Couple's shock at £4k easyJet holiday nightmare that was ‘nothing like the photos online’
A British family has opened up on their 'appalling' easyJet holiday package after spending almost £4,000 for a week's stay in Spain.
Mark Field and his wife Karen flew out to Spain after spending £3,900 with easyJet to stay in the three-star Hotel Club Es Talaial on the Spanish island of Majorca.
Meeting their extended family out there - son Nathan, daughter-in-law Nadia and their two grandchildren Albie and Baxter - they had hoped for the holiday of a lifetime on the seven-night trip they'd called their 'familymoon', which Nathan and Nadia had booked following their wedding on 22 June, 2024.
But the accommodation left them shocked and disgusted, with the family claiming that the rooms were that 'dirty' they 'wouldn't put a dog in' them.
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Mark, 61, and Karen, 59, arrived in Majorca in June but as soon as they checked in, Mark said they discovered their rooms looked 'nothing like' the pictures published online to advertise the resort.
Mark and Nadia said the two rooms were 'dirty', exposed wires and broken cupboards. The grandparents also claimed that they had to clean the bathroom themselves.
As for the view, they said their balcony overlooked a car park with a skip and bins - and in the restaurant, the tables were 'filthy'.
Mark said: "We were on the top floor of five flights of stairs, with a balcony overlooking a car park, and the rooms were just disgusting.
“I’ve stayed in some horrible places over the years but there were exposed wires, it was dirty, the cupboards were all broken, and the linen didn’t look particularly clean and fresh. So I said, ‘I’m going downstairs, this isn’t the room that we’ve booked’.”
A video taken by Mark, seen by PA Real Life, shows him wiping alleged dirt from the restaurant table with a tissue.
As a result, the family opted to dine elsewhere, which they said cost at least £600 extra.
Mark and Nadia complained to easyJet and the hotel, but they claimed no-one has apologised to them or acknowledged the situation - which they described as 'dreadful'.
EasyJet has said it 'worked alongside the hotel to resolve the issues reported' and offered a partial refund of £200 'to apologise for any disappointment caused'.
Nadia has accepted this, but she said she is 'not going to stop fighting' for what she thinks she is truly owed.
Mark told PA Real Life: “This wasn’t a cheap, last-minute, ‘let’s just go on this and see what it’s like’ type of holiday, this was planned out.
“If you knew Nadia, she’s fiercely protective over her kids and she had planned it to the nth degree. She’s still upset about it now because she wanted it to be perfect, and it’s not very often they can get away.
“We’re annoyed and frustrated that nobody has said sorry. It feels like they’ve just cast us off and they don’t care.”
Nadia said: “This was meant to be so special and it was just hell.”
Having two young children, one of whom is autistic and non-verbal, Nadia said she had done her research, ensuring the holiday appeared suitable for the whole family.
But when they were taken to the two rooms after arriving at the hotel, they said they were disappointed and upset as they did not reflect the images shown online and were not what was 'promised'.
When Nadia went to reception, showing staff pictures of the rooms they had booked on the hotel website, she said she was told they would have to 'pay extra for those' but they were not available at the time.
Nadia said she contacted easyJet via its app and the airline offered them another similar room, but this was much further away - meaning the family would have been separated.
She also said the hotel offered to upgrade the family’s two rooms later in the week, but they were told this would cost an additional €150 (£128) per room, so they declined.
Later on that day, the family went down to the hotel restaurant for dinner – and Mark described this as a 'nightmare'.
“It was horrible. There was no variety in the food at all, it was either just chips or pork – that was about it,” he said.
“We had to queue for about 15 minutes to get a drink and then when we sat outside at the tables, I did a cursory wipe of the table and they were filthy. I just got a paper tissue and I wiped the dirt off. When we went out to the bar area, we then discovered you have to pay one euro each for a plastic cup.”
Mark said the family had no complaints about the hotel breakfast, but when they went to the kids’ pool, they noticed the surfaces were 'slippery' and the concrete was broken.
The snack bar also allowed each person to have four items with only limited staff serving, meaning the queues were 'ridiculous'.
The family said they were only offered a room change rather than the option of moving hotels, so they remained the hotel until their check-out on 1 July. Although easyJet has offered a £200 partial refund, Mark claims no-one has apologised to the family, the 'familymoon' was tainted by the poor standards of the hotel, and he will 'never book with easyJet again'.
“It was just appalling,” Mark said. “Looking at their website, if I’m booking it and I see those rooms, that’s perfect for us – but it was just not what they said it was going to be.
"If we knew that, Nadia would not have accepted that, she just wouldn’t have put her kids in those rooms."
Nadia added: “The main thing is the price of the holiday and the lies – the pictures did not match the hotel.
“We paid £3,900 and what has hurt me the most is that was money that we had to borrow – we took out a loan – and then with the money from family and friends, we paid the loan back, so it was almost like I threw their money down the drain, which is why I want to get as much of it back as I can.
"It was a holiday from hell and it ruined my honeymoon – I can’t get those memories back.”
A spokesperson for easyJet said: “We’re really sorry to hear of Nadia’s experience and that her chosen hotel didn’t meet expectations.
“Our on holiday support team was in close contact with Nadia throughout the holiday, and we worked alongside the hotel to resolve the issues reported.
“To apologise for any disappointment caused, we offered a partial refund to Nadia, which she has accepted, and we will continue to work closely with our hotel partner to ensure all our customers are satisfied with their holidays.”
Hotel Club Es Talaial did not wish to share a statement, however, they said that several alternatives were offered to the guests during their stay and the problems were resolved in a timely manner.
LADbible Group has contacted easyJet for further comment.
Tom Earnshaw