My wife and I have just this minute returned from a week at the Riu Tequila, Playacar, Mexico, for which we paid Thomsons several thousand pounds and had been looking forward to for months. Despite not having eaten or slept in the past 24 hours, I am so livid with the disgusting service levels that we have received and the complacency of the Thomson and Riu staff on site that writing this posting takes precedence over any kind of recovery from the journey.

In brief summary:

- 'Guests' were required to rise before 07:00 in order to queue in competition with other customers for tickets to the Steack House (sic; not wishing to pun, this is nonetheless an accurate description), Chinese and Mexican restaurants. Failure to get into line early enough, condemned the unwary to the buffet style restaurant which featured items such as burger and hot dog alongside other congealing dishes, each less appetising than the last.
- The food was revolting and un-hygienically prepared. In evidence of this, we have both spent much of the week suffering with severe stomach upsets (and still are). My wife had been concerned that an ‘All Inclusive' destination might be bad for her waistline. She needn't have worried on that score. In that one week, she lost several pounds.
- On complaining to the Riu ‘Sub-Director' about the early morning dinner queue system, my wife and I were both told separately that she ‘did not care' and that we should go right ahead and complain to Thomson. On complaining to Thomson, we received a similarly uninterested response. Only after remonstrating vociferously did the Rep push some pre-booked meal tickets under our door, without a note or any kind of courtesy.
- On New Year's Eve, all the hotel guests were required to experience the Gala Dinner. This event took place in the buffet style restaurant and, with the exception of a couple of meat joints and some slimy seafood, the food looked remarkably like any other evening in that location, including fish fingers, chicken fingers and the obligatory grated carrot that we saw in every single venue. We had by that time resigned ourselves to giving up with making complaints locally and saving our thoughts for our return to the UK, but that night we felt obliged to raise concerns, because the restaurant caught fire. Now, the local management assured us that the billowing acrid electrical smoke that filled perhaps a quarter of the large room wasn't a fire and they were adamant that the reason why no smoke detectors or alarms were needed in the room was because ‘the ceilings were too high'. However, they obviously felt some degree of shame as they attempted to stop me from photographing the ‘little accident' (later agreed to have been quite a bad accident). No police nor firemen were summoned. Instead the hotel Director and her staff got the ‘not fire' under control and then ushered in the next 1,000 people to their sitting, without of course telling them what had just taken place.

So to conclude, both firms are a disgrace and we want our money back.