A dream holiday tuned into a nightmare after a mix-up over a hotel booking left a family in tears.
Cai Williams, his wife Leonna, their three children and some extended family members were flying out to celebrate Heather Schofield's 60th birthday.
The family-of-five from Caerphilly, Wales, paid a total of £3,500 for flights and accommodation and £1,500 for park entry for the two weeks.
It was intended to be a special birthday celebration, and a holiday of a lifetime for Heather, her three daughters, husband and children, Wales Online reports.
But there was a hitch even before they left the UK. Holiday operators Thomas Cook contacted them to say that instead of flying from Gatwick they would be flying from Manchester.
Eventually the flights were changed back but when they arrived at the airport they were told there had been no allocation for their baggage, and they had to pay extra to put their luggage on.
The travellers spent around an hour arguing their case before they were let on board without paying extra.
After an eight-hour flight the party arrived at the Rosen Inn International Hotel in Orlando only to be told their rooms were not available for another two days.
The family feared the worst, but the hotel allowed them to stay overnight if they paid £100 per family for a room – which they were hoping to redeem if they could sort the situation out with holiday reps before 10am the next day.
But for the Williams family, and the others, the situation was far from ideal.
There were just two three-quarter sized beds in the shared room. This meant their 12-year-old daughter Alise, Ruby, seven, and Oliver, five, all had to share one bed.
The family said the original hotel they had been booked into, which was changed before the holiday because of potential noise issues, was a self-catering suite, but the hotel rooms had minimal facilities, which meant they had to eat out more often.
Mr Williams said he thought that added another £1,500 to the cost of his immediate family's holiday.
He said the first couple of days were spent trying to sort out the issue with the holiday reps, who were very helpful at the resort.
But that meant they missed out on the first days of their two-week pass to the Disney attraction.
Eventually the family was given a temporary bed for the room.
An attempt to be moved to another hotel failed, as they were told all the similar hotels were booked up.
But the final straw was when the families were coming to the end of their holidays and found out they should have had vouchers to cover their breakfast – but these hadn't been provided and they had paid for their meals.
Mr Williams said: "We just want some answers. It was disgusting.
"My wife, my children, my mother-in-law – all they did was cry. I
"It was horrible. That night at reception, not knowing if we had a room, the kids were really scared. They were also knackered."
A Thomas Cook spokeswoman said: "We’re very sorry for the inconvenience caused to all the family at the beginning of their trip to Florida.
"We recognise we made a mistake with the hotel booking and we’re investigating the issues raised.
"In resort, we did everything we could to try and put things right, including offering meal vouchers."
After the initial mix-up with the accommodation Thomas Cook said no further complaint was made in the resort.
On May 20 the customers complained to Morgan Travel, not Thomas Cook direct.
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