British tourist must pay twice for hotel room on vacation or ‘she’ll be locked out’ – World News

A British holidaymaker claims she was told to pay for her hotel room again or risk being locked out – as the insolvency of FTI Group sent shockwaves through tourist hotspots.

Nicola Bartholomew, 46, booked her stay through travel agency Loveholidays and checked into the Labranda Targa Club Aqua Parc near Marrakech, Morocco, on June 2. But less than 24 hours after his arrival, news filtered through that the collapse of tour operator FTI Group could impact his vacation.

FTI Group is the parent company of Youtravel and Meeting Point, two Loveholidays suppliers. Nicola, from Guildford, Surrey, said letters were placed under their door ordering guests to go to the reception, which quickly became a scene of chaos. Nicola said the hotel asked her to pay an extra £300 to hold her hotel room until she left.

She said: “It was absolutely evil. They wanted Loveholidays to confirm they would get the money.” FTI Group, the third largest tour operator in Europe and the parent company of Youtravel and Meeting Point, has confirmed its filing for bankruptcy.

Nicola, a widowed mother of four and grandmother of nine, suffers from fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis and was traveling with her carer and her carer’s five-year-old son. Nicola said there were “about 100 of us” at reception, without food or drink, who were asked to pay again or risk being locked out.

She said there were no Loveholidays representatives on hand to help and the hotel’s only media relations representative had been overwhelmed. Nicola arrived home on Sunday June 9th. Annie Cox, 24, also had a steamy experience since checking into the same hotel with a friend on Tuesday after booking through Loveholidays.

“They let us check in, then kicked us out of our room, cut off our bracelets and left us to languish in reception for seven hours,” she said. Annie, a project management graduate from Plymouth, said the pair were forced to fork out an extra £900 to stay in their room.

Although Loveholidays informed her that she would be eligible for a refund, Annie was not so optimistic. “There’s no chance the money will come back to me,” she said. A spokesperson for Loveholidays said: “Last week, FTI Group, the parent company of one of our many suppliers, Youtravel, filed for bankruptcy.