Holidaymakers Lee and Mandy Trivett were looking forward to relaxing on their ‘deluxe’ Ayia Napa balcony with a nice cup of tea. Instead, they were left staring out at the ‘view from hell’
A couple looking forward to a “peaceful, relaxing” holiday were left dismayed after realising they were staring out at the “view from hell”.
Lee and Mandy Trivett spent £2,215 on a holiday at Tasia Maris Hotel in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, wanting a break from daily life after the deaths of several friends.
Looking ahead to their a six-night stay with Jet2 last summer, Lee and Mandy, both 58, had hoped to spend their mornings sipping coffee on the ‘deluxe’ balcony, switching to a nice cup of tea and biscuits at night.
Unfortunately, their dreams were quickly punctured after they realised the view from their balcony was anything but serene. An alfresco cuppa would be completely out of the question.
Instead, the Trivetts allegedly found themselves looking out onto a noisy building site, complete with scaffolding, netting and forklifts rumbling all day long.
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Lee, from Hull, Yorkshire, recalled: “When we got to the hotel at about one o’clock in the morning we thought it looked beautiful. We were exhausted so we just dumped the cases, brushed our teeth and went to bed.
“In the morning, we got up and opened the curtains to go on the balcony. It was just looking over a building site. I was absolutely shocked.
“There were forklifts going up and down and there were workmen going in and a generator on all day and all night, which you could hear through the double glazing.”
The home support worker continued: “It got worse as by the end, there were more and more workmen coming on the site. We hadn’t been informed that this work was going on.
“We couldn’t even sit out on the balcony. The last thing you wanted to look at was that. When I was talking to people in the hotel, we were originally led to believe nobody worked on the building site through the summertime. But that wasn’t very accurate.”
Jet2 has claimed that guests were made to tick a box saying they “understood” building work was “taking place nearby” and so the Trevitts should have been aware of what was going. The company has also claimed that its team “made multiple attempts to contact Mr Trevitt” on the holiday but did not get a response.
However, the couple claim this only happened after they were already four days into their week-long holiday.
Lee and Mandy, who works as a seamstress, says they were left feeling as though they’d “wasted their money”. They’ve claimed that nobody had mentioned the building work to them prior to the trip being booked, and say the situation wasn’t made apparent by looking at photos online.
According to Lee: “Me and my wife had booked it relatively late as a couple of our friends had passed away early in the year so we felt like we needed to get away and have a relaxing holiday to wind down.
“We just wanted to sit on the balcony after a night out and have a cup of tea and a biscuit. We didn’t bother. Looking at scaffolding and netting and men walking about and security guards walking about making noise at two in the morning, was not our idea of being relaxed.
“My wife said, ‘I don’t want to look out at that’. The balcony was a waste of time and the upgrade was a complete waste of money. The room on the website was nice, it promised being larger with a better kitchen and balcony.”
He added: “It was all useless though as where you wanted to get up in the morning and sit on the balcony and have a coffee and get ready for the day and again at nighttime, it was a waste of money.
“We got up and left the room as we didn’t want to listen to the noise. On the photos on the website, you couldn’t see any of the building work. There was nothing.”
Although the couple did speak a Jet2 rep at the time, they say they were uninformed that their location was due to them getting an upgraded room. While they did manage to find another room, by this point, their holiday was already more than half way over.
Lee continued: “I mentioned to our Jet2 rep and she said, ‘they are the upgraded rooms, that’s where they’re based’. How is that an upgrade? Looking onto a building site and as far away from the pool and bar and restaurant [as possible].
“They’ve given me the view from hell. It took them a day to respond and then she told me there were no rooms available and then the following day she said we might have a room for you.
“To be honest, we were only there a week and we were four days in by then. If we’d have been informed beforehand that the upgraded rooms had that view then I’d have said ‘I don’t want an upgraded room’.
“We just weren’t told. We just wanted a nice peaceful holiday and we didn’t get that.”
A Jet2 spokesperson issued the following statement at the time: “We believe it is very important to provide all relevant information to customers ahead of their well-deserved holidays, and at the time of this booking we made it very clear to customers that building works were taking place nearby.
“Customers were required to tick a box showing that they had read and understood this, and the information was also highlighted in the booking documentation.
“However, once we were made aware of Mr Trevitt’s feedback when he was on holiday, we immediately liaised with the hotel to source an alternative room and we made multiple attempts to contact Mr Trevitt by mobile, text, and by leaving a letter in his room – but we did not hear anything back.
“As an award-winning company, we do everything we can to help customers in the rare event that everything isn’t perfect. However, we were unable to provide such support on this occasion as we did not hear back from the customer.”
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