Goldtrail bashing on holiday health and safety issues
By Darren Cronian on Monday, March 23rd, 2009

Click here to read the information regarding the collapse of GoldTrail Holidays

Last week tour operator Goldtrail received a bashing on BBC Watchdog regarding health and safety issues at a number of hotels in Turkey. The photos were fairly horrific and looking at those images, I felt that they deserved the negative media attention.

Goldtrail bashing on holiday health and safety issues

No excuse for filthy hotel rooms

While all of the hotels were part of a budget package holiday I do not think that anyone deserves to spend more than a second in those conditions, including, filthy rooms, cats eating food prepared for breakfast and sweat soaked sun loungers.

You get what you paid for

Consumers have to realise though that they will get what they paid for, but, I do not agree with anyone who says that you deserve to stay in these types of conditions if you pay such small amount of money for your holiday.

You do have to remember that conditions in countries like Turkey are unlike Western European destinations. Even so, the fact is that Goldtrail should have monitored the state of those hotels and I have always had my doubts that all tour operators do this properly.

Good experience with Goldtrail

Last year I went to Marmaris with Goldtrail, and I did not have any complaints. The hotel was basic, but really, what was I expecting for £299 that included flights, airport transfers and 7 nights stay, with bed and breakfast in a budget hotel.

I feel some of the complaints on the BBC show were silly, i.e. not being able to stand up-right in the bathroom. Okay, that’s easy for me to say as a short person, but really, you do not spend that much time in the bathroom on your holiday.

All hotels should meet health and safety standards

I feel that I am sympathising with the tour operator, I’m not, I just think sometimes you need to look at it from both perspectives. No matter how much you are paying for a holiday though you should not have to put up with staying in a hotel that does not meet health and safety standards.

I am interested to read your thoughts on this story, and watch the video is online.


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5 responses to “Goldtrail bashing on holiday health and safety issues”

Nick | 24 March, 2009 at 12:45 pm

Your right, no one deserves the mess that you see in the video, Goldtrail is a budget company and like you stated you get what you pay for, but that means there has to be some standards. Having first hand experience of there holidays has shown you what they should be like. How ever in Goldtrails defense I have to say comments like it is all Goldtrail by even the Turkish authorities is pushing it.

Surely they and the Hotelier have something to do with it? Goldtrail need to act faster on the small number of bad accommodations, but when working on such a tight budget I can see why they and other budget companies do not act on complaints fast enough.

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Steve Tate | 24 March, 2009 at 5:28 pm

I completely agree, it doesn’t matter how much a consumer pays there are basic levels of health and safety that all hotels should meet. I have worked in the business for 25 years, and I am still appalled at, in some cases, how far down the agenda health and safety seems to fall. An outbreak of food poisoning, or in this case a Watchdog expose, can irreparably ruin a hotels reputation – why would consumers want to spend their two week well-earned holiday in a resort that has a name for itself?

I hope that public demonstrations of hygiene inadequacies, such as the Watchdog video and the recent Which report into UK city hotels, pushes health and safety up the priority list giving the travelling public peace of mind.

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Nick | 26 March, 2009 at 11:41 am

Steve,

Just to point out, there was no cases logged in resort and Goldtrail stopped using that hotel 3 years ago after the incident.

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Craig | 11 August, 2009 at 1:46 pm

Firstly let me say that I work for Goldtrail. We have been working very hard to clean up a few rogue hotels which are on our roster. There is no excuse for poor health and safety and we are very proactive once we find out about a particular property.

While we inspect our properties as often as we can changes of ownership/management are frequent in Turkey often leading to drops in standards. If you do find any instances then please do let us know by either calling us on 0871 700 2121 or filling in the contact us form on http://www.goldtrail.co.uk.

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Darren Cronian | 11 August, 2009 at 4:11 pm

@ Craig

Thanks Craig for dropping by and leaving your comment.

@ All

This blog highlights consumer issues, and I highlighted an issue that was on the BBC Watchdog programme. This isn’t a review site so for that reason comments are now closed. As Craig has said, if you have any questions or concerns please call Goldtrail contact by telephone or via their website.

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