Holidays in hell – that’s how 20 Danish families described their summer experience at the Kleopatra Royal Palm Hotel in the Turkish resort of Alanya this year.
After they had booked a holiday package with the Danish travel agency Detur, which promised a relaxing getaway, they were faced with human faeces floating in the hotel pool, empty food bowls at the restaurant buffet and generally rude service.
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In need of a quiet time
“We deliberately chose the hotel because it was small and well-suited to our needs,” Marianne Haslev, one of the affected holiday-makers, told BT.
“My husband suffers from stress, so it fit in well with our plans for a quiet holiday.”
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Crowded …
However, the Danish families arrived at the hotel just a day before the end of Ramadan, when many locals were flocking to the resort to celebrate the end of a month of fasting.
According to Haslev, the hotel was overbooked and there were as many as eight people staying in rooms designed for four, which meant there was a lot of noise and long queues for a buffet running on empty.
and dirty …
There was also not enough space for hotel guests at the advertised swimming pool.
Only the thick-skinned swam in it as kids peed into the water whilst standing on the side of the pool and human faeces was seen floating on the surface.
in more ways that one
Moreover, one of the local man was paying too much attention to female swimmers as he “explored” the insides of their bikinis.
“He swam first to one of the other Danish women and put his hand inside her bikini panties,” Haslev explained.
“Then he swam directly over to me and did the same to me. And afterwards he did the same to a 12-year-old girl.”
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Never again
Haslev and her husband eventually became ill due to the dirty pool water and bad food.
The hotel did not provide any room nor housekeeping service during their stay, and when the families started to complain about the lack of food, they were told to go and eat at another hotel, but the staff were not aware of this arrangement.
Despite numerous complaints to Detur, the families have not been compensated for their inconvenience, and the agency maintains that it sufficiently catered to their needs.
