Joshua Parfitt
TWO British pensioners have hit out against a £4,000 Benidorm hotel booking that turned out to be a building site.
Betty Rickerby, 87, and Barbara Molloy, 75, were supposed to spend a month soaking in the Spanish sun as a welcome break after Barbara’s husband died last year.
But instead they arrived at a half-hotel where workers banged and crashed from seven in the morning until six at night, and the dust was so bad Betty had to visit a walk-in clinic for medication.
Betty told the Liverpool Echo: “As soon as I pulled up all I could see was the cement mixer and cranes.
“I told the driver he must have made a mistake, but he hadn’t: this was the hotel.
“We were there for a month, I complained on from day one onward and they only moved us in the last week.”
Betty and Barbara had been told there was work being done near to the hotel, but the news came five days after they had paid over £4,000 upfront for the holiday.
What the company didn’t mention were the dust sheets outside their room and the primitive menu.
Barbara said: “I didn’t pay all this money to come away with Saga to have to microwave my food.
“My husband died last September. This was supposed to be a relaxing holiday, a chance to take a breath.”
Saga, the company responsible for the holiday said they were ‘sorry’ to read of the pensioners’ disappointment and waived the cost of a replacement hotel as a ‘goodwill gesture’.
The company said: “We would like to assure you and Mrs Rickerby that the health and safety of our customers is of utmost importance to us.”
Despite their ordeal, Betty and Barbara are still planning a return to Benidorm in the near future.
Barbara said: “After all of this, maybe I can relax and try and get my sparkle back.”
Betty added: “When you get to our age, it’s better to just try and laugh these things off.”
