Extravaganza: Scammers
February 23.2017 I returned from vacation and I want to tell a story about how the tour operator wanted to throw tourists with the hotel and how we still managed to settle in our hotel. At the end, I will briefly talk about what helped us and what did not help. I want to warn tourists from Ukraine about the Fairy, suggest what can help in such a situation.
A short introduction. 2 years ago, my wife and friends were vacationing in Marsa Alam and got into a conversation with a family from the Russian Federation. They said that they were brought to the wrong hotel, which they originally booked. Since they did not speak English, they could not even understand elementary what was happening. In general, they were thrown. My story is about the operator "Feeria Mandriv", which throws tourists in the same way.
Why did you choose this tour operator? My wife and I wanted to stay at the Three Corners Fayrouz Hotel (hereinafter referred to as our hotel), which is located near Marsa Alam Airport. We chose the hotel not by chance, we had rested there before and did not want another hotel in principle. Until recently, there were no direct flights from Kyiv to Marsa Alam. It was necessary to fly to Hurghada, and then 4 hours by bus. And so Feeria launched direct charters. That is why we bought the tour from Fairy. The tour did not belong to the "burning", cost $ 1.300 for 12 days. 2 years ago we rested in the same hotel in May for the same money. Adjusted for February, the price did not seem suspicious. In addition, a group of Vopli Vidoplyasov and Feeria flew on this flight and promised a free concert for tourists. As they say, nothing foreshadowed trouble.
The whole plane was flying from Fairy. After landing, tourists were seated on buses, depending on the hotel. There should have been at least 6 hotels on our bus. In the bus with us was a local representative of the Fairy Mohammed (well, how could it be otherwise). Leaving the airport, Mohammed announced that all 6+ hotels could not accept us and we were going to the Brayka hotel. Perhaps this is a good hotel, perhaps it was not much cheaper than ours. But, again, the hotel was fundamentally important. By the way, a group of Vopli Vidoplyasov rested in Braika. Of the whole bus, only me and another guy started to resent. When asked to provide documents confirming the refusal of our hotel or to call our hotel, he pretended not to understand. There were talks that Braika is better and so on. When we arrived in Braika, people began to get off the bus, objections were heard, but no more than in a long line at the post office. I must say that there were tourists on the bus, for whom this alignment was not bad, since their hotel was a class below Braika. Their consent is understandable.
I couldn't think of anything better than staying on the bus and getting off only when I was brought to our hotel. As a result, I stayed on the bus with my wife, the driver and the guide, who was supposed to go to the airport and meet the new group. At this stage, some of the tourists who were dissatisfied with this turn of events nevertheless decided not to check into a hotel and stood on the threshold. I think that the guy who was indignant with me on the bus, with his loud voice, aroused hope in all tourists for a fair outcome. Only after 2 hours, the representative of “Feeriya” Sergei, who was flying with us on the plane, approached the bus. During this time, I called the travel agent who sold me the tour, the local police (911) and our hotel. From the conversations, I heard that people called the Ukrainian consulate in Egypt. Thanks to these calls, I managed to find out the following: my booking at our hotel was canceled by the tour operator not long before our arrival. The money went to pay for Braika and one can only guess where else. The policeman, after talking to the local guide (I gave him the phone since we couldn't communicate in English), confirmed this. The travel agent offered to settle in Braika, and then learn something. The option proposed by the travel agent, I immediately rejected. It was clear that if I signed the papers in Braika, I would stay there. The driver tried to leave with me. The wife rushed to block the bus, people joined in and blocked the bus from the back and front. He tried to “press” people. After one of these attempts, several strong tourists took the key from him and threw it out the window. In total, I spent at least 5 hours on the bus, without food and water. The phone sat down, on the balance sheet minus. Local guides laughed in our faces and said that they were sorry for us, we were deceived by the Fairy and we should stay, they offered water and food only if I got off the bus, they said that I would have problems because I delayed the bus and the driver , and even begged to leave the bus, otherwise the driver would be fired and his children would be left without bread.
Sergey, a representative of Feeriya, surprisingly took our side and tried to solve the problem. 5 hours after arriving in Braika, another bus arrived. He had to separate the tourists who refused to stay in Braika to our hotels. When we arrived at our hotel, it turned out that the problem had not been resolved and they could not accommodate us, as there was no money. At that time, our tourists already behaved like a close-knit team and did not let the guides/representatives of the Feeria go. There was a problem, we have been standing at the reception of our hotel for an hour, we are not being accommodated, there is a bus with tourists nearby, who also have yet to be settled. There were several small children on the bus, including infants. It was 8 pm, the last time we ate boutiques on the plane, at about 11-12.2 local representatives of the host country (EgyptSol) arrived, who were supposed to deal with our issue. The bus with tourists drove on, my wife and I stayed. I asked the locals to write an explanation of what was happening in general. They evaded the answer, so they just turned around and left. Representatives said that there was no money for 12 days, they could only settle for 1 day or at a hotel in Port Khalib, which is not far from our hotel. We refused. They waited and reminded of their proposal for another hour. We insisted that we had paid for this hotel and would stay here. In the end, they found the money (suddenly) and we even managed to have dinner, 15 minutes before closing.
What helped:
1. We blocked the bus. This created a problem for the local moving company. It turned out that in order to solve the problem with the bus, they first needed to solve our problem with the hotel.
2. Call the travel agent. She contacted the company in Kyiv, perhaps they began to pay attention to the problem.
3. Calling the hotel, I found out that the reservation was canceled by the tour operator. When the representatives understood that I was aware, they stopped mumbling something about the fact that we were not being accommodated because the Germans, Italians and Belgians did not want to live next to Russian speakers.
What didn't work:
1. Call the police. Perhaps this showed that I was serious, but no more.
2. Someone called the consulate. They replied that it was not their competence.
3. Emotions and waving hands in front of local representatives. They don’t care, they are sure that in the end, the scheme will work anyway.
What I didn't do, but should have done
1. I did not record on video, at least, the speech that hotels cannot accept us. At that time, the battery was still vigorous. Ideally, you could write everything that happens.
2. Did not receive written confirmation that they want to accommodate us in another hotel. I could try to ask for at least some piece of paper from the administration of Braika, or at least from the administration of our hotel.
3. I did not read reviews about a specific direction at Feeria. When I returned, I found a similar case in the reviews in November 2016. In other directions, Feeria has normal reviews.
4. Did not ask to change some clauses of the contract. If I knew where to fall, I would lay a straw. Perhaps the travel agent would not agree to change, xs.
I have already consulted with a lawyer, there are no grounds for holding Fairy accountable. There are no documents and the contract that I signed is not in my favor. I have already written a claim to the travel agent and tour operator.
