On The Beach Holidays - www.onthebeach.co.uk

Here is the transcript of my post holiday communication to OTB which I think summarises our experience both as a holiday & also the associated customer support and concluding response.

The holiday in question was to an apartment complex in the small town of El Cotillo in Fuerteventura.

We were dropped off at a bus stop by the driver & did not know where to go. Fortunately a passer by who had English was able to direct us. This was at 5pm. When we arrived at the apartments they were locked and reception was closed (at 4pm). Despite assistance from other helpful residents we could not gain access to the secure compound as the self check-in facility did not work - apparently a known problem according to said residents - anyway we did not have a room number to go to even if we gained entry. These same residents told us they were given a room number and an entry code to permit access, by their holiday provider near to their departure date - we were not provided with this. As a result we were left on the streets for around 5 hours in the dark, with suitcases; even tried to book into Coral Beach hotel but they were fully booked being the only hotel in this area. We were convinced we were sleeping on the streets that night until after 3 tries we eventually got through to the holiday complex assistance and after another period of trailing in the dark around the facility we were eventually given a room number and code to allow entry. I cannot really express how bereft we were feeling sitting on the kerb in the dark watching bars and cafes close as we sat there with our suitcases feeling very vulnerable in a strange uninviting/unknown place. HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? It had a negative impact on the rest of our stay. On-the-beach have given us one of the worst experiences of our lives which no holidaymaker would ever expect to endure.

Response from OTB.

Thank you for your email about your recent holiday at the Lacasa Apartments Cotillo.

I was sorry to read that aspects of your arrival at the property have given you cause for disappointment and complaint.

We do not want our customers to be surprised about the reception opening times and access to the property out of hours and we are therefore careful to provide information about the reception opening hours and the instructions left by the hotelier for guests arriving once the reception has closed.

In this case we are clear to state that access to this property is limited and customers will need to use a taxi service to get to the property rather than a resort transfer coach, we also state that the reception closes from 4pm and customers after this time will need to call the hotel management team for access to the property. I am sorry that the number we provided was not immediately answered. Please see the information we are clear to provide for this property within the property description.

I am sorry if you had not noted the importance of the information we provide for our customers. I have however, noted that you called our In Resort support team for assistance and I trust they were able to provide support for you and make arrangements for you to contact the hotel management team to gain access to the property.

Whilst compensation would not be considered for this issue, as a gesture of goodwill I have attached a discount voucher for £75.00 to your online On the Beach account, which equates to the cost of your first night at the hotel. The voucher is valid for one year and can be used against the cost of a future On the Beach or Sunshine.co.uk holiday. The voucher however, cannot be exchanged for cash.

Naturally, I regret that the start of your holiday did not go to plan. I do however, hope that other aspects of your stay in Fuerteventura were memorable and enjoyable .

Mark

Customer Feedback Advisor

Response from me to OTB

The overview did not contain the information you have described at time of booking. Other apartment residents attempted to assist our apartment entry and all asked why we did not have digital entry codes for compound and room entry which they had been provided with (by their holiday companies). You (Onthebeach) were negligent/incompetent in this regard and are now unsurprisingly being unprofessional in your blase response to a complaint. We will not be taking up your £75 offer as your company will not be considered for any future business. I will now proceed to see what else can be done to either proceed this matter or in the event just highlight to others the fact that onthebeach cannot be trusted to lay out the full facts up front and certainly cannot be relied upon to step up when things go wrong.

I hope that shows the gaping holes in OTB reply & stance which seems to be echo'd regularly within many review pages.

Hotel advertised as 5 stars even if it had 4 stars. Check other websites before you buy

Thanks for ruining family Easter break holiday.

Just want to share my recent experience with on the beach and Ryanair new deal as it’s been absolutely awful. Will never book again.

On 12th of March 2024 booked a holiday to Agadir with OTB with Ryanair flights. was suppose to fly 23rd of March - return 30th March.

This left OTB and Ryanair just over a week to confirm my flights as it was pending airline confirmation.

On 15th of March got in contact with them and been told Ryanair will have it confirmed by weekend or latest Monday.

Called them on Monday 25th and “no update from airline” but it’s on their list and told me to wait 7 days till Wednesday.

Ryanair flight was completely sold out at this point as I checked on their website and at the point I booked on the 12th there was plenty of seats available.

Wednesday comes 20th I call them again as they promised they will call me and never did, they’re saying they don’t know why it’s taking so long. Different agents kept saying different things and constantly lying saying will have it soon , saying it’s 100% booked and will go ahead, one of them even said if I don’t get my flight reference still go to the airport!! But they kept reassuring they paid the airline so my seats already guaranteed.

I contacted Ryanair via their live chat twice and they told me they couldn’t find any booking in my email which OTB used for the booking.

I told this to OTB and they kept saying don’t worry it’s 100% booked just waiting for Ryanair flight ref.

So TODAY 21st, I called them and they said by 5pm 100% I will have my flight reference from Ryanair.

Just got a call now for them to say Ryanair flight is completely sold out ???? and if you want you can go with Easy Jet instead same dates and just pay extra £1,600. Shocking.

And we are due to fly Saturday. The stress this has caused..

Do not book a last minute holiday with OTB with Ryanair flights as it’s a mess.

Non of them know what’s going on yet with this new deal they have, they’re making things up and just try to get rid of you of the phone as fast as they can.

From the week after I booked and now 3 months later while at the airport while waiting for a changed flight ( by 11 hours) I have had really shockingly poor service!

Numerous live chats and hours waiting to talk to a real person on the phone and after several promises of calls back with no resolution to changing our flight meaning I could not add luggage or book seats with the airline due to it being booked by an agent!

Finally after many calls to the airline I managed ( jumping though hoops) to get our flight sorted.

I checked several times with On the beach how long our flight was only to find out that the given details were totally untrue and complete nonsense!

Even having it in writing both on my booking details and in live chat on the beach are now saying it’s nothing to do with them!

I will never book with on the beach again.

I just hope the hotel, taxi and return flight are ok as I have lost any faith on this company

DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY

Refusing to refund our cancelled flight money. Find out by ourselves that our flights had been cancelled and fully refunded. We have confirmation from the airline itself about it so know that this os the situation. Someone has over a thousand pound of our money in their account earning interest no doubt and yet deny that they know anything about the flights being cancelled. I dont think that anyone from on the beach has even looked into our situation or contacted whoever they used to book the flights as they claim that they know nothing about the flight being cancelled. Have been passed from pillar to post and now we are just being ignored as they probably just want to keep our money. They claim the airline takes 28 days to respond yet they emailed me back within 4 hours with the confirmation about the travel agents having the refund. Somebody needs to sort this out and find out where our money is so we can have it back rather than treating us like we are lying and then ignoring us.

I urge everyone to be cautious with On The Beach.

I 'booked' a holiday with them last week, or so I thought, only for the experience to give me nothing but frustration and stress. I shall not be using them again.

Communication has been a shambles. The company took my money only to then tell me 5 days later that my booking would not be available, thus causing more expense as availability lessened and prices got higher. There was no advance warning when booking that there would be a wait for confirmation and prices would therefore not be guaranteed. This is a scamming practice. What kind of travel agent in this day and age doesn't have live up-to-date access to availability for bookings?

Communication given from the website or from staff via telephone was either misleading or false. Three times I called the company, each with a long wait between 45 - 75 minutes just on hold (and on one occasion suddenly getting cut off), and information given from staff just didn't add up or give me any confidence that they were in control. Once things started to look fishy there was no way for me to cancel my 'pending booking' online , nor an effective way to get in touch with them, but yet they still had taken my money.

Just looking at other recent reviews from customers with similar bad reports is alarming. Allowing customers to book a package holiday, where they select preferred flights, but then later informing them to book their own flights?? With a prepaid credit card number given that often doesn't work, and having to use a weird unique gobbledegook

email address that isn't the customer's own? It's all so dodgy.

Voicing my complaint and concerns on their Facebook page by one single post, in a constructive and mature manner, has had me blocked from the group. What does this tell you?

And the scammers that are targeting worried customers concerns with the fake whatsapp number thats all over their social media posts is still going unchallenged by On The Beach.

I am now left in a position of finding On The Beach untrustworthy, and anxious over if my holiday will have problems that will leave me unsecure or out of pocket at last minute whilst abroad.

Very shocking.

Never use on the beach as their customer service is terrible . Booked a holiday in January for September and 2 days before the trip they take a day off our holiday in Vegas and tell us the travel home time had changed from direct flights to a 5 hour wait in New York and would take the travel home time to 20 hours .

Absolutely appalling and no Manger will speak with you as they know very well this is so wrong . Do yourself a favour and don't use this company who know they are in the wrong but do not care at all .

Left my husband and I stuck in Amsterdam after a long haul flight from Vegas .

They were fully aware 9 months earlier that the flights would not connect and never informed us .

Trying to speak with anyone is impossible and emails are just an apology that means nothing and a promise to look into this but then nothing at all . Terrible customer service and they really need to go bust due to lack of bookings because they are so unprofessional .

Take my advise do not book with ON the beach as they come across as so nice to take your money and your booking but when they realise they have messed up you don't hear from them at all and have no intention in helping you .

I am just waiting for watchdog to get in touch so I can expose on the beach for what they really are and nothing like the advert on TV . Do not fall for it please and save yourself the trouble .

Worst customer service and after sales care I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Be aware that OTB are only ATOL registered which will protect you if they go bust but they opted out of being ABTA registered as this gives their a back up for when they let their customers down and do not see when they are in the wrong! I had a perfect experience with this company until things went wrong (they booked the wrong time transfer so I would have missed my flight - left me to sort it and no compensation for the hour and a half phone call, nor the two days of my holiday that were ruined as they left me to it!). Be warned!!

Apartment advertised as being in Adeje but it was actually a 3+ hour walk or 15 Euro taxi ride from Adeje

Apartment lovely but whole holiday overshadowed by costs of travelling to Adeje and back

Really disappointed at the advertising of this apartment - make sure you check actual locations before you book because you cannot rely on the information on this site

Ive always booked with this company. Never again.

Booked a all Inclusive holiday for 11 people at grand oasis cancun Hotel with a ocean view (paid the extra as it was for a special birthday) and what a disappointment it was. Don't bother paying extra even better don't book it at all. We didn't get the ocean view and the hotel was a shambles front start to finish. Complained to on the beach on the 3rd day there as well as the hotel and it took until today to get a response. We had glass screen for Privacy in bathrooms (with teenagers) we had sinks falling through and leaks in the ceiling everyday the list goes on.

What do on the beach say. The glass screens are part of the hotel decor and well we got a partial ocean view (didn't even get that) it doesn't state on website you can get a partical view when they take the money.

I emailed to complain and then they say I didn't contact when in hotel. If they answer the calls or read emails they would know I did.

If you want a lovely holiday don't book from on the beach and certainly don't go to grand oasis cancun