Thanks for ruining family Easter break holiday.

Just want to share my recent experience with on the beach and Ryanair new deal as it's been absolutely awful. Will never book again.

On 12th of March 2024 booked a holiday to Agadir with OTB with Ryanair flights. Was suppose to fly 23rd of March - return 30th March.

This left OTB and Ryanair just over a week to confirm my flights as it was pending airline confirmation.

On 15th of March got in contact with them and been told Ryanair will have it confirmed by weekend or latest Monday.

Called them on Monday 25th and "no update from airline" but it's on their list and told me to wait 7 days till Wednesday.
Ryanair flight was completely sold out at this point as I checked on their website and at the point I booked on the 12th there was plenty of seats available.

Wednesday comes 20th I call them again as they promised they will call me and never did, they're saying they don't know why it's taking so long. Different agents kept saying different things and constantly lying saying will have it soon, saying it's 100% booked and will go ahead, one of them even said if I don't get my flight reference still go to the airport! But they kept reassuring they paid the airline so my seats already guaranteed.

I contacted Ryanair via their live chat twice and they told me they couldn't find any booking in my email which OTB used for the booking.
I told this to OTB and they kept saying don't worry it's 100% booked just waiting for Ryanair flight ref.

So TODAY 21st, I called them and they said by 5pm 100% I will have my flight reference from Ryanair.

Just got a call now for them to say Ryanair flight is completely sold out 🙂 and if you want you can go with Easy Jet instead same dates and just pay extra £1,600. Shocking.

And we are due to fly Saturday. The stress this has caused.

Do not book a last minute holiday with OTB with Ryanair flights as it's a mess.
Non of them know what's going on yet with this new deal they have, they're making things up and just try to get rid of you of the phone as fast as they can.

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 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 that, but have 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.

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 at 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 it 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 neighbours 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 local shops once and had every shop owner try to scam us left and right so we stopped going out for fear we would be tricked into paying for something like a photograph with a camel that quickly turned 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 4.30 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 clearly 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!

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY FOR GROUP/STAG/HEN BOOKINGS.
DO NOT BE FOOLED BY LOWER PRICES.
FALSE ADVERTISING.
PRICE INCREASED 12 HOURS LATER
PRESSURE SELLING
TERRIBLE CALL WAITING TIMES, (1.5Hours per Call)
NON ABTA MEMBER
GENERIC CUT AND PASTE RESPONSE FROM COMPLAINTS TEAM

The prices advertised and you pay a deposit for are not guaranteed.
They are an agent between hotel/airlines so the price will go up from the price you pay online which effects GROUP BOOKINGS.
This information is not stated on any booking/payments pages.

To call them to amend or discuss a booking, you will be on HOLD for 1hr 30 per call and will need to make 4/5 phonecalls.
They transferred me to a the amendment team after they had gone home.
NOTE: The amendment team closes at 16:00. If they try to transfer you after this time, its because they are getting rid of you OR the staff member is incompetent.

DO NOT USE COMPANY AT ALL COSTS.

GO ELSEWHERE.

UPDATE: I got a phonecall 30min from posting this review. They were still NOT able to answer why during the booking process that its stated ANYWHERE that this is NOT the final price. All she could do was apologies on behalf of on the beach for them false advertising prices and that there is nothing she can do. She kept stating that this is clearly stated AFTER you have paid your deposits. I clearly told her repeatedly that is not the issue, it's not STATING that the price you put a deposit for is not the final price I am paying for. See for yourself and do a dummy booking. NOT ACCEPTABLE.

She advised to continue with sending a complaint to their department and STILL she could not change anything.

The whole purpose for the phonecall was to be able to respond to this post with a generic reply.

"prices are set by the suppliers/airlines and can easily change outside of our control (sometimes even in the time it takes you to fill out your details online)" <<< THIS IS NOT STATED ANYWHERE ON YOUR BOOKING PROCESS!

ITS FALSE ADVERTSING.
I stand by my stance... FALSE LOW PRICE ADVERTISING TO LURE YOU IN.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS.

Note: This company is no longer apart of ABTA, which means they DO NOT need to comply with any decent standards which is extremely disappointing.

"The ABTA Code of Conduct sets high standards that all ABTA Members must follow to help them provide customers with high quality, reliable travel experiences."
Go to ABTA's website.

Updated just now
FALSE ADVERTISING GALORE "FREE TESTS"
FALSE ADVERTISING GALORE

As below! PLEASE PLEASE do not book with this company
They are FALSE ADVERTISING FOR THEIR TESTS

NO WHERE in the t and cs does it say ONLY THE RETURN 2 day test is supplied which IS ONE SINGULAR test for coming back. THEY PROVIDE NOTHING FOR PRE DEPARTURE. If you are not double vaccinated they do not provide ANYTHING other than return tests AND THEY DO NOT ADVERTISE THIS. I HAD TO REACH OUT TO COLLINSONS DIRECTLY DAYS BEFORE I WAS MEANT TO FLY just to find this out!

THEIR MARKETING IS AMBIGUOUS MISLEADING AND VERY VERY DANGEROUS, PLEASE be careful. The SOLE reason we booked with them is for the tests. SO MANY other airlines offer mikes cheaper and ACTUALLY respond and have customer service lines and people to help.

SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE GIVEN THIS FEEDBACK AND THEY DO NOT Care. CHECK their social media it is everywhere!
I have complained as no where does it say no pre departure tests are included - these were in sept then they changed 30th sept and DID NOT UPDATE AND Tc and Cs or any advertising! ALLLLL ADVERTISING says testS. PLURALISED. TESTsssss when in actuality you get ONE - and that is it! They tell you to check FAQS but this IS NOT TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT ENTITY.

HORRIFIC customer service who refused to even email me and told me i can complain and someone will get back to me in 56 days. He informed me the Terms and conditions haven't been changed but THIS IS NOT GOOD enough! So many people will be in my boat and slapped with HUNDREDS of pounds of tests or either cancelling their whole holiday! I am heartbroken.

Please please stay away i WISH i had listened to everyone who said this! HUNDREDS of pounds have been WASHED down the drain!

Best holiday site ever

Very good agent all went well.

Hi we really enjoyed the holiday at auramaur resort.

Good value. Great website. Good service.

All ran very smoothly. The service went on confidentally throughout.