We were transferred to the Hotel via "Wings Tours" upon our arrival in Egypt. On arrival at our Hotel we handed the "VOUCHER" as requested to the Hotel Reception Desk during the process of booking in. I might ad that we only had a 6 night stay and not the 7 nights that we paid for! On Saturday 25th Oct in the morning we asked the hotel reception staff if they could call WINGS TOURS to arrange our transfer to the airport Sunday morning. They called the WINGS TOUR OPERATORS and handed the telephone to us. Wings told me they would pick us up at the hotel for the transfer to the airport at 01:50hrs Sunday morning.
At 22:00hrs Saturday 25th the hotel reception telephoned our room and told me that my hotel bill had not been paid! I was a bit confused because we had paid any additional services the day before when we arranged the transfer with wings tours! I said maybe I should come down to reception and speak with them as it was not very clear what they were saying on the telephone.
I went to reception 5 minutes later with my wife and son and they said that our tour operator had gone bust and said "JUST LIKE XL AIRLINES" your uk operators have gone bust! I said that what has this to do with me because I have paid my hotel bill and also I have paid "IN FULL" my holiday cost when I booked it some 12 - 13 weeks prior to travelling! I have booked through Travel Republic. The hotel staff said they do not accept any "VOUCHERS" for holidays from WINGS TOURS and that they have not been paid for my holiday! I said, how is this going to affect me, I have paid I am ABTA & ATOL protected! They said you will not be allowed to leave the hotel until we receive payment "IN CASH" for our stay in Hotel Grand Sharm. They said that I need to contact the UK tour operator and arrange "immediate" payment or I will not be allowed to leave.
I was very concerned at this point. My son started to panic at this time after hearing this from the hotel staff and also was very worried when the reception desk was approached by security staff with guns! My wife had to calm him down because he was worried about the men with guns and being told that we could not leave the hotel! I tried calling the UK tour operator which they said was LOWCOSTBEDS.COM on their emergency number but I only got an answerphone. They then said you must call WINGS TOURS in Egypt because they will not speak with the hotel staff and that I should tell WINGS TOURS to come to the hotel and pay the bill IN CASH before they would let us leave! Time was getting on and I was getting extremely concerned. I called WINGS TOURS and they said that it was nothing to do with them and that they had given a VOUCHER to the hotel for my stay and that was all they were prepared to do! The man on the phone "WINGS TOURS" also said that he was the person who would be transferring us back to the airport at 01:50hrs! So I told him that we were not being allowed to leave the hotel until the bill $1,764.00 US DOLLARS was paid in cash! He said that it was not his problem. I said to the hotel staff that we need to return to our room and finish packing because it was getting late! We returned to our room and was in a state of SHOCK at what had just happened, knowing that there was no way we could raise $1,764.00 US DOLLARS before we could leave the hotel.
My Wife and my Son were very distressed and did not know what was going to happen with us. At 01:30hrs Sunday morning the telephone rang again and it was WINGS TOURS saying that they were in the Hotel reception waiting for us to transfer us to the airport. They said do we want them to arrange the hotel staff to collect our luggage from our room and I said yes. We were relieved at last and thought that all was OK and went down to the reception desk to hand in our keys. When we handed in our keys the reception staff said that we can not leave until the bill has been paid! I said that WINGS TOURS were here in the hotel and I thought that all was now OK. They said no, we need to pay the bill before we are allowed to leave! The WINGS TOURS person then walked out of the hotel! I said that I was unable to pay $1,764.00 US DOLLARS and was it possible for me to pay using a credit card! After some consultation they accepted our credit card for the payment in US DOLLARS and allowed us to leave the hotel. WINGS TOURS then transferred us to the airport to which my wife and son were still very very distressed at whether we would be in time for our flight back to the UK.
I wish to add that this completely wrecked our stay in Egypt and this was a very special 20th Wedding Anniversary present to my wife.
