The five-star “holiday of the lifetime” for a couple turned out to have been a nightmare after spending time in filthy hotels that had mouldy rooms, and beds stained with bodily fluids.
Nurse Lauren Jones, 37, and her partner Adam Donlevy, 36, booked the two-week getaway to Singapore and Bali with agent at the Broughton branch of Hays Travel – the largest independent travel agent in the UK – in September for £3,000.
Cheshire couple planned to start their much-deserved vacation on June 20, with five nights at a Singapore Hotel.
Then, 10 more nights were spent in Bali. Five in Ubud was culturally hot and Seminyak beach resort Seminyak. Finally, it was time to return home on July 5.
The couple’s holiday in Singapore turned out to be a disaster after they arrived at the five-star hotel, which she called a hellhole’.
“It was intended to be the vacation of a lifetime, and it was a hellhole. It was literally a holiday from hell,’ said Nurse Lauren Jones (right),37, about her trip to Singapore and Bali with her partner Adam Donlevy (left), 36
The couple’s holiday in Singapore turned out to be a disaster after they arrived at the 5-star hotel that she described as an ‘hellhole’.
Miss Jones claimed that the guests left feeling unwell due to mold, filthy rooms, and ‘bodily fluid-like’ stains in the beds.
It was nothing but despair and anxiety. Despair at having to stay in such horrendous, dirty conditions and the anxiety of whether we were going to become unwell,’ Miss Jones told CheshireLive.
“We were both unwell due to those conditions. We also had stomach problems. However, it is also the possibility of contracting another illness.
“I am a nurse and I understand the dangers that can be caused by such situations. You can’t be too careful by drinking bottled water, but if the environment is so dirty you will get sick.
It’s also the anger – that is, the shock at how we were put in hotels which should have been five stars but were not even close to five stars. Hays Travel was also angry at us for how they treated us. I had to fight hard to move us to safer and cleaner surroundings.
It was supposed to be the holiday you will never forget. But it turned out to be a nightmare. It was actually a holiday from Hell.
The couple arrived in Sthala on June 25, after a five-night stay at Singapore’s Tribute Portfolio Hotel.
The couple arrived on Saturday night at midnight, and they went straight to sleep. Miss Jones told them that the air was damp in the bedroom the following morning.
“It was just despair, anxiety. It was despair at being forced to live in such horrible, filthy conditions, and anxiety about whether or not we would become unwell. Miss Jones stated.
“We found bodily fluids on both the pillows and the towels.”
She stated that Adam’s coat developed mould after it was hanging in his wardrobe. We found that black mold was growing up to half of the walls when we searched the room.
“We turned over the cushions on the outside seating section and found that they had become mouldy. We had to put all of our clothing in the suitcases because there was mold everywhere.
“We weren’t impressed with the views. “We looked out at what appeared to be a decayed fence with lots of equipment, even though we were not promised it.”
Miss Jones stated that she didn’t feel safe and she and her partner were constantly watching our backs. She also claimed she witnessed a lot of “crime”.
On Tuesday, Mr Donlevy and her contacted Hays Travel to report the problems with the hotel.
Miss Jones stated that they had asked her why she hadn’t gotten in touch sooner. She explained that they were both shocked and didn’t want to be more uncomfortable.
The couple went two days later to their next Seminyak hotel, the Jambuluwuk Oceano Seminyak Hotel. This was worse than the one they had stayed in the previous day.
The towels and bedding contained bodily fluids. The pool was actually closed because the roof was falling down and held together with blue rope,’ Miss Jones said of the Jambuluwuk Oceano Seminyak Hotel in Seminyak
The body fluids were found on towels and bedding. According to her, the pool was closed as the roof had fallen down. Blue rope was used to hold it together.
The hotel’s top floor has a tiny, green pool. You wouldn’t go there. It was so filthy and disgusting that we couldn’t have dinner at the hotel.
It was unsafe to use and the toilets were filthy. It was unsafe to open the hotel and they claimed on their sign that Covid-19 safety compliance is being met.
Miss Jones stated that Hays Travel offered to relocate them to a different place after their stay in Bali at the first hotel. If the second wasn’t as terrible, they promised to do so ‘immediately. She said that they were not moved to their new place until Saturday July 2 despite multiple attempts to contact Hays Travel.
The couple were given a room in the Grand Hyatt Bali Hotel, leaving them with only two days of an ‘truly 5-star experience’ during their holiday.
The couple returned home on Tuesday, July 5th, and they filed a complaint at Hays Travel asking for a full refund.
Miss Jones claimed that, as of Tuesday, July 12th she has not received a reply from the travel agency.
Hays Travel said that they have offered the couple a partial refund on their hotel stays and an additional goodwill gesture.
Additionally, the travel agency stated they were conducting an urgent review and placed a halt to sales at both locations.
Hays Travel spokeswoman said, “We are sorry to learn that Miss Jones and her companion were not happy with the hotels they stayed in Bali.”
Miss Jones tried to contact us from her second hotel. We worked with the overseas supplier to help her find an alternative. Miss Jones was then relocated there with her partner.
“We have passed both the properties details to our product managers for review. I can now confirm that these hotels are on sale.
Miss Jones was contacted by the Broughton team to request a reimbursement of both her hotels and an additional gesture of goodwill.
After being moved into a quality hotel, the couple was only able to enjoy their five-star Indonesian vacation for two days.
Miss Jones wanted to also warn about the dangers of online hotel reviews that go back years before the pandemic.
She stated that many hotels were closed in the wake of the pandemic. The reviews people see are from the time they were still open and functioning.
The problem is that many of the businesses were not up and running when they started, leaving them to fall apart over the next two years.
She said, “People should be looking at reviews over the past few weeks. They shouldn’t base anything on the information given by travel agents based upon a review written two years ago.
“We only realized this when we saw the terrible conditions out there.”