10 hours ago
Couple's five-star easyJet honeymoon 'ruined' after turning up to 'total shambles'
A couple who booked a luxury honeymoon complete with a luxury "swim up" room allowing direct access to the hotel's swimming pool were bitterly disappointed to find mysterious brown stains on the patio's sun-beds when they arrived.
Honeymooners Phil and Hannah Perkins, from Newport, South Wales booked a £1,080 easyJet package to historic Rhodes, Greece, in May. They had been hoping for a quiet romantic break, but were greeted on arrival by the sound of building work.
Phil, 57, said: "We didn't really expect any problems, with it being a five-star resort," but it soon became clear that the hotel was undergoing extensive remodelling. He continued: "You had trucks coming through with cement and you had to move your beds to make way."
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Phil said he put up with the disruption for a day or so, but when it became clear that it wasn't about to end, he tried to contact easyJet's holiday rep, only to be told they weren't available.
He said the noise and disruption completely wrecked their honeymoon. "It was constant," he said. "I watched them put some glass railings above the relax pool and there were people in the pool while they were putting the glass panels in.
Phil added: "I thought 'This is not right.' There was concrete everywhere. It was just in shambles. It was constant drilling, banging. I told my wife, 'let's go to the bar and leave this relaxed nonsense', there was a bit of music and we wanted to chill, we thought the music would drown that out, but we could hear no music.
"It was all day every day, it was unbelievable, I've never experienced anything like that. It was a proper building site."
But the first, and perhaps most unpleasant sign of trouble was when the couple first entered their luxury swim-out room and saw brown stains on the sun-beds. "We booked a swim-out room, for a little bit of extra," Phil said.
"When we got to the room, I opened the curtain to see the swim-out area, and the beds were really grimy and dirty.
"I understand people use tan lotions but it was just brown, they were full of marks we didn't really want to see. It needed a good clean up, hence why we didn't go in there."
He said that he had tried to take a philosophical approach, but the resort staff were no help at all. "I get things can go wrong and you can't please everybody but I'm easily pleased," he said.
After the disappointed newlyweds arrived back home, they complained to easyJet who offered them a £281 refund, which the couple initially refused, until it was increased to £381.
An easyJet holidays spokesperson told the MEN: "We're really sorry to hear that Mr Perkins was unhappy with his experience, especially on such a special holiday.
"Once Mr Perkins returned home and got in touch with us, we immediately offered a partial refund. Our team has since been back in touch with Mr Perkins to apologise for his experience and offer a further refund, which was accepted "
