at check in we were turned away & told that the plane was delayed by 4hours.
This is unacceptable... We finally took off 6 hours late at 2 am.
2. On our arrival in Turkey, approx 0930 after collecting our luggage, we were met by our transfer to our hotel, who after failing to realise he had everyone one on board (After over another hour) managed to get lost & take us to the wrong hotel.
3. I had to get out and ask for directions to our hotel, I found this strange & did challenge the driver as to why a Turkish man couldn’t ask for directions from Turkish people & an English man was to do this who didn’t know a word of Turkish.
4. Then the driver told us to get out at the wrong hotel as I was asking for directions & said he wasn’t taking us any further... almost abandoned, this was simply ridiculous.
5. Eventually we got to the hotel around 1230. Only 10hours late.
6. On our arrival we were told that we should have been there last night, our trip so far was explained to the hotel manager, who then told us he didn’t have a room for us. Things were getting worse.
7. He then asked us to wait while he sorted out another room for us as he had given our room to somebody else, what a joke.
8. We then waited over an hour for this room, on our entry to the room we were met by the most awful stench. I was clearly the smell of human faeces, it was disgusting, it smelt like the entire population of Turkey had crapped in my room, it was disgusting, the smell was that thick you felt like you were chocking on it, it made me reach.
9. As soon as I smelt it, a cleaner was requested & we had to wait for her to bring some air freshener, it was bloody terrible, but it didn’t help as time went on the smell got worse & from that moment onwards, things became worse, even one of the waiters told us that his room was better & cleaner than ours & that if the manager didn’t move us we could have his room, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
10. On examining the room further the following things were found,
• Firstly the smell was coming from the bathroom & it got worse as the day went on.
• There was a waste pipe that was plastic & exposed in the shower & seemed to run from the top of the building, the smell was awful here (Pictured on CD Rom)
• There was a dirty mouldy shower curtain in the bathroom (Pic on CD Rom)
• There was a piece of wire, similar to a coat hanger holding the shower curtain & rail up (Pic on CD Rom)
• The water shut off valves were exposed & covered in plaster/tiling grout (Pic on CD Rom)
• The light fitting in the bathroom was hanging off the wall & wires exposed, if condensation had built up on the tiles we could have been electrocuted or the building could have gone up in flames (Pic on CD Rom)
• The grouting & sealant around the shower & toilet was dirty & mouldy (Pic on CD Rom)
• There was a dirty waste pipe being fed into the toilet between the seat & pan (Pic on CD Rom)
• The wiring for the air-conditioning was hanging off the wall & connector exposed (Pic on CD Rom)
• Our shower head was being propped up by a leaflet from the hotel as it the bracket wasn’t secure on the wall (Pic on CD Rom)
11. After looking around the room I opened the curtains onto the balcony to be amazed even further by the view, I can tell you now, it wasn’t pretty.
• Firstly I was met by a grotty derelict building which was clearly filthy & falling to pieces, (Pic on CD Rom)
• On inspecting the view further I was aware that the room opposite didn’t have any glass in the windows, it was later revealed that there was no locks on doors, we were advised about this by the family who had to stay there with 2 young children, the recent events involving young Madeline McCann spring to mind here. (Pic on CD Rom) .
• I also enclose on the CD Rom pictures of the said staff quarters, most of whom were in rooms smaller than that of a twin room & were sleeping 4 to a room in steel bunk beds. (Pics on CD Rom)
12. After the shock & disgust of the journey & poor quality of this so called 3 Star hotel we were eventually moved to a slightly nicer room, only to be placed between 2 rooms full of teenagers who were partying all night long & banging on my walls & doors, which kept us up all night, it wasn’t as we were going to bed early either, most nights around 1 – 2am, although this was mainly because of noise, but then only to be woke around 4 am, by abusive teenagers the night porter said he couldn’t do anything as there was just him. We were then woke again at 6am by kitchen staff as we had been put above the kitchens.
13. The holiday was getting worse & to top it off I had no other option as to take further photographs of the condition of the hotel after tripping up a step & putting my hand out to steady myself & trying to hold onto a window frame, only to find myself almost falling through it as there wasn’t any glass in the window, it was ridiculous, any young child could have fallen & killed themselves, the glass missing was at waist height & 2 stories up (Pic on CD Rom) As a result of this I looked & found the following which I feel is unacceptable;
• Missing glass in 3 or more windows
• Damage to stairs used by residents
• Damage to walls
• Rubbish in communal areas
• Subsidence
• Damage to stairs to garden areas
• Exposed light fittings
• No bulbs in fittings & no lighting to rooms at night
• Rubbish & building materials left out next to bathing areas
• Unsafe & unlit excess to staff quarters
• Exposed electrical components
• Rubbish in garden areas
• Rubbish from toilets in gardens
• Garden tables thrown into bushes
• Cracks & damage to floor tiles
• Paving & floor/ walkway damage
• Used cigarette boxes & ends in tubs in bushes
• Staff underwear on walls
• Pieces of carpet on walls
• Damage to woodwork & windows
• Rubbish behind walls
• Old mattresses drying over fences
14. The food at the hotel was dyer; it was the same thing every morning for breakfast, the only thing that varied were the amount of flies on it.
15. The “All Inclusive aspect was a JOKE!, the snacks throughout the day were a choice of............. OH NO SORRY THERE WASNT A CHOICE, there was something similar to a vegetable crepe it was the same every afternoon, & that was the only choice of food between the regular meal times. This resulted in us spending extra money that we had not budgeted for.
16. The drinks were none existent too, the washing of the glasses was laughable they did not have enough glasses so once collected a quick wash under a cold tap was what they got I even saw a drink being servered in a glass that had been left on the bar after being drank from by another guest without so much ofa lick of water, the bar staff were giving people ¼ of a pint when it came to soft drinks which consisted of coke or fanta no lemonade an had to pay for orange juice or water & refusing people ½ pint soft drinks when they asked for them or even produced a glass for them, the only time you would get anything that resembles a ½ pint would be for beer. In heat of 40 degrees in the shade, it’s not acceptable & as I have paid for “All Inclusive “ I should be allowed what I wanted within reason, I wasn’t being greedy or unreasonable at any time. I asked for some water for my wife & was charged for it, this happened to a lot of the guests who including myself watched the staff “Pocket” the money, this was pointed out to the manger & he spoke in Turkish & walked away, what a joke.
17. As a result of the food & drink aspect in the middle of our holiday my wife became very ill & spent the remainder of her holiday either throwing up or sat on the toilet with an upset stomach.
As a result of this my wife is having to take extra time off work ,as she works in a hospital she can not return until results are clear so we are losing out on the extra hours that she normally works.
I am fully aware of other couples & families who have complaints ref “VIKING HOTEL”, which range from smelly rooms, being thrown out of there rooms in the night, having to sleep on sun loungers as their rooms have been given to other people, issues with security in the building, safety issues & the terrible food & drink.
I’m sure there are some other issues which I may have missed out but when there are so many to mention it becomes very difficult & downright disheartening, but please be assure that I will advise you at the earliest opportunity should they come to mind.
The place is HELL & needs to be shut down;
To top it off I found out that I also paid more than double that other couples paid whilst flying from the same destination.