Thompson holidays are crap.

[markharry66]

Booked a holiday in Jan for all inclusive to Benidorm. All paid off on time.
Got to Thursday, my mate who booked holiday gets a text from them The flight time or destination on your holiday may have changed. We were due to fly out on the Sat morning at 6am text came at 4pm on Thursday.

Mate rings, apparently hotel that we were booked into was unsafe and thompsons have decided to drop it from their holidays. No alternative holiday available only refund or alternative holiday in 10 days.

I find the level of customer service from this company disgraceful. I am not a big fan of the holiday industry as a whole but this is a new one on me. Be wary of Thompsons holiday. Thats a year without a holiday thanks.

 

[Markymark]

I'm sure it's frustrating. But put yourself in their shoes. They get notice of a hotel being unsafe. They inspect abd agree. They have to cancel immediately. Benidorm is very busy, very popular abd almost certainly full.

What could they do other than find nearest alternative or refund?

 

[glasgowcyclist]

It depends when Thomson categorised the hotel as unsafe. If it was shortly before your notification there's not much they can do beyond refunding.


GC

 

[Keith Oates]

I think they should be commended for placing the safety of their client before any profit they may have made with the booking !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Spinney]

Booked a holiday in Jan for all inclusive to Benidorm. All paid off on time.
Got to Thursday, my mate who booked holiday gets a text from them The flight time or destination on your holiday may have changed. We were due to fly out on the Sat morning at 6am text came at 4pm on Thursday.

Mate rings, apparently hotel that we were booked into was unsafe and thompsons have decided to drop it from their holidays. No alternative holiday available only refund or alternative holiday in 10 days.

I find the level of customer service from this company disgraceful. I am not a big fan of the holiday industry as a whole but this is a new one on me. Be wary of Thompsons holiday. Thats a year without a holiday thanks.

Refund plus interest, I would hope, plus refund of any other out of pocket expenses (e.g. if you have already booked airport parking, took out holiday insurance with someone other than them, etc). Does your holiday insurance pay out anything extra for operator cancellation?

Not much recompense for missing a holiday, I know - but could you take the one in 10 days time? Or spend the money on a late-availability one in a month or so if you can all get time off work then?

 

[confusedcyclist]

I booked a Senstatori holiday with them last summer and we loved it to bits, but the flight out with the riff raff wasn't the most fun, not being a snob or anything, but there were literally drunks screaming and swearing in the seats behind, no fault of the company though, assuming you discount the fact that they cater to that market!!!

 

[Vidor06]

When I got married a few years ago I booked our honeymoon to Mexico through Thomson. About 2 weeks before we were due to go there was a huge hurricane in the area. A few days later I emailed the hotel to find out if they were ok and open. They said half the hotel was in ruins and they would be closed for a number of months. I wished them the best, printed my email and headed off to the travel agent.
When I spoke to the assistant and said I was worried about my honeymoon they said not to worry, they hadnt heard anything from the hotel and everything would be fine for our holiday. I had played it a little cagey and decided to produce the email at this stage. Upon seeing the hotels reply they quickly realised there was a problem.
They quickly offered me either a refund or a new holiday and we chose a new holiday and had a great time in Italy. But I was dismayed that they were happy to send me to a hotel which was closed for the foreseeable future. The good customer service was badly offset by the bad service.

 

[Paulus]

Benidorm? you wanted to go to Benidorm really. You have had a lucky escape.

 

[Saluki]

If you have had your refund - surely at this stage a quick bank transfer must be in order - have a look at latedeals.com I think it's called. You never know.
Can you not head off somewhere in the UK with your bike or something?

We had to come home early from a 3 week holiday in Australia and the day we landed we booked for 10 days in Cornwall and had a fab time. We left the UK on the Sunday night and landed in the NT Tuesday 5am. Flew back home on the Saturday and landed 6am Sunday morning. Not sure that such a quick turnaround of timezones did us any good but still. We managed to salvage something with a bit of positive thinking.

 

[gbb]

We did Benidorm maybe 5 to 8 years ago. I'd never seen the comedy series but did so just after we'd booked. I was gutted....i thought, what the hell have i done ?
Benidorm was excellent though, far far better than several destinations nearby (Salou for instance was very bad IMO), we thoroughly enjoyed it, clean, modern, nothing shocking at all during the day and evenings. It may get wild at night, i don;t know. Beaches were spectacularly busy mind. We did stay at one of the best 4 star hotels TBF, we always research it all to death.
Ref the late notice re the hotel. A huge disappointment i'm sure, but we research everything to the nth degree and TBF havn't been disappointed on any of our holidays. It'd be interesting to read reviews on the particular hotel, the warnings may have been there....
We've used Thomsons several times without hiccup...mind there's always a reluctance in the back of my head to use them....i'm not even sure why ?

 

[Venod]

Like gbb I was a bit apprehensive about going to Benidorm, but I have to say its one of the best holidays we have had, nothing like the terrible TV series where we stayed ( I'm sure the TV Benidorm exists if you want to search it out)

Its still possible to have a quickly booked holiday, we booked a flight & separate accommodation 2 weeks ago on a Sunday Night and flew to Lanzarote for a red hot week on the Tuesday,

 

[Over The Hill]

Mrs OTH booked a weekend away with daughter with some subsidiary of Thomas Cook, phoned them twice to confirm details as they directed.
My phone bill came in with £10 call charges to their premium rate line! Seems it was £1 per minute while on hold.
They will not see me again.

 

[Markymark]

Benidorm has quite a nice old part and some of the surrounding areas are lovely. Alicante itself is a nice city.

 

[spen666]

Benidorm?

I ended up in Intensive care there and later in Valencia - a holiday I will never forget


That was with Thomsons as well

 

[Markymark]

Benidorm?

I ended up in Intensive care there and later in Valencia - a holiday I will never forget


That was with Thomsons as well

Sounds awesome!