A BRIT dad battled bugs, a broken shower and sick-filled sinks during a nightmare holiday at a five-star hotel in Turkey.
Single dad Maxwell Sarpong spent more than £1,000 on a resort stay for him and his son – only to face food poisoning and accommodation that looked like a “construction site”.
13
13
13
Maxwell, 35, from Enfield, said the all-inclusive package at the Alan Xafira Deluxe Resort & Spa turned out to be an “absolute disaster” – with a shoddy swimming pool, building work, and flies on the food.
And guests even discovered a bowl of sick lying on the floor – along with sinks full of brown water, broken bathrooms, and massive cockroaches scurrying through the rooms.
Security provider Maxwell booked the holiday last year for him and then-12-year-old Kieran with Travel Center UK.
Speaking to The Sun, Maxwell accused the travel agency of misleading him about the exact location of the hotel – and of telling him it was a “very good” resort.
He paid £1,584 for the chance to visit the Turkish tourist hotspot of Antalya – only to face a two-hour long drive from the airport with his tired son to the hotel’s real location in Alanya.
A baffled Maxwell then discovered the resort looked “completely different” to how it had looked online when he’d scoured reviews.
Maxwell said: “We’d checked the hotel website and read reviews. Everything looked nice and I thought to myself, ‘wow’.
“But we arrived and it looked completely different.
“The first thing we noticed was the shower head missing from our bathroom.
“Then the staff told us they were still working on building the hotel.”
Shocking photos reveal broken gutters, crumpled sun loungers, and piles of building materials and boxes littered across the hotel.
And while the hotel website guarantees four different swimming pools, Maxwell discovered many of the facilities promised were simply non-existent.
The disappointed dad said: “It was an absolute disaster.
“The hotel should have been knocked down to two stars – obviously they’d overcharged us.
“The holiday was just never the holiday they’d sold us.”
Maxwell accused the hotel of serving up grub covered in flies – landing him and Kieran with dodgy bellies.
Despite paying for the all-inclusive package, the desperate dad rang his travel agent and asked for help getting transport into town to eat elsewhere.
But when he turned up at the restaurant they’d arranged, he got scammed by racking up a £100 bill – for a basic slap-up meal for him and his kid.
Maxwell said: “It was a joke. Things just started getting worse and worse.
“Back at the hotel, there were a bunch of other Brits. One lady got everyone’s email to make a complaint but nothing happened.
“We’d been promised free wifi throughout the hotel and in our rooms – but when we arrived, we were told we’d have to pay an extra fee if we wanted it.
“The only place you could use it was at reception. So everyone had to just sit around in the lobby to access the internet.”
Ever since the nightmare getaway in July 2022, Maxwell has been emailing his travel agency to complain.
But he claims he and other hotel guests, who have demanded the hotel or their travel agents cough up compensation after the horror experience, feel they haven’t been properly listened to.
Hazel Caffrey, a 35-year-old teacher from Cheshire, met Maxwell at the Xafira while on holiday with her five-year-old daughter.
She confirmed the experience was “absolutely diabolical.”
Hazel said: “It was the first holiday we’d had since lockdown.
“We booked this five-star experience thinking we wouldn’t have to leave the hotel for anything.
“Instead, the indoor pool wasn’t open. There was mess everywhere – planks of wood and building stuff, so it was a hazard for children.”
Hazel said her daughter, who has a dairy allergy, was unable to eat any of the limited selection of hotel food.
She continued: “The food was disgraceful and there was nothing there for my daughter to eat.
“We were there for a week and went out for excursions every day just to get out the hotel.
“And the smell of the hotel was vile – it smelt like a zoo or a wet dog.”
Hazel said she’d spent approximately £1,400 on the trip – and received only £200 in compensation for the ordeal.
Maxwell claimed to have received only a travel voucher for him and Keiran, worth £100 each, “after complaining for a year”.
Travel Center UK told The Sun: “We have addressed the passenger’s concerns and provided them with a fully flexible voucher as a resolution. We have resolved the matter from our end.
“We regret to inform you that we are unable to provide specific information regarding the value of the voucher provided.”
The Sun has contacted Alan Xafira Deluxe Resort & Spa for comment.
13
13
13
13
13
13
13
13
13
