AlphaRooms Holiday / Alpha Holidays
Reviews and Complaints

Booking request271426651762. OnJune 7th I requested alpharooms to book a royal apartment in correlejo Beach hotel Fuertaventura. They debited my a/c by 723.85 euro . On June 8 they rang to say that they couldn't get that apartment. I requested a refund of my money . Have rang on several occasions and despite being promised a refund within 5 days this has not happened. I also sent a letter to the office in London to no avail. I wish an immediate return of my money. Alpharooms do not have an email listed to enable 2 way communication. Margaret OConnell

We booked Vogue hotel in Turkey from 5th october till 12th october.We arrived was everything ok after 3 days was heavy rain and hotel was flooded they decided to closed hotel.Everyone was in panic in hotel because the reception was full of water.Our child was really scaerd.We had to call to Alpharooms do ask where we can go? we spend 30e for phone credit.Nobody didnt come to collect us to transfer to another hotel just send email to go to Hilton hotel and we had to take the taxi to go there.But Hilton hotel said no rezervation for us so we had to go back to vogue hotel again.After 3 hours they brought us in Hilton hotel.In that hotel was nothing for kids so next day they said we can come back to Vogue hotel again, everythink ok there.But we came back nothing is working no water park just 1 pool.We paid such a big money for hotel and we waited 6 months for holiday and we can just enjoy just 2days in there because they closed waterpark just warking 1 pool in there.My child is crying because nothing to do there what he was expecting.On Alpharoom they writing water park is closing down 15th october but was closed from 8th october. Were so disappointed about hotel and Alpharoom service no one didnt come in hotel from Alpharoom to help us in this situation and another companys agents came in hotel and tooked care of people to transfer to different hotels.But we had to call to Dublin ourselfs of hundreds times.Probablly never will book from Alpharooms holiday again.

I booked our holiday 3 days ago via alpharooms. Called 2 days ago as we had not recieved confirmation of our booking... They called me today to say sorry we need another €300 from you to book your flights cause they went up! I argued that I booked them at the price on the day that they should have confirmed my booking at the time and that I called the following day also to see why it was not confirmed!
Basically I will NEVER book with them again, rude and no help and to call and ask for more money due to their error is not acceptable. I now have to wait 3-5 working days for a refund to try and book our holiday again as I refuse to give them more money and I was getting nowhere with them

I submit the email already sent to the Duty Manager of the Dom Joao Hotel which explains the outrageous circumstances we were placed in on our holiday from hell. The Hotel Management have expressed their sincerest apologies but this is not remotely good enough.

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Francis Moran
Thu, Jun 27, 7:45 PM (8 days ago)
to flavio.simao

Hi Flavio,

Would you be able to confirm that you got my email, as I am unsure whether you received it or not.

Regards,

Frank

My email address is [protected]@gmail.com

On Tue, Jun 25, 2019 at 4:54 PM Francis Moran wrote:
Hi Flavio

Following our recent meetings you requested me, on more than one occasion, to email you regarding our most unsatisfactory holiday experiences at the Hotel Pestana Dom Joao II hotel from the 11th June to the 18th June. This I now do in chronological order.

Wednesday, 12/06/19
We arrived at reception at 0:40 to be told that no food or tea was available after a long journey from Dublin, nor were there any tea making facilities in the room or any snacks. Given key to Room 140.
During the night there was a continuous loud humming noise that could be compared to a "ship pulling into a port", that prevented getting any sleep. Reported this to Reception at 10:00 and told to return at 12:00. Returned and told to decide on transfer to room of similar price (Room 1007) or pay 150 Euro to upgrade to only other available room in the hotel (Room 266). No other rooms were available, and we were told "take it or leave it". We looked at both rooms and decided on Room 1007, as we did not want to incur extra charge.
We packed our bags and moved into new Room 1007.

Thursday, 13/06/19
At around 2:00 I noticed an obnoxious sewer smell coming into our room from the bathroom. I closed the bathroom door, hoping it would go away from the bedroom. I could not open the outside door as we were on the ground floor. The smell got worse. I flushed the toilet many times but this had no effect. I could not sleep for the remainder of the night. After breakfast, we returned to find the room more stinking with a sewage smell, and we opened the outside door. The smell was also outside the room. We did not report it. I felt dizzy, especially when lying down.
Had noticed rotten wooden decking outside our room and felt it was dangerous. Did not report it. During the course of the day, a person replaced some of the rotten pieces and put in-situ a right-angled support. He left splinters of broken wood on grass which were not cleared.
From 17:00 to 20:00, the sewage smell in the bathroom was stinking and unbearable, even with the outside door open. Called to Reception, and in a similar "take it or leave it" attitude told to take the other only one room available, or "it will be gone tomorrow". Reception got a Cleaner to treat the bath plug hole with a product Ecolab. This removed the smell. Cleaner also informed that smell was coming from sink. Receptionist and cleaner also found the smell unbearable.

Friday, 14/06/19
Smell gone in the morning. However, arrived back at 17:45 to the room and the stinking sewage smell was back. Wood splinters still there, so we used shoes to step outside. Went to reception again and offered Room 348. We did not want to move again, and why would we expect it to be any different. At this stage, we had lost all faith with Reception. The smell was intermittent. Still feeling dizzy.

Saturday 15/06/19
At 17:45. the sewage smell was unbearable. Reported to Reception and was offered a new room. Cleaning staff treated the smell coming out of bath and gave me a bottle of air freshener. I agreed to look at a different room provided the duty manager agreed to look at the conditions we had been placed in. This he did and agreed it was not right. We then viewed the new room, and agreed to move. This whole episode took another few hours. All this day, I was once again very dizzy and felt sick.
We packed our bags again and moved into new Room 2002.

Sunday 16/6/19
Left room at around 12:00 and back at 17:15. Mary's key to room not working and she went to reception and got her key reactivated. Came back to room and found two new beds made up in living area, new linen for new beds and new glasses with drinking water. Went to reception who got cleaning staff to put back room to the way it had been. Arrived back at 17:45 to find my own key not working. Went to reception who informed me that there was a housekeeping error and there was a power supply problem in door. They reactivated my key and told me that this should solve the door power supply problem. Was able to access room.

Tuesday 18/6/19
Left Room at around 11:30, gave in keys, and went back to Dublin

-----------------------------------

I left the Hotel Pestana Dom Joao II, feeling unwell. I was very dizzy and nauseous for almost the whole holiday, which was made a lot worse if I attempted to lie down. I was informed that Room 1007, and the room above, had a known sewage problem, well in advance of us being placed in it. It appears that no other unfortunates were placed there up to the time of our welcome departure.
We spent an enormous amount of our holiday time at reception, who had a major bad "take it or leave it" attitude. You were the one exception.
The Dom Joao II was recommended to us and we paid extra just to stay at your hotel. Yet we had no holiday, and indeed it could be said that we had the total opposite, our worst "holiday" experience ever. In hindsight, we would have absolutely paid not to be there.

I would like you to acknowledge this email a.s.a.p., and what the Pestana group are going to do to address the horrible position that we were wrongly placed in.

Regards,

Francis Moran

I had booked hotel through alpharooms on 23/032019, and I had payed full amount for 2 weeks holiday, but after one day I get call from alpharooms costumer services department and they told me the had canceled my hotel for complaiance issues, and the will send my money back to my credit card I had used, but after 3 days I had call them and asked if they will credit the money back to my account, but they told me they can't cancel and they will keep the money, please be careful before you use this company. they are scam and they will not talk to you after they take you money

I booked a holiday through alpharooms in September we arrived at the hotel there was no air conditioning no WiFi and the room was a lot smaller than advertised so we called alpharooms the next morning and the hotel agreed we could leave, when we came home we tried to get a refund from alpharooms but they insisted it was at the hotels discretion and they were not offering a refund so when we finally got through to the hotel they insisted they refunded alpharooms the money so I'm shocked that alpharooms did not tell us this and we still await our refund from them, it's comig up to xmas and we need this money urgently as it's over €1000, still waiting on alpharooms to give us our money back it's not acceptable our booking ref is [protected]

The issue that I have experienced was: I had already booked 4 hotel stays with them without a single issue. Everything went as expected. I used them mainly because of the installments option, which is great, although expensive, given the 5 euros per payment.

But I am aware of the fee, so it was my choice to use them...

Now I understand why I never had an issue: I never asked a single question...

But this time I did! A very simple one: are any other taxes due at the hotel? If so, how much do I have to pay.

Simple, right? No...not for alpharooms. Their answer is the one we find on their terms: hotel only includes vat.

And when I reply saying: ok, but how much do I have to pay I get exactly the same answer: the price only includes vat. Its like talking to a wall.

And when I try to reason with them saying that for me the price is the total price, that paying 1 euro in taxes is different than paying 100 euros in taxes (or 1.000 euros...) all I got was sorry, our price guarantee is only valid for 24 hours...

Then I tried to cancel, stating the price is materially different from the one proposed, because I really don't know how much I am going to pay...the answer was sorry for the inconvenience, cancellation is 30 euros per person.

In between this horrendous show of lack of service I got one email saying I did not have to pay any taxes, and another one saying that there were taxes to be paid.

I have never seen such lack of transparency or indifference to a client.

Also, they don't tell you how much you will have to pay for cancelling on behalf of the Hotel, they only tell you 30 euros pp alpharooms fee and state that I need to call the hotel to know the rest.

When I declined to cancel ( given the fees!) I told them I would never used them again and will complaint regarding this unbelievable attitude and service, I got: Thank you very much, your reservation remains active as per your request.

I continue not knowing how much I will pay in taxes. I cannot cancel, because of the fees they impose on me, although I want to cancel because they won't tell me how much I will pay in total!

It occurred on: 24/09/2018-29/09/2018

I would appreciate an apology and the canceling of both my bookings without any cancellation fees.

I look forward to your prompt response on this matter.

Yours faithfully,

PATRICIA FIALHO

Booking Reference [protected]@gmail.com - 2 active reservations

On May 29th, I had made a booking with Alpharooms to Rixos Sungate Hotel, Turkey between 3-8 July (for 972.22gbp). The reservation has gone through and I received a confirmation mail with the following Itinerary number: [protected].
On May 30th, I`ve received a second confirmation e-mail from Alpharooms, regarding my booking a day before.
On June 1st, I`ve received another e-mail requesting "the flight details and Nationality of the lead guest travelling".
On June 3rd, I have replied to it that I hold a Turkish Passport and will arrive in Istanbul a couple of days earlier so will drive, rather than taking a direct flight.
On June 4th, they`ve replied they will confirm back.
On June 6th, they`ve sent an e-mail stating the following "We are sorry for the inconvenience, unfortunately hotel not accepting the booking due to nationality is not UK. Kindly request you to please confirm if you wish to cancel the booking". I wasn't chasing their e-mails at this point and when I called them back on June 15th and learned about the issue, I called the hotel and they actually did confirm that if I hold a valid UK Residence Permit that wont be an issue. They have also stated, the reservation has never gone through to them and confirmed to me if it did, they will confirm it. I had confirmed this back to Alpharooms, however they kept on telling me the hotel is not accepting, their supplier is not accepting this due to hotel rejecting it. Same day, I had been on the phone with them for hours and even e-mailed them my residence permit.
Same day on June 15th, I have received another e-mail from Alpharooms confirming again my reservation!
On June 17th, I have received the following e-mail "We can confirm you that, above mentioned booking reference is cancelled, you will received refund in next 5 working days."

Hello,

Booking Reference: 405891947669 ( previous 355140112481)

I wanted to modified my booking with the travel agency called Alpharooms, so I sent a message through my account asking what the cost will be if any of those happens. Next thing I spotted the availability to chat online so I did with the girl called Jane. She was pleasant and quoted me the price and she called me the same day. When she called me I asked few times about the price which for me looked very cheap my package was at the begin around the €2100 accommodation and flights for 7 Nights for myself and 2 children with half board incl.. I wanted to add my partner for 5 night which Jane advised I will need to book his stay for 7 nights also, which was ok with me, so the price she quoted me on the chat and over the phone was around €2244 plus €30 modification fee and €1 for the accom. deposit, so the total outstanding for my partner to stay with us was the small balance for me to pay which wasn't more then €200 which was very cheap and was asking several times if that is the right price! Jane convinced me that is the total price for my holidays, so I let her made those changes. When I came back home and checked my booking I found the prices are higher then she quoted me, the total price for my holidays incl. my flight has been increase from around €2100 (for the total holidays and flights) up to €2244 for accomodation ONLY! So I used the chat online again and started chatting with the girl called Angela, which at the begin tried to be helpful and during our chat become rude and unhelpful and her responses was very mean and very delayd and I was nearly 50 minutes of kinda one way conversation, because she didn't bother to answer to me straight away, plus when I asked her can I phone her eventually she agreed then when I called she couldn't speak with me, so her male co-worker (forgot the name) has been speaking with me instead. In the end of that phone conversation they told me Jane is the one who can make any changes and I will need to call her or they will pass the message to give me a phone call. I emailed Jane next morning without any response. Then around lunch time the girl called Hazel phoned me saying Jane is out sick and couldn't speak with me so she will look into my case and try to solve my problem. I asked her to make an audit for my phone conversation and online chat and minimised my accommodation costs up to the price what I have been quoted or go back to the previous booking and I have been told its already canceled so we can not do that. I also said I would like to make an official complaint for the luck of service and very unhelpful staff plus the unprofessional staff which their miscommunication cost my nearly twice more for the holidays. Hazel convinced me not to make any steps forwards until she will look into my case and check an audit and either Jane or herself will phone me and we will solve my problem. None of them contacted me, so I emailed again Jane but without any response. I will be appreciated to look into my case and solve my issue.

I would like a compensation for the accommodation which was not professional handled and miscommunication regard the price costing me huge money to pay.

Yours faithfully

[name removed]

Mobile [removed]
[removed]

Due to an unforeseen situation, my flight was rescheduled and I arrived a little bit later to the hotel I booked through alpha rooms.
A person at the registration desk told me that my reservation was canceled by alpha rooms as they hadn't received any confirmation of my attendance from the hotel. WTF?They took my money and disappeared and my room was booked by another person. I was scammed and had to look for a different place to stay. I want my money back, you didn't deserve them and don't care about your customers. Who could ever know that the flight would be rescheduled? And who really cares at what time I will arrive if I already paid the money and can do whatever I want?

After making a mistake with making a payment online .i contacted Alpha rooms on the 25/10/2017 and on their advice i cancelled my booking and created a new one.I was told the refund of my money (the complete payment of my hotel £2258.60 )would be charged back to my debit card within 3 to 5 days.I called back on the 9/11/2017 and spoke to Benjamin Who told me there had been a technical error and my money would be refunded in 3 to 5 days.I then recieved an email from them saying.( Hello, Thank you for contacting alpharooms. Today we have processed a refund of £2258.60 back to your card. Kind Regards, Sudha Analyst - Finance ) After 5 days still nothing.i contacted Alpha rooms again to explain ive had no refund . I spoke to Leo who contacted the accounts team and they said they had processed the refund on the 9/11/2017 He also sent me copies of the Credit transaction summary and to show this to my bank.Which i did and they said they had had no refund into my account and nothing was pending for any reason and they would never block any payment into an account .So clearly there is a problem at Alpha rooms. I contacted them again and was asked for a copy of my bank statement which they have recieved and can clearly see no refund.I have asked numerous times for them to ask the accounts team to resend the refund as they can see i havnt received anything.I contacted them again today and spoke to Austin who sent me the exact same email as Leo and told me to show my bank.Which i did and the bank said it must be a problem with Alpha rooms accounts You can clearly see there is a problem and I know you have sent me the refund transaction receipts but you also have my bank statements and me and my bank are not lying to you I have had no refund There is a problem at youre side .Ive no doubght that the refund was processed on the 9th of Nov But it has not arrived in my bank account as you can clearly see from my bank statements so there is a problem

I regret I used them without reading reviews first.
I booked a room in Rome, Italy and was about to visit it in 3 weeks. When I arrived it turned out that my room had never been reserved and there were other people who were there at that moment.
I was surprised. I got a confirmation email I immediately showed a man at the hotel helpdesk. He checked everything again and didn't find my booking. I myself was looking at his laptop screen and could see he wasn't lying.
He said that sometimes systems are down and they don't book anything, but of course, it's not normal.

I booked a hotel stay through AlphaRooms. Unfortunately I had to cancel my entire trip because I had a very difficult situation in my family. I cancelled my flight with no problem (my flight was booked via airline) and after that I contacted AlphaRooms, explained the situation and asked them to cancel my hotel booking. They said they'll contact me back later but never did that. I called again and they said that they made their decision and were not able to help me. No matter how many times I called they claimed that they were not able to cancel my reservation. I lost my money because AlphaRooms support was not helpful, unprofessional and they simply did not care. Very poor service, this company is a very good example of a bad business. Stay away!

On Wed, Nov 23, 2016 at 9:35 PM, Loretta Bentick wrote:

Good evening,

I am bitterly disappointed with one of your members. Alpha rooms.

On March 26th 2016. I booked a hotel room with them as I have done on many occasions before.
Booking confirmation [protected].
Two days before I was due to go on holiday in October I was informed my father was about to die. This was totally unexpected. As you can imagine we were devastated and shocked.

I immediately tried to get through to alpha rooms. After waiting 45 minutes on the telephone ( despite saying there was a 19 minute waiting time ) No one answered the phone ( I was in the hospital at the time )
When i eventually got an email through to them and explained my unfortunate circumstances to see if I could cancel the hotel or at least go a different time, i received a ticket number 906791. It took 5 days before I got a reply.

One of the people travelling with us eventually got through to them and they were informed the hotel had been paid and therefore nothing could be done.

I contacted the hotel who said they had not been paid and alpha rooms still had my money.

€1, 221.41 is a lot of money to loose. I appreciate it had to be cancelled at the last minute. ( I didn't know my father was about to die and neither did he ! ) surely there should be some compassion.
I would prefer a refund, though would not even mind if they gave me a voucher to use in the future.

Sadly my father passed away. I have a death certificate to prove it, if required.
Im disappointed with alpha rooms lack of response and lies, saying the hotel had been paid for, when they have received no money. Where is my €1, 211.41 ?
Especially considering I've used alpha rooms before and never had a problem with them.

If you can assist in any way or offer any advise, it would be much appreciated.

Thank you

Kind Regards

Terry Bentick

I have booked a hotel say via AlphaRooms online service and after I paid they applied some extra charges. I contacted customer service but they said that they need to check something and asked me to call later. I called later but they did not pick up.
Next day I called again and their rep said that some additional fees were applied and when I asked the to explain in details, they said that everything was written on their website. I checked their website and found no information about any additional fees. Seems like a scam.

Booked holiday over the phone asked for 1 bedroom apartment confirmed this 4 times. They booked us a studio queried this for three and half months after numerous emails and phone calls to our expense. I asked for a copy of the conversation where you can clearly hear me say 1 bedroom 4 times and he even repeated me. Through their diabolical customer service and not dealing with this when I first raised the query we are now stuck with a studio. They admitted we asked for a 1 bedroom but now as it is so late there are none for us to book, which I think was done on purpose. We could not get our flight money back as this is a separate contract so they have left us no choice. We have been so stressed and cannot believe they would treat their customers this way. We are a couple with a 14 year old daughter who defiantly would not have booked a studio. My advise is do not use them if you want to look forward to your holiday they do not give a damn.

Worst company ever. I would advise anyone to avoid them like the plague. If there are no hitches, all well and good. But if anything goes wrong, from minor to major, well all I can say is GOOD LUCK. Their staff are rude, unhelpful, arrogant and continually quote terms and conditions at you whilst hiding behind a third party (which they ALWAYS use and blame).
I booked a hotel in Ibiza complete with shuttle service to get to it. I got to the hotel, only to be told I couldn't stay there because it was closing down mid holiday. As the shuttle had obviously not been informed either, it had gone. I then had to get to an alternative, slightly grubby, apartment block on foot in the early hours of the morning. I spent the rest of that night and the following one there, only to be told that was also closing and I would have to move - TO ANOTHER RESORT. I was not prepared to do this, as I wanted to stay in the resort I'd booked (strange that I am). I eventually got yet another room in the same resort. Alpha Rooms were unhelpful and couldn't have cared less about our inconvenience and offered 10% off the next booking! Not happy with that, but it was 'like it or lump it'.
Stupidly, I booked another place with them, thinking nothing could go wrong with this one and it was in the UK. I was given the option of either a) studio apartment b) double room apartment c) twin room apartment. I opted for the double room apartment as I didn't want a studio. I got there, with my confirmation only to be given a studio apartment. After much ado at the reception, I was advised that Alpha Rooms were at fault, as they'd taken a booking for the double but only booked a cheaper studio with the apartments. As they had nothing to offer us due to being fully booked, we had to accept it and report to Alpha Rooms on our return. Alpha rooms basically told us that our booking was correct and we got what we booked and paid for . They also said that the 'studio' was an upgrade from the double room booked. Although the apartment block themselves confirmed that the studio was the cheapest and the double and twin apartments were bigger and more expensive. So lies lies lies from Alpha Rooms once again. Do yourselves a favour and don't touch this company with a very long bargepole.

We booked 2 weeks holiday at the bali hotel benamedna from 02/mayto 16may 2011. We booked a studio apartment for selfcatering. They sent us to a studio 300yds at least from the reception as my partner & i are both 79 i asked for disability acess as we both have walking problems incidently this was done when the booking was made . When i complained we were given a twin bedded room nearer the reception. This had no facilitys for self catering at all, i went to reception and asked for teamaking facilities & was told i could hire a kettle . After some harsh words we were given a kettle.
We had to go out for meals, this cost us over £250 during the 2 weeks of our stay. I feel disgusted about this as we had already paid for a studio apartment, ifeel we should get compensation for this.We had no fridge or cooking facilitys what so ever

I had the misfortune to book a hotel by using the service of www.Alpharooms.com. It is a very easy to book and the prices are very tempting, but the things stop there. After wards there is no communication at all, nor by e-mail nor by phone. In fact there is a costumer service number you can call (very expensive), wait for a response and usually not get any live person. There is a little more luck when you call the numper for booking, but when the other site finds out you are calling to complain, ususally you get put back to the waiting line.

Their cancellation policy is also a ripoff because for +56 days cancellation you would be charged %20 of the amount paid.

My experience is: I booked on February 07; paid in full online for hotel, transfers and paper voucher. There was an automatic e-mail assuring the delivery of the paper voucher within 3 to 5 days. The next day I realized that I need to change something about the taxi transfers I needed and sent an iquiry for change. Then I found out how lousy is their costumer service.

I have sent six e-mails include one to their marketing manager ( I was lucky that I foung out his e-mail address, but this is another story) and spent I do not know how much time on the phone and the expenses with that without result

Then I contacted my Credit Card to see my options, because after all I did not know how favorable their cancellation works (you can do it online). From my Credit Card company I had the assurance that they are on my side in case of cancellation and dispute. I inquried a dispute of the charges an then I did the cancellation online on Feb 27, 2010. Today is March 19, 2010 I still do not have conformation of the canceled booking by Alpharooms nor refund.

I recently booked a package deal with Alpharooms in the Canary islands. On landing in Fuerteventura I was told the hotel did not exist. It was several hours before any resolution was made. Now I am trying to complain and getting no answer to letters and emails. UK Trading Standards are now involved. I might suggest being wary and cautious about booking with this firm. Always check and double check the package.