Virgin Holidays > Reviews (26)

We were going to America to get married. It should have been the holiday of a lifetime. It wasn't!!!

For example, we ended up with fourteen amended invoices, no insurance (which we had paid for), incorrect accommodation and a week in one of Virgin's hotels where the ceiling fell into the bedroom.

Let me explain…

Like thousands of other people nowadays, we had decided that we wanted our wedding to be that little bit different so we chose to go to Florida in order that we could enjoy the hot, sunny climate and get some nice wedding photos on the beach. That was the idea in principle. In practice, it turned out to be a lot different and a big disappointment. We had always known that Virgin Holidays had a very good reputation and never really saw any bad reviews about the company. We therefore decided that we would spoil ourselves and have a Virgin holiday and wedding combined. Rather than book through a travel agency, we thought we would book direct with Virgin Holidays. And that is where the trouble began.

BOOKING A HOLIDAY THROUGH VIRGIN RESERVATIONS
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BOOKING SAGA #1
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We had decided to have a two centre holiday, getting married in Miami Beach and then having a week in Orlando. My parents were travelling over with us for the wedding and everyone was looking forward to the whole occasion. We telephoned Virgin Reservations and booked the holiday.

We requested:-
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A booking for four adults, giving their full names etc; 2 centre self catering holiday; full holiday insurance; car hire; airporthotel

We received a few days later:-
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An invoice from Virgin stating only my husband's name and confirming that the three remaining passengers' names were TBA. They had been given this information already.

What did we do?
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Contacted Virgin immediately to give full names AGAIN of the other passengers. They sent us a revised invoice.

BOOKING SAGA # 2
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We received a further booking confirmation from Virgin saying that the flight was now to go from Gatwick instead of Heathrow. Therefore, another invoice was required.

BOOKING SAGA #3
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We decided to stay at one of the hotels at Gatwick Airport as we had an early flight the following day. We received a further invoice but Virgin had only booked one double room for four people (we are a close family but not THAT close!)

We contacted Virgin and received another invoice.

BOOKING SAGA #4
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Received yet another invoice confirming car hire. They had booked the car for the day we were staying at the airport hotel, rather than the following day when we were due to arrive in Miami.

Yes, you guessed it… another invoice.

BOOKING SAGA #5
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We booked the holiday 9 months before travelling and purchased the holiday insurance at the same time through Virgin. We received a 'final' invoice but there was no mention of insurance on it. On contacting Virgin, they confirmed they had not ordered insurance.

Of course, we then had to have another invoice.

Including a few duplications, we ended up with 14 invoices from Virgin in the space of 9 months. It did not really inspire our confidence in them.

THE FLIGHT
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Nine hour delay. A whole day's holiday lost. Need I say more? Nothing wrong with our plane though. The flight due to go out the day before developed a problem and the plane had to turn back. The passengers who were on that flight were kindly given our plane. Yes, it was very kind of Virgin to do that for them, but we had to wait whilst their plane was repaired and we were then sent out on that. To top it all, the air conditioning was not working. A 9 ½ hour flight in that heat is no fun!

ACCOMMODATION
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…if that is what you can call it! It was one of Virgin's own hotels called The Thunderbird. As we were getting married, I had taken my wedding dress and ensured I took the utmost care of it during travelling. We arrived at the hotel which seemed ok but nothing to get excited about. I hung up my dress in the wardrobe. The following day, we went out and about sightseeing and a tropical storm decided to descend on us. We returned to the hotel and it was still raining - in the foyer, in the lifts, in my parents' room. Our room was dry at the time, but then we noticed some water trickling down the wall. It started to trickle faster and faster and eventually the ceiling decided to take the brunt of it and cave in. It was raining in the build-in wardrobe too. And yes, my dress was still in there. I took the dress out and hung it in the bathroom. We went down to the foyer to report what had happened, returned to the room and the bathroom ceiling had caved in - with my dress hanging in there! Fortunately, no damage was done to the dress and we were relocated to a different room.

VIRGIN COMPLIMENTARY CHAMPAGNE
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As part of the Virgin holiday/wedding package, a complimentary bottle of Champagne was included in the price. Our wedding took place without a hitch the day before we were due to leave Miami for Orlando. By the end of our wedding day, we had still not had the champagne so we spoke to the rep who said she would have it ready for us before we left the following day. Still no champagne arrived. We were waiting to check out of the hotel and reminded the rep that we had still not received our champagne. Her response - "Well, you are leaving today. Do you still want it?" Yes, of course we wanted it - we had paid for the damn thing in the price of the holiday!!!

SO DID I DO ANYTHING ABOUT MY DISAPPOINTMENT?
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Yes, I did. When we returned home, I wrote to Virgin Holidays to complain about the service we had received from start to finish. Of course, I received the usual comment, confirming that they have no control over the weather. I am aware of this, but one would think that they would ensure that their accommodation is suitably equipped to take the strain of the rainy season.

There was no apology for the oversights in the booking, including the omission of holiday insurance. They did send us a £50 holiday voucher each to spend on Virgin Holidays. However, I had my cheeky head on that day and returned the vouchers, saying that we would not travel with Virgin again. Could they send us a cheque instead? They decided this would be appropriate and I therefore received, to my surprise, a cheque for £200 as compensation.

WOULD I RECOMMEND VIRGIN HOLIDAYS?
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I have to admit that I know a few people who have travelled with Virgin recently and have never met with any problems whatsoever. However, as I am basing this review on my own personal experience, I would have to say that I would not recommend the company and I would not travel with them again. From my personal point of view, they have fairly low standards of service, both in administration and holiday accommodation.

Thank you all for reading my review, and I hope no one else has any trouble of this kind when booking a Virgin Holiday.

Carol x