A dream getaway turned into the holiday from hell when a group of friends were turned away from their accommodation in the middle of the night.
Aaron Hatton, 20 and Danielle Halsall, 20, and another friend, flew from Manchester Airport to Turkey in early October
The group, from St Helens, booked a seven-day all-inclusive £1.5k package holiday with loveholidays, reports LiverpoolEcho.
But after arriving at their hotel in the early hours of the morning they were told to “go away”.
Mr Hatton said: “We just wanted to go somewhere hot for a nice little holiday and booked something with loveholidays.
“We got to the airport [in Turkey] and everything was fine, and we booked a private transfer and went to the checkpoint where they picked us up.
“We were dropped off at about 1am at this hotel we had booked and it was locked at the gates.
“We went round to the other side and we could see people on the balconies so we asked them how to get in – they said to go around to the front.”
He added: “There was a security guard looking at us and we were trying to get through but they kept saying go away, find somewhere else and that the hotel wasn’t open to the public.
“We showed them our phone with the booking and the name of the hotel but they kept shaking their head.”
The friends then went on to stay at the hotel’s sister site – but in an extra blow told they weren’t allowed alcohol as part of their all inclusive package despite that being part of the original deal.
Mr Hatton said: “After 11.30pm we were told we could only get a drink from the water machine and that it wasn’t safe to leave the hotel at night.
“They told us to go and lock ourselves in our room.
“We also paid extra for a bigger room with a sea view [at the initial hotel] which was worth £84-a-night and after looking up the new hotel that was £18 per night, so we were downgraded.”
After a nightmare two days the group’s families had to fork out to fly them home – a whopping £570.
Mt Hatton added that the trip was “so stressful and traumatic”.
A spokesperson for loveholidays told the LiverpoolEcho: “We’re very sorry Mr Hatton’s holiday did not live up to our usual high standards.
“We’re investigating the relocation error with our accommodation supplier to ensure it does not happen again and are doing all we can to support Mr Hatton’s claim.
“While we’re still within the usual timeframe to investigate this complaint, we’ve already been in touch with Mr Hatton to apologise and reimburse his accommodation costs, alongside offering a £100 voucher from loveholidays.”
Express.co.uk has approached loveholidays for comment.
