Gala Hotels
Reviews and Complaints

To whom it may concern

I am writing to you on behalf of my daughter Aoife De Bhal. She is a third year student with DIT in Dublin and she applied for an Erasmus work placement, a stage, in one of your Gala Hotels in Cannes on the 1st February, Hotel Colette. She was delighted to get the placement and was looking forward to working there and meeting the manager Madam Zanella. She was offered a room at the hotel which was accepted and she received a roster. It was agreed that she would be working on Reception, Cleaning and Breakfasts which was a great experience in all the services.
However when she was working with the breakfast manager Nicolas on one particular morning she misplaced a napkin and he pulled her into the kitchen and stood in front of the door blocking her exit and screamed abuse into her face. I can understand that she may have made a mistake with the napkin but a 6 foot man in his thirties shouting at a girl of 20 blocking her exit is unacceptable behaviour. She told him she did not feel safe and she was eventually allowed to leave.
Under my instruction and because she did not feel safe there anymore she contacted her college. She also sent an email to Madam Zanella to let her know. When the college contacted Madam Zanella to follow up on this she replied that she had not had a chance to talk to the manager Nicolas.
When my daughter was on reception then a day or two later Madam Zanella called her into the office and made out that she was spreading lies and fabricating the whole story. Manager Nicolas was the best worker and could do as he liked because he was working there 10 years?
She had my daughter in tears again screaming into her face calling her a liar and she had her in tears. She then took on a role playing act where she walked around the office imitating the way my daughter walked which I found to be very unprofessional and intimidating. While my daughter was crying she forced her to look her in the eye which was also very humiliating.
Things continued to go from bad to worse, then madam Zanella had her picking up cigarette butts out on her office balcony and at one stage she locked her out until one of the cleaners rescued her ? On Wednesday 15th March Aoife was on cleaning duties and Madam Zanella accused her of not cleaning a toilet to her standard. She then told all the staff members not to talk to my daughter as she was spreading lies about Nicolas and if they spoke to her they could be next. Aoife really felt isolated with these bullying tactics. She escaped to her room as she felt sick. She was afraid to leave her room to go to a doctor. When she did not return to work at the proper time Madam Zanella nearly took her bedroom door off the hinges and went into Aoife's personal space sitting on the bed screaming abuse at her again and frothing at the mouth like a lunatic? She told Aoife that she owned her as long as she was staying under her roof and again said the staff were commenting on the way Aoife stood which was completely inappropriate to say. My daughter for her own mental sanity had to pack her stuff and leave the hotel. When she rang me she was on the street with nowhere to go. All the hotels in the area were booked out as there was a conference on. She slept near the train station that first night until she found a hostel the next day. All Madam Zanella was worried about was getting her key back for her room she did not care where my daughter was. Anything could have happened she displayed no responsibility whatsoever.
My daughter is 20 years of age and is a quiet girl that just wanted to get through her Erasmus year away from the comforts of home and of course missing her family as it was her first time away from home.

This experience has totally put her off ever working in the hotel industry and any bit of confidence she had, has now has gone. I have since paid for a flight home to Ireland for her for a week or two and she is now attending a therapist in Dit after this incident. This has really knocked her back she now has to try source another placement in France for 4 months. She got paid for her Month of February working there and I certainly hope that she will get paid for the month of March after all she went through. The type of behaviour displayed by the hotel management in this hotel was disgraceful and this hotel has now been struck of the DIT college list. I pity any other student that arrives here for a work placement because the way my daughter was treated was appalling. My dog would be treated better. Could you please look into this issue and confirm what would be the best way forward. I really feel that I should go further with this as Gala Hotels are such a big company with a huge reputation. Could you email me back please on [protected]@gmail.com or [protected]@easons.com when you receive this email.

Regards
Laura Wall

Hello, booked a hotel room through galahotels.com, I cancelled my booking 15 minutes later. the credit card was debited immediately for 552 UDS (the given price for the hotel stay) but 19 days later I am still waiting for a refund.
Contacted customer service a few times through galahotels.com website and they sent me a 'sorry for the delay, we are processing your refund' but I am still waiting for my money back.

STAY AWAY!

I have requested my money back for two bookings ([protected]-EUR 217.42 & [protected]-EUR 135.60) that I have made because of health issues I cancelled my trip. They replied that they will refund me within 3-6 days. It’s been now 46 days and still nothing. They do not even answer to my mails. The worst company EVER.
I am very pissed off. I will post this message every day, everywhere in the internet until they give my money back. THEFTS..! I will also contact my credit card company to find a way to go legal against them. If they continue like this, they will close very soon .THEFTS

I advise you to never ever book anything via galahotels.com!

I booked a hotel in January via galahotels.com. After few days I wanted to prolong my booking. The customer service told me to cancel my reservation free of charge and create a new one with longer stay. I did as I was requested.

It has been almost 3 months and I still havent received my refund (799EUR) back (booking ID:[protected]). Customer service apologized and they promised I will receive my money back in few hours. Another month has gone and nothng happend. Noone is replying to my emails, noone is answering my calls.

I am in contact with European Conumer Center to advice me the next steps.

Galahotels after 2 months still has not refunded my booking. I have called >20 times emailed> 20 times, I spoke with Bahadir and Tunayapak, both promising to refund but nothing ever happens. This company is doing this on a regular basis. They take money and then do not refund customers. I too will complain and report this to complaints service...

this is the negative review details below I posted before...
I posted a negative review before about cancelling a booking however i have not had a reply, despite a response on my initial review saying that they had contacted me I still have not had this issue resolved.

so here is the updated situation. I made a booking for one nights stay in london, a suite total cost around £350. I realised before the date of the reservation that I needed to change my reservation and contacted Gala hotels, they said to me that I can cancel this online using the login area for customers. When doing this I found that there was no reservation there to cancel. I called them and spoke to someone who said he too could not see my reservation but that could be down to a IT problem and promised to call me back after 1 hour. I never received a phone call. I sent further emails the next day asking to cancel my reservation as I did not get any confirmation that it was in fact cancelled. All of my emails were not answered. I did this all before the day of the reservation for the hotel so I was within the allowed cancellation time. I have sent over 20 emails, a dozen calls and still no resolution. I would not recommend this company to anyone. Dishonest and deceiving clients...

You said that you resolved the case but you did not cancel my booking like I had requested.

Booked my hotel through galahotels.com in November 2016 for a trip to Cuba for 2 nights in February 2017. I was immediately charged on my credit card. Fast forward to my trip to Cuba, my hotel does not my reservation and because there's a cigar festival and a triathlon going on for the same weekend, there are no rooms available in the hotel I booked or any other hotel nearby. When I returned to the United States, I emailed galahotels.com right away, but they were already aware of the situation- I guess the hotel contacted them. Now they want receipts from where I stayed (which is non of their business). I have contacted my credit card company and have put a dispute on the galahotels.com charge. Please DO NOT use this company. It is terrible to arrive somewhere and not have a place to stay. And although their website supply a litany of contact phone numbers, they do not work and after you have a reservation, they stop responding to your emails.

August 28, 2016 I made a reservation at Gala Hotel for Copenhagen Go Hotel but cancelled the reservation 10 min. there after. Gala Hotels accepted the cancellation and told me that they would return the amount of 285, 00 € to my credit card and that it could take up to 14 days before the amount figured at my account. The money has not been paid back as of today. Every attempt to reach Gala Hotels by Email or by phone has so far been in vain.

I booked with Gala and have been trying for over a month to get a refund for a reservation I cancelled well within their cancellation policy. The number for the US is a recording with no answering machine, and I have emailed over 5 times and every time I get a response saying it will be processed within 3 business days and then NOTHING. This company is a scam. DO NOT DO IT.

I booked a hotel room about 2 months ago using galahotels.com and soon enough received booking confirmation. Same moment my credit card was charged for this booking, everything looked as it was supposed to at the beginning but I had to cancel due to family matters.

Despite of several of my phone calls, chats box and email, even they sent to my accountant to confirm they will refund the money. Galahotel stopped my number to be able to contact them.

I am going to the British Police. I will find them no matter what.
Any one can help me?

I booked, and payed, four rooms in two different hotels for june/july 2016 and cancelled one of the rooms of each hotel within the time indicated by GALAHOTELS to be refunded. However, after more than four months I have not yet received the promised refunds for canceling one of the 4 rooms for both reservations. I know that the hotels have only charged the three rooms (3 rooms instead of 4).
I have been asking galahotels for the refund several times but I have only received few words saying that the problem will be solved. Actually I never got the money back.

Last week i made a reservation with Gala for a hotel in Santorini in which i was part of a wedding party.
I paid in full and I paid in full which came out of my account immediately and received the confirmations, I was asked to email back acceptance of the no cancellation policy which I did. 3 days later I received another email which said that my reservation was cancelled due to lost availability, I tried to call the number for most of the day and could not get through, it gives you options then hangs up on you right away.
I got in contact by replying to the email then they called me. The lady on the phone was calling from Turkey and was rude and dismissive, didn’t want to listen to what I was saying or my questions and didn’t apologise once, she said there was nothing they could do and it was the hotel and there was lack of availability.
I contacted the hotel and they said it was not them who had cancelled the booking.
I then used the website live chat, it seemed like an illiterate child speaking on the other side they wanted to call me again but I said I wanted a UK number to call.
After speaking to them in the UK they told me it was because the price of the hotel had gone up so they moved me into a different hotel that was the correct price for what I had paid. Even though I had paid in full – surely this is illegal?
The customer service rep agreed this was wrong but said that “ he couldn’t do anything”
A few days passed and I went back on the website to check and they are still selling the hotel rooms at a higher price – even though they said there was no availability, again I have just been back onto live chat and waited 40 mins for someone to get back to me. I explained the situation and they relied with “ you already called us” they simply do not care.
Apparently my payment had been refunded but there is still no sign of that yet.
My advice would be to not book with Gala Hotels what so ever!

I am now left out of the hotel that the rest of teh wedding party are staying in! Discusting company and customer service!

Booking ID [protected] - NH Arguelles Vallehermoso, 65 28015

I booked a reservation for the aformentioned Hotel on the 11th July for 3 nights 29th July to 1st August. The Hotel have no record of the booking. We are since 12am in effect out on the street with no hotel and effectively homeless! the hotel tried to help us and . they advised that an reservation had been made for an apartamentos arguelles - they have not being paid either. In summary ' our booking confirmation for which you have taking my money is for NH Arguelles Vallehermost 65 28015, the address, the pictures and photos on your website are for this hotel. We have been trying to contact Gala Hotels and Expedia since 12 am this morning it is now 5pm with Gala Hotels simply not ansdwering the phone. We are simply asking for what we paid for as avertised and you have ruined our holiday. Please response as a matter of urgecy.

I book a room last may for one night and when I went to the Hotel, they told me that they wouldn't accept my voucher because they didn't get any confirmation from the web galahotels.com or gala hotels. I tried to contact customer service, and no one answered me.

I had to pay the full price for the room which was $250. It was 23.00 and no more place to go.

I asked galahotels.com to pay me back and they don't answer me.

I tried to contact them and it is impossible. They don't answer my messages, I did not get my money back, they don't answer my phone calls.

IT IS A FRAUD, DON'T BOOK WITH THEM.

They will try to excuse themselves by posting some kind of excuse, but trust me, IT IS A FRAUD. You will pay for the room and the hotel would never check you in.

I want my money back.

I did a reservation with Gala Hotels on March 29 2016 and I am still waiting for a refund of 952 EUR - 5 weeks after I did the cancellation!
I have contacted Customer Service 3 times now and they are just telling me that they are working with the refund and that I will get it as soon as possible.
My conclusion is that Gala Hotels is very inefficient and unreliable. I cannot recommend them at all.

i was making a reservation thru their website. when keyed ph. #, inmediatly received a call from a very corteus gentleman saying my reservation had until 29th of february to cancel. after i finalized my booking i realized they inmediatly charged my credit card. then inmediatly went to cancel the reservation and they said their policy dont allows. when i read their policies its writen booking voucher confirmation should state deadline for cancellation. this booking dis not have it. i am having the same trouble as others in this board. i called the hotel and they tell me they dont show any reservation under my name or the booking # provided by gala hotels.
THIS CHAIN IS A SCAM . TRY TO AVOID THEM THEY ARE STRUCTURED JUST TO TAKE YOUR MONEY. THEIR HDQUARTERS LOCATED IN TURKEY. SO BE AWARE. THEY DON T RESPECT ANY LAWS

I booked two hotel rooms in Cuba Sept 17th 2015 for one week around New Year. Unfortunately I had to cancel my trip and the hotel booking at Oct 25th. I received a reply that my money would be refunded within 21 working days.
Dec 4th I sent a reminder and received a reply that the refund would be processed within 3 working days. Nothing happened and two more reminders have not been replied to.
I contacted Customer Service and received a case number and a representative should contact me as soon as possible - again, nothing happened.
I called them and came through after 10 minutes of waiting. They asked for my booking ID ([protected]) and hung up after I told them.
Funny enough, my booking is still visible on My Account and registered as cancelled but without any refund registered.

On 12.01.16 booked hotel in Frankfurt airport paid 116 British pounds, received confirmation attached below: ' Dear MICHAEL TOM Thank you for choosing GalaHotels.com Your booking with the confirmation number [protected] has been confirmed succesfully. Please print your voucher from your GalaHotels.com account My Account Booking ID : [protected] Hotel Name : Hilton Frankfurt Airport City Name : Frankfurt Check-In Date : 15 Jan 2016 Check-Out Date : 16 Jan 2016 Leader Name : Michael Tom Thanks for choosing us. Best Regards. www.galahotels.com If you have any question or need any assistance Please click here' -------- My calls have not been answered.

Hello. We just booed a hotel and had problems with our booking when we arrived. Seems like many people are having the same problem. I would never book with them again. We were lucky and got our problem resolved but it took a lot of effort and the phone system is a joke! We did also e-mail. After 3days problem solved but we were lucky and it was a problem not with our hotel reservation but with breakfast not being paid for. When you have a problem with a booking and are in the middle of your holiday the last thing you want to do is spend hours going in circles on a ridiculous phone line getting no answer. I only got through on new bookings and was promptly cut off when I explained the problem and told there was a bad connection and they hung up. Like I said our problem did get solved but the first 3days of our holiday were spent trying to resolve the issue.

I made a reservation to stay at the Arden Hotel in Birmingham in the UK on the 21/10/2015 through Gala Hotels Booking not realizing my colleague had already made a reservation at the same hotel through another travel company. I cancelled my booking the following day on the 22/10/2015 my credit card was already charged the full amount €696. I was told through email the full amount would be refunded within 21 Days, I checked my Bank Statement when I received it on the 22/11/2015 there was No Refund. I contacted Gala Hotels Customer Services through their Site which I logged in to on 27/11/2015. Please see below the correspondence with Gala Hotels. I have emailed them again today 16/12/2015 and threatened legal action against them if the case is not resolved . Kind regards Gerry Croffey Ireland Case ID: CAS-69850-F6K5B2 Case Type: Cancellation Case Status: Problem Solved Hotel Name: Arden Hotel Case ID: 2 Check-In Date: 11/12/2015 1:00:00 AM Check-Out Date: 11/15/2015 1:00:00 AM Problem Description: This reservation was cancelled on the 22/10/2015. I am still awaiting a refund of €696 Please let me know when it will receive it. Thank you Gerry Croffey My email is [protected]@gmail.com Mobile Telephone: [protected] Resolution Desc: . : .-------------------------------Refund : Dear Mr. Croffey, Refund process has been started and you can see the amount in your account till next friday. Sorry for the delay, Regards, ______________________________________ Case ID: CAS-71100-B4J5G0 Case Type: Technical Support Case Status: Problem Solved Hotel Name: Arden Hotel Case ID: 2 Check-In Date: 11/12/2015 1:00:00 AM Check-Out Date: 11/15/2015 1:00:00 AM Problem Description: Accounts Department I am having difficulty contacting your accounts department, I am due a refund of €696 for booking number [protected] since the 22nd of October 2015 I have contacted my Bank and I have still not received my refund. Please contact me by phone on [protected] or by email at [protected]@gmail.com Regards Gerry Croffey Resolution Desc: refund : Dear Mr. Croffey, We are deeply sorry for inconvenience Please note we already checked the issue with our accounting department, and we will do our best to urge refund process, caused due to an error of our bank Thanks for your patience and understanding

Indeed, it very much looks like this company frauds. I made a wrong booking, Right after receiving confirmation I discovered it was the wrong month and tried to call service phones. No connection! Lice Chat does not work either. I send three e-mail with complaints and got answer the next day, that I should cancel and the will charge a penalty. Since I reported the wrong booking within minutes after confirmation and not receiving anyone by phone I was alarmed. In their e-mail answer they wrote that they will try to negotiate with the hotel. I called the hotel by myself. The did not receive any booking from Galahotels and also did not know this company. Actually, the booked hotel is part of Melia, which is not a small chain. Hope I will get my deposit back. It was the full amount of an entire stay in Varadero for 9 days. Wonder how they received the many positive comments in trust pilot. Would say this is a case for investigation. Did anyone tried to prosecute them?