Thomson slammed for taking guests to ‘building site’
Thomson has been slammed on social media by holidaymakers who turned up at a new five-star hotel in Crete to find that it wasn’t finished.
Several Tweeted that the Blue Lagoon Princess Hotel in Halkidiki was ‘a building site’.
They claimed they were told by the rep that the hotel wouldn’t be finished for another week when they arrived on May 4.
After hours of waiting around, some of the guests, including a couple on their honeymoon, were moved to other hotels in the area.
Complaints about the Blue Lagoon include JCB diggers still on site, marble slates leaning against wall, no roof on the dining room, wires hanging from ceilings, rooms without doors, dust and dirt and a pothole close to the children’s playground.
One Tweeted on May 5: "This hotel should not have opened. Anyone thinking of booking The Blue Lagoon Princess AVOID!!!"
The hotel has received a rating of just two and a half out of five on online review site TripAdvisor, although some guests who arrived on the opening day said it quickly improved. One reassured those due to stay at the Blue Lagoon that ‘the hotel improved 100% from day 2 and in the most part you would never know of the carnage the day prior’.
The operator issued a statement apologising to guests who were the first to arrive on May 4, admitting they were impacted by the completion of the hotel.
"As soon as we were made aware of the situation, our resort team worked closely with the hotel to arrange suitable alternative accommodation for affected customers," it said.
"We also offered a gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience in line with our terms and conditions, which were accepted by customers at the time of booking.
"We would like to reassure customers that whilst it is rare to delay the opening of a hotel, we continually monitor all the hotels in our programme to ensure they meet our high standards and guests currently on holiday at the Blue Lagoon Princess are enjoying their stay."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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