Отвратительный отель Disgusting hotel

Tour operator commissioned by LLC "Labyrinth". The contract was concluded in OJSC "Bounty Voyage".
Under the terms of early booking, we signed an agreement on 02/01/2011 for a tour to the Costa Lindia Beach 5 * hotel from 07/01/2011 to 07/14/2011
According to the terms of the contract, accommodation in the selected hotel according to the ALL system was 14 days 13 nights in rooms of the PROMO SUPERIOR ROOM SIDE SEA VIEW category. The tour operator "Labyrinth" assured us that the low price for the SUPERIOR ROOM SIDE SEA VIEW rooms is explained by the PROMO action associated with early booking, that the rooms are not located on the basement floor and all with sea views.

On 07/01/2011, at the Rhodes airport, the host of Le Grand did not find two of our group of arrivals in the lists of arrivals. However, then everything seemed to be cleared up and we were escorted to the hotel, where a representative of the Le Grand company, without waiting for our check-in, threw us at the Reception and left.
After her departure, it turned out that two of the families who arrived among us (and our group consisted of 4 families - 5 rooms booked) were not able to move in due to the lack of free rooms. The other two families were categorically denied the SUPERIOR ROOM SIDE SEA VIEW due to the fact that the vouchers simply stated PROMO ROOM. We received vouchers the day before departure, and even if we saw a substitution (to be honest, this never happened - although we traveled to many countries), we would not be able to change anything.
That. 1 question: How did our money for the PROMO SUPERIOR ROOM SIDE SEA VIEW rooms not "reach" the hotel and why were the cheapest rooms booked?
Question 2: How could it happen that we were not booked at all for that day, and even if the hotel provides a replacement for a day, why was this not reported in advance? We would have chosen a different hotel.
At the Reception we were offered to quickly choose 2 families who will leave for another hotel before 13-00 on 07/02/2011, if this happens, they promised us good rooms the next day. However, to my attempts to ask the hotel management for written obligations and guarantees, as well as attempts to record a conversation with the manager on a dictaphone, the reaction was a scandal, screaming and threats to call the police. After my consent to call the police (and we knew about the presence of the tourist police in Greece), the manager retired for a long time to discuss this issue with the management. I hope it is clear that after this incident, and also considering that only I could speak English, we refused the hotel's offer.

An interesting fact: on the bus from the airport, we were handed booklets indicating the details and telephone numbers of the Le Grand company and assurances that in all non-standard situations we can count on their help and support. However, my request by phone to call a representative of the company to the hotel was met negatively, I was told that our hotel guide Aygul is now busy and will not be able to come. And only after an already insistent appeal, we were told that another guide would arrive at the place. The guide Anastasia, who arrived, explained to us in a rather rude manner that the company does not solve such issues at all, and we should have behaved more politely. Meanwhile, the tour operator from the Bounty Voyage company, as well as our close friends, called up Labyrinth LLC and the Le Grand office in Athens and Crete, from there the calls went to Anastasia’s mobile and the management of the Costa Lindia Beach 5 * hotel (by the way, it turned out to be 4*). There were negotiations. The children were tired, the little ones were crying, languishing from the heat. Departure from Moscow was at 06-00, respectively, at 02-00 we were already on our feet. We managed to change the children right at the reception and send them to the pool, and we were left to wait. Arriving at the hotel at 12-00 we stayed at the reception until 19-00. Having not solved the problem, Anastasia left us at about 15:00, referring to other matters.
Question 3: Why are representatives of the host company Le Grand so cold-bloodedly abandoning tourists for whom they should be held responsible in any situation?
Question 4: Why was the category of the hotel not appropriate in the contract?
We continue the story. At 19-00 the manager at the reception took out the keys to 5 rooms and threw them to us in bulk with the words - sort it out yourself and left. The next day it turned out that all the rooms - in the basement, with the exception of one - which only corresponded to the requested category. But not all rooms were habitable. One of the rooms in which my mother and my 2 eleven-year-old sons settled was a dark little room of about 8 square meters. m s, with a tiny balcony overlooking the generator (which rattled all the time) and, most importantly, it did not have a bathroom - only a tiny shower stall, in which my mother could not fit in any way. This room had one double bed and the three of them slept there with the children, and there was nowhere to put an extra bed at all. The next day I asked the reception to change the room, but I met a stream of aggressive Italian untranslatable speech from the lips of the manager and I had to humiliate myself, beg and tell that my mother is a seriously ill person who underwent heart surgery (coronary bypass grafting) in December 2010 I would like to note that telling all this to complete strangers was not part of our plans and was only a necessary measure in this situation. By lunchtime on July 2.2011, the mother and children were nevertheless moved to a decent room, but again in the basement. It was impossible to see even the edge of the sea from any room on the ground floor. Where are the promised ROOM SIDE SEA VIEW? It is also interesting that the hotel staff generally denies such a possible wording of the room category PROMO SUPERIOR ROOM SIDE SEA VIEW. As they insistently explained, they have either PROMO or SUPERIOR.

Question 5: What then was sold to us in Moscow for more money than PROMO ROOM?
The hotel is very noisy, yelling music from morning to night, and at an incredible volume in all bars. This creates a cacophony effect. There are a lot of vacationers, you literally collide with each other both on the territory and in restaurants, the hotel has a very small area for such a large number of vacationers. Huge fat cockroaches crawl along the paths and balconies of the basement. In addition - the hotel has a big problem with sewage - the smell on the territory (which, by the way, the hotel staff does not hesitate to say), as a result of which (and all of the above) it was impossible to open the balcony doors. And since the temperature outside was 40 degrees in the shade - we inevitably had to use air conditioning in the room - as a result, we all have severe bronchitis, some with obstruction and a rise in temperature to 38.5 degrees. Everyone took antibiotics - both children and adults. By the way, I’ll note that it’s good that four of us are doctors (moreover, three are doctors of the highest category, respected in Moscow and known in other cities of Russia).
It is also worth noting the attitude of staff and animators towards Russians. It's hard to even describe it in words. It wasn't just indifference. It seems that with all their actions and attitude they drove us out of the hotel, they tried to show that no one was waiting for the Russians here and did not call. The animators defiantly "did not notice" the Russian kids in the pool, they looked as if "through them". The bars were served last, and the children were not served at all, until my husband "fed" two bartenders.
The beach is very dirty, antediluvian rusty iron-painted souls and a plastic booth with a toilet, the people are in darkness, everyone lies close to each other - like in Sochi in the Soviet years. There are not enough sun loungers and umbrellas for everyone. If you do not take a seat at 07-00, you can not try to find a place under the sun. Towels and things on the beach must be constantly supervised. Once I left a pareo and children's toys - in the evening I saw Italians at this place, but my upbringing did not allow me to indicate to them that this place was ours, and the next day our things were gone. Speaking of the beach - in the hotel description it was stated that the beach was sandy. Nothing like this. The beach is pebbly, and the pebbles are large, it is very painful to walk, you can enter the sea only in special shoes.

There are no 4 additional restaurants. There has never been a Chinese restaurant (according to the hotel staff), and the rest of the restaurants are open 2 times a week and you need to sign up 2-3 days in advance, otherwise there will be no places.
In the rooms, towels are changed every day only on floors from 1 to 2. On the basement floor, the change of linen and towels had to be constantly monitored, asked and sometimes even complained to the reception.
Now about excursions. The hotel guide Aygul, as the person representing the host of Le Grand, seems to have persistently tried to spoil the rest of all vacationers. Apparently, the main goal of her work was not to accompany tourists, but to receive money from them, and she sold and painted the most unpopular and unnecessary excursions, and she was reluctant to sell good worthy excursions, or generally dissuaded them from them. In addition, she gave incorrect information about the excursions provided. She described an excursion to Symi Island as a visit to a stunningly beautiful island, where you can swim on a sandy beach, and the journey on a comfortable ferry will take about 2 hours. Bottom line: the journey by bus with a stop at all the hotels to Rhodes was 1.5 hours, plus 2.5 hours by ferry - that is, 4 hours one way. the ferry was not tourist, but public, except for 7 tourist groups (about 280 people), it also transported local residents, trucks. The tourists spent the entire journey on wooden benches under the scorching sun (over 50 degrees in the sun), under the ferry chimney smoking black smoke. No sightseeing and educational program was provided during the trip. After landing on the island of Symi, guide Tatiana took the group shopping instead of the promised historical information. Then 1 hour of free time was provided, during which our tourists hardly had time to dine, since all the taverns were overcrowded, they did not see swimming places and golden beaches at all. And then - the road back, no different from the road to the island. 3 elderly women and 3 children went on the tour from our group. They returned tired and exhausted, and there is no need to talk about the impact of such an excursion on their health. In another group on the same island of Symi, a family was "forgotten" on the island - a mother with two small children. The child became ill, the mother called for help, shouted after the departing guide, but no one wanted to hear her. The three of them had to get to the hotel on their own money. When the woman in a very polite manner (a low bow to her self-control) expressed all the claims of Aygul, she simply shrugged her hands with the words “I can’t even imagine what we can do for you. ”
And Aygul described the excursion to the Butterfly Valley for 60 euros per person as something unforgettable, amazing, millions of fluttering multi-colored butterflies, etc. Thank God, we lost only 5 euros per person, having arrived there on our own. It turns out that butterflies have “out of season”, gray butterflies of the same species sit on trees, they are almost invisible. Aygü l should have known about this, it turns out that she deliberately tried to sell excursions that no one else buys.

On the contrary, our guide Aigul described the Greek evening as an obscene meeting of wine lovers, according to her, all drinks except alcoholic ones were paid. According to her description, our group decided not to go there with children, and some adults also stayed at the hotel because of the children. My husband and I, contrary to her exhortations, went to the Greek evening together and enjoyed it tremendously. We did not see any obscene drunken company, only bright memories and resentment that our children were not with us. By the way, children - water and juice for free.
In addition, Aigul persistently dissuaded us from renting a car, intimidated us with fines and reprisals against tourists by the Greek police. By renting a car, we once again became convinced of her incompetence and the deceitfulness of her words.