“This company used to be decent but in recent times it has went downhill rapidly, customer care is zero. I had a simple claim for a £56 taxi fare that I had to claim back because our airport transfers failed to pick us up. I was instructed by OTB to get a taxi to airport as they couldn't locate the driver that was supposed to pick us up. They told me to get a receipt from taxi driver and claim it back when I got home. No problem I thought until I got an email this morning telling me a blatant lie that our transfer bus came to our hotel but we weren't there and they wouldn't be issuing a refund.
We never moved from the front of hotel at our pick up point from 1600-1700 but this company have the audacity to blatantly lie to me saying the driver was there at 16.33 . Unfortunately I have another holiday booked with this corrupt company which I cannot cancel without being heavily penalised, but this will be the last time I use them and urge anyone else to stay away from them, there are plenty alternatives out there with far better customer care.”
“This company is an absolute joke! Their team are incompetent and have no idea what they are doing! A holiday that was meant to be stress free was basically the holiday from hell.
We booked a shared premium shuttle from the airport to hotel (return) max 4 stops with on the beach. We waited a total of 2 hours to get our transfer and then took us 3 hours to get to our hotel with 6 stops and the driver taking a 20 minute break along the way. It should only have been around 1h15mins as said by on the beach when I booked. After a full day of travelling and landing at 7pm we didn’t get to our hotel until midnight! Furthermore, we confirmed our transfer as on the beach said via holiday taxi online to be given the pick up time of 4:15 only to be messaged by the taxi company the afternoon before travelling staying pick up would be 3:10am our flight was at 9am and we could only check in 2h30mins before our flight! We waited at the airport for over an hour and a half before we could check in!
Our hotel rep appointed by on the beach was difficult. We booked a few activities with him and the first one we booked we were unable to attend as messed up our transport to the destination and then tried to blame us! We waited 40 minutes for our coach to this activity. At 7pm we contacted Cengo to find out where the coach was to which he stated it was 5-10 minutes late and we should continue to wait. After 20 minutes had passed he said it was still on its way and we should wait. After waiting 10 more minutes he called the hotel to tell them the bus was not coming. Upon calling him he stated firstly the coach was no longer coming when asked why he could not give a reason and then he changed his story and said it was our fault as we had missed the coach! He said the next day he would give us a refund however we are still waiting!
The hotel food was appalling. To say the least it was the same food every night, cold, undercooked and caused some stomach upset. As a result, we ended up eating outside of the hotel at restaurant’s not using the “all-inclusive” aspect of our booking that we had paid for and spending more money than necessary. This is not okay and a waste of our money and time especially whilst on holiday.
A of total 3 members of hotel staff that we interacted with had a base level understanding of English and we’re able to communicate with us on our trip. The rest of the staff were un-accommodating and did not understand any English. They would nod and say yes when asked a question and say they understood you when I’m reality they have no clue what you’re talking about or do the total opposite of what was asked or ignore us completely. They were extremely biased towards us and would noticeably go out of there way to avoid us when asking for help or assistance and help Turkish residence instead. Due to the hotels poor wifi we were unable to use a translator app to help communicate with staff making it even harder.
The man we spoke with at the guest relations desk to try and book reservations for the hotel restaurants was rude and to put it nicely a piece of work. They only had one day (Sunday) where we could book in for a restaurant so in the end out of 3 hotel restaurants we could only chose 1! Please note: prior to this I had contact the hotel via the enquiry form linked on their website for information on any special extras or packages for the room and to see if we could book the restaurants before arriving so this issue did not happen however received no response. He laughed when I mentioned this enquiry.
On the beach customer service
My bookings team (portal)
The my bookings team via the portal were very unhelpful when I bought the issue of the transfer and the rep to them! they stated l they would issue feedback to the transfer company to improve their service which did not resolve my issue and when I questioned this further they stated they would be investigating this issue. After 2-3 days of back and forth they finally stated they could not help and I should email the customer care team and call the in-resort team.
In-resort team
I called the in-resort team and waited a total of 40 minutes with no response or anyone picking up before the line cut out and I was unable to call back! What is the point in having a contact number to use while away if it does not work or there is no one available to take the call. I made the call during working the working hours based on the UK.
Overall, I have sent a more in depth email to on the beach’s customer care team however taking 56days to reply to a complain is a joke. This was a poor experience with this agency. Going forward we will not be using them. Our money has gone to waste and who’ve returned home more stressed than when we left.”
“Booked and paid in full for our holiday then we have to book our seats with Ryanair. On the beach give you a unique e mail address to access Ryanair’s system where then you have to verify who you are. Tried numerous times and locked out. On the beach stringing us along for over a week saying they will sort it. Ryanair rudely hang up on you. We have now got to go to the airport the day before to see what seats are left. Will never use on the beach again. Lots of time out of work, additional costs for lengthly phone calls, now fuel costs and stress. I will never use them again NEVER”
“I booked my holiday for 2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant to Kos with transfers. The total cost was £1592.11. I wasn't happy with my room so I requested an upgrade and added an extra night. My request was accepted and charged accordingly, and I was sent the amended paperwork. This brought the total cost to £2317.97. after having completed payment I received a message to say that the supplier couldn’t give us the room we’d paid for due to my party exceeding the room’s capacity and they offered me I quote ‘a complimentary upgrade to a family 2 bedroom suite mountain view with sharing pool’ which was the exact room I had originally booked! I have all the supporting paperwork to prove this is the case. So what they tried to do here was pull the wool over my eyes by pretending my original room was an upgrade from the room I’d paid to upgrade to?! I of course objected to this and we went back and forth a few messages but still the supplier was adamant I could not have the room I paid for. I then decided I would call the hotel directly myself. The reservations manager explained that he received 2 requests to upgrade and rejected both due to the fact that the size of the party exceeded maximum capacity of the room. So at no point in time did they have a booking secure for me in the room that I had requested and been charged for. He advised me that I needed to query this with the supplier or the agent as the fault lay there and not with the hotel. So I did just that, I explained everything that had happened and simply asked for the extra that I had paid to be refunded to me. During this time my flights had also been cancelled, so I requested a refund and paid extra to book new flights completely separately. At this point I was advised that I would receive a refund for my flights (total £420.91) which is usually in 7 days. I didn't, and had to chase it. The refund was then issued to a card that I have never had which leads me to believe there are data protection issues here also. I received a message to say that the supplier would offer me a refund of £274.48 despite having paid an extra £725.86 for this upgrade. In my response I did express my frustration, but also did say that I appreciate I'd also booked an extra night in the hotel So would like the cost of that in my original room deducted from £725.86 and felt that this would be the only logical and fair amount that I should be offered as a refund, taking into account that this entire scenario has been at absolutely no fault of my own. In this message I also asked for a proper breakdown of how that figure had been reached. I went through a mock booking on the hotel website to checked the cost of 1 night in the family suite room which came to 225 euro’s which is approximately £194. So I’m aware of how much should roughly be deducted for that. I Then received a message back to say that the £274.48 was based on my hotel costs only and didn’t include flights. I saw this as a huge insult to my intelligence and the second time someone had attempted to pull the wool over my eyes as the cost of flights would of course not have any impact on the refund amount, as they were already included in the original booking total. This is simply a refund on the EXTRA I had been charged for the room only. Also despite having asked for a breakdown, I did not receive one, I just had the same figure thrown at me again and another attempt to push for me to accept it. I declined and expressed I would make a formal complaint, to which I then received a further couple of messages offering me the same plus an £80 gesture of goodwill which I also declined. Then to add complete insult to injury, 1 day before we were due to fly I received a message from an agent called Bruno A to say I quote’ good afternoon and thanks for your message (which just said that I was not accepting the refund amount offered) please note that the hotel cannot accommodate you in the original room. Apologies for any inconvenience’ and that was it! No solution, no explanation, no anything! This put my stomach in knots! I for a second time had to spend money calling the hotel to check they still had a booking for us which thankfully they did. It is now working day 74 since I complained and I still have not received a refund nor response to my complaint. My bank has been investigating and since, on the beach has unethically and totally against protocol, directly taken money back that had been temporarily refunded by my bank without going through the proper channel. Not only have that but now taken an extra £531.86. Words can’t express the infuriation. I will be pulling out every single stop and fighting this all the way until justice has been served here.”
“The worst agency ever !! We had a flight to Mexico but obviously from Mexico with no reason they send us home the same day with the same plan. No one was expected anything why. Ok that’s fine. When we back to UK, was trying to contact on the beach agency and they couldn’t help me at all!! Obviously I paid over £2000 for NOTHING! For flights to both ways at the same day !!! And the lady who was on the line she didn’t even said at least sorry, was really rude ! AVIOD this company!!!”
“We travelled to Antalya, Turkey on 6th September to 16th September and was overall a horrible experience. Our flight was cancelled a week and a half before we were due to fligh out and the options given were pay £700 extra for new flights or cancel the holiday all together. When i enquired about changing dates/airports they found same dates for a different airport at no extra cost so was peeved they didn't offer that to begin with. When we arrived at Antalya airport we met the rep for our transfer shuttle which was booked with Golden Sea travel and after an hour and a half of waiting and constantly asking for an update, we were told they have no idea when or if they were coming and was told to book a private taxi at our own cost. The rep booked the taxi for us and made us pay 2800 lira (I later found out average price for a taxi to our hotel were 1100 so the rep ripped us off to line his own pockets!) We stayed at Eftalia Splash resort for 10 days which was advertised as a 4 star hotel but its definitely a 3 (at a push)! The whole experience was horrible, the food was worse than what you would get at a hostel, just chicken nuggets, burgers, chips and pizzas. The photographs of the food served was nowhere near as good at what we got during our stay and my 2 year old would only eat chips for the whole stay as there was nothing on offer to cater for children.
Quite a few facilities were closed as well like the Effes bar and the kids pool was closed 4 of the 10 days we were there also which wasn't great.
The rooms were fine and housecleaning was regular so no quarrels with that but the walls were paper thin and could hear all the neighbouring rooms arguing and partying until the late hours which kept us all up. The pools were nice enough but again the photographs made them look much nicer than what they actually were. Eftalia island was a quick shuttle away and we spent most of our time there. The food on offer was pretty much the same but much nicer pools and better choice for small kids.
We ventured out to the surrounding streets just to look around once and had every shop owner trying to scam us left and right so we stopped going out for fear we would be tricked into paying for something eg a photograph with a camel that quickly turns into a camel ride and then demanding 800 lira for the experience despite stating we didn't have any cash on us in the first place.
The 'clientèle' was just parents looking to let their kids run wild while they inhaled as much free booze as they could get their hands on which made for the hotel to be extremely loud and rowdy when everyone was trying to sleep so stay away if youre looking for a quiet, relaxing holiday with your family or young children.
On our way home our flight was leaving at 8.15am and our transfer shuttle (Golden Sea travel) told us they would pick us up at 4am which didn't give us much time but there wasn't anything we could do about that. 4am rolls by and no shuttle....My family and 3 other families waited until 4.30am and despite several phone calls to the company they advised they didn't know where our driver was or if they were even coming. After chatting to the other families we learned they also did not get picked up from the airport either and had to pay for private taxis.
Another 1000 lira to pool with another family for a taxi and we finally got there at 6am so it was a mad dash through airport security etc and made our flight with minutes to spare!
Overall this has to be the worst holiday experience I have ever had and unfortunately was our daughters first. Luckily she will forget the horrible experience over time but I sadly will not.
If you are thinking of staying at this hotel or you have already booked it and are looking for transfers DO NOT use Golden Sea travel and change hotels if you have time (or cancel your holiday with On the beach if you still have time!). Their customer service is shambolic, their responsibilities to you are a service provider are non existent (as they like to state all over their website) and it will take weeks or months to get back to you with a reasonable response due to closing their customer service call centre, which is convenient for them but not for you as a customer.
Go with TUI if you can or just don't book an all inclusive holiday in Turkey and expect a high quality hotel with the 'great' facilities they advertise with aesthetic pictures that aren't the same in person.
I've made a complaint directly to the transfer company in Turkey and one with On the beach for my out of pocket expenses (4000 lira) and the £98 I paid for the airport transfers that we did not receive and will make sure I book with a more reputable company in future
I would advise you all to avoid On the beach and Eftalia resorts like the plague!”
“I had a holiday booked with on the beach and my brother passed away suddenly...! on the beach refused point blank to refund me... !! what they did say was " I should of told them sooner " which for me was a kick in teeth..!! it was Impossible to let them know something that had not already happened...!! anyway I took them to a small claims court and won... ! however thats when they were still with ABTA... !!”
“Had a fabulous holiday in Cyprus, Completely happy with On The Beach, Jet2 and the fantastic Queens Bay Hotel in Paphos. Everything went smooth, the Hotel, the Hotel Staff, the food, the location. I would highly recommend this hotel to everyone.
The only down side to the holiday, was in my opinion, Manchester Airport ( Absolutely Shambolic ). I don't blame Jet2 at all, I just think Manchester are under staffed and SO UNORGANISED ).”
“The most stressful experience ever! Company is based only on automatic payment online, after taking payment no support is offered at all. Firstly, our outbound flights were cancelled and I was told that on the beach is taking care of that, however several weeks later I had no any information about new flights. I had to chase for weeks to find out what could be done, however no support were offered! They didn't answer any of my messages. After many weeks they sent me message that nothing can be done. I had to arrange the flights by myself, but it took me weeks to get their confirmation that I can arrange it on my own. Meantime, all cheap and convenient flights were gone. Now, I'm abroad but my inbound ticket, that was arranged by on the beach, is nowhere to be found. "Help line" doesn't work due to COVID, they don't respond messages ( of course). I'm 17 hours to my trip and I cannot obtain boarding passes.”
“Our holiday was cancelled in 2020 due to covid and all we could see and hear is others having trouble getting their money back. We accepted it was a tough time for holiday companies and was patient and we didnt wait too long to get a full refund from Onthebeach. We booked a holiday this year to Turkey and everything was great with OTB except details for transfer which was our fault for not reading the instructions fully. We are travelling again very soon to Tunisia.”
“MYB11295620B
Reference for holiday on the beach, we had the worst experience ever and I don’t want other people with young children to go through the same, we booked our first holiday after covid and thought that we would use on the beach as they are a reputable company…. Avoid as we have been treated awfully and I would never use again, due to staff shortages in April we missed our flight and our 4 year old child was devastated.. I complained straight away that day and called help desk only told that I can only complain online…. 4 months later and nothing back not even a reply? Nothing ????
This is the worst holiday complaint that just steals your hard earned money
AVOID AVOID AVOID”
“🚨 🚨 This is a plea to find other customers that have been scammed by on the beach and or sunshine.co.uk 🚨 🚨
My email is vikj1002@icloud.com . Please reach out if you are interested in either appearing on TV to talk about your issues and/or want to pursue this legally as a team to get justice and the compensation we all deserve.
We are a party of 10 who have had our long awaited family holiday cancelled with no good reason (in fact they blame us?) with only weeks to go before we fly. We have been pushed pillar to post, lied to, deceived and have had over £3000 of our hard earned cash stolen from us.
Customer services promise call backs from
Managers that never happen. Agent admitted on phone that they cancelled maybe in error?
No they’ve cancelled our stay at the be live palmierias in Algarve, Portugal because they’ve hiked the price up from 2020 when we originally booked from 1750 to nearly £6 grand!
Why not be honest and offer us an alternative? Why not offer a full refund?
Because they’ve pocketed our cash and refusing to do anything about it , that’s why!
These con artists get rich off of people like us!
Let’s take a stand together and we will be heard!”
“I would personally avoid On the Beach for any future bookings. I personally feel their business model it's very close to a small Scam in a way. I have booked with them on Sunday 21/08/2022 for a holiday in the future that only happening in December 2023. When I have made my booking I have received the email saying pending (as always with them). On Monday 22/08/2022 I have received a call from them saying my holiday went up in price by £600!! In less then 24h they wanted to change the price of the holiday by £600... their justification was that the hotel probably became quite popular for that date. Well, I understand Caribbean is popular in Xmas but an increase in 12h of £600 for a holiday happening over a year away?! They not advertising accurate costs, my views are that they advertising really low prices to attract bookings and then trying to get you to confirm the booking by charging you extra. Very untrustworthy company and really bad experience with them. Stay away from their "low prices" as they don't exist. On The Beach should review their prices and advertise accurate and real prices!! I have now booked cheaper then they wanted to charge me on other company and my booking was confirmed straight away. Don't waste your time.”
“Utter rubbish - don't even think about trying t get hold of them once they have your money! Take no responsibility for errors or issues - blaming airlines or anyone else they can. If everything is fine, it will be great. If you have ANY issues and need to contact them - forget it. Isn't that the whole point of booking through such companies?”
“Everything about our "On the beach" holiday was perfect in every way.
The Hotel, the flight and transfers were as any holiday maker would expect even the upgrade to extra leg room seats on the flight home.
The hotel and especially the room with a full sea view with all of the additional features was a bonus.
Very well done "On the beach"”
