By Sam Webb, Becky Shepherd From Irish Mirror UK

Debbie Williams and her partner Ian Gibson, from Horsham, West Sussex, travelled to the exotic island of Aruba on a two-week holiday that cost them more than £3,800 with Thomson

A video shows the horrendous drilling noise a couple was forced to endure 12 hours a day – ruining their dream holiday.

Debbie Williams, 42, and her partner Ian Gibson, 48, had a shock when they arrived at their five star Caribbean resort to find so much building work taking place deafening drilling was going on from 8am to 8pm every day.

The pair, from Horsham, West Sussex, travelled to the exotic island of Aruba on a two-week holiday that cost them more than £3,800 with Thomson.

But when they arrived at the ‘platinum five star’ Riu Palace Antillas resort after a 10-hour flight from Gatwick they were met with major building work that was so widespread that even the swimming pool was out of use.

Ian, who owns a construction company which Debbie is a director of, said they had hoped to get away from the noise of building sites.

They had even booked an adults-only resort in order to guarantee a quiet getaway.

Videos they filmed at the resort shows a worker using a pneumatic drill just a metre away from a window they were sat at in the hotel lobby.

On another, filmed from their 10th floor bedroom at 8pm, the sound of drilling and loud building work can be heard.

In the background to the recording Ian can be heard saying: “We’re still waiting for Sid James to turn up – Carry On Abroad. This place is one big joke.”

Elsewhere the luxury swimming pool had been drained to allow refurbishment work, there was major work to complete a new ‘beach bar’ and there were other repair works taking place throughout the resort.

They even said that parts of the hotel were so ‘rough and ready’ that the plug sockets in their room had been covered in concrete.

They were not offered a stay at an alternative hotel but after they complained to the hotel management they were offered a 20 per cent reduction on their break, which was later reduced to a 10 per cent offer.

The couple said after arriving they couldn’t wait to get on the plane back to the UK two weeks later. They said they were given no prior details of the work, which was a complete surprise when they arrived on July 7.

Ian said: “It did really ruin our holiday. We didn’t go to the welcome meeting when we got there. They explained the construction situation to the people who went.

 

“We weren’t offered anything, nothing at all. Everyone else was e-mailed bar us and they were offered compensation or alternative accommodation.

“The construction work was the first thing that was a problem and then there was the swimming pool.

“They were repairing the pool and we were told to use the next door pool but that was for families with children.

“This was our fifth holiday this year. We’ve been to Jamaica, Nice and Monaco. I said to book this one because it’s a five star hotel and I thought it would be on par with the Thomson hotels we have stayed in before but it wasn’t.

“It was a dump.

“I usually spend up to £20,000 on holidays every year with Thomson. I have a number of holidays booked for the future. We’re going to Mauritius at Christmas and then the Dominican Republic next year.

“We never expected what we got when we arrived at all. We ate out around eight times because the food was awful. You don’t expect to have to do that.

“It completely ruined it for us. I work in construction so having jack hammers all day long when you are supposed to be relaxing by the pool was not my idea of a holiday.

“They would carry on working until nine at night. They were working on the pool until then and would even have to turn the pool lights on to see what they were doing.

“I was on my balcony on the tenth floor and you can clearly see it on the video as well as hear it. You can hear it like it was next door.

“We would never consider going back and we don’t even want to stay in another Riu hotel ever again.”

“We had never been to Aruba before but had been to all the other islands including Mexico, Cuba, Barbados, Dominican Republic and Antigua.

“We’ve been to most of the islands around that area and they were all amazing. We expected the same from Aruba too.”

Debbie said: “It was a joke right from the start. They said the new beach bar was going to be open but it was still being worked on when we left.

“The first day was the day we saw the work going on. I was just gobsmacked I’d gone there to have a nice relaxing time and they were doing all the drilling.”

“If we had got an email before we went like some other did then we would have changed destination right away.

“We got a little note through our door to say that the pool would be closed and offering us a 10 per cent discount. I thought ‘I’m going to want a hell of a lot more than that’.

“Ian’s in the building trade so he doesn’t want to go on holiday hearing constant drilling.

“When we were offered to go to the other pool area in the next door hotel we had a walk through but it was like everyone was lying on top of each other. I felt that I didn’t want screaming kids around at all.

“If I’m honest, I was expecting luxury and that’s what we wanted for how much we paid.

“I would go back to Aruba, it’s a beautiful place but I just wouldn’t go back to that hotel. We are believers that we try not to go to the same place twice but now if we want to see Aruba again to gain some good memories, we’ll have to.

“I was relieved when I got on that plane back to the UK, I just wanted to get home.

“It was on thing after another. I was just so happy to leave that hotel and that’s not supposed to happen.”

Thomson said they were investigating the couple’s complaint.

IMAGES:
Cavendish Debbie Williams 5 Star hellAnger: Debbie and Ian say their holiday was ruined
Cavendish Debbie Williams – 5 Star hellSlapdash: A plug socket in the hotel room
Cavendish Debbie Williams – 5 Star hellNoise: The work being carried out at the hotel
Cavendish Debbie Williams – 5 Star hellSunbathe: Ian at the pool in the hotel
CavendishDebbie Williams – 5 Star hellDrained: The pool couldn’t be used
CavendishDebbie Williams – 5 Star hellDebris: More scenes of construction

For more on this story and video go to: http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/world-news/couple-dream-caribbean-holiday-record-6203357