WE’VE all heard people complain that they need a holiday to recover from a holiday but that couldn’t be truer for anyone other than Shany Hagan.
What she hoped would be the Cornish holiday her mum had always dreamt of descended into a nightmare that left Shany and her family ‘traumatised.’
In fact Shany’s 75-year-old mum who lives in Lincolnshire was so disappointed by the trip that she has sworn off the entire county for the rest of her life.
Speaking exclusively to Fabulous for our Holiday Horrors series, artist Shany says: “My mum had dreamt of going to Cornwall her entire life and now she won’t even discuss going back.
“I am so disappointed.
“I had wanted to give her her dream holiday but instead it became a living nightmare.”
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The mum-of-one had booked the trip for herself, her son and her mum when she spotted the ‘idyllic’ looking hotel advertised on a coach holidays site.
“I didn’t fancy doing the seven hour drive from York so a coach holiday seemed like the perfect option,” Shany says.
“For a week’s stay in a luxury hotel and transport for all three of us the cost came to £1,500 so it wasn’t cheap.
“But when I looked at the pictures of the beach-front property complete with bay windows overlooking the shoreline I couldn’t resist and instantly booked.”
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However, as the coach pulled into the Godolphin Arms in Newquay, Shany immediately got a sinking feeling.
“I began to get suspicious as we pulled up and I didn’t notice a single palm tree in sight,” Shany recalls.
“The beach was nowhere to be seen, so much for a sea view, the place was an utter dump.
“As I stepped off the coach I just broke down in tears, this was in no way the five star luxury I had hoped for.
“My mum, ever the optimist tried to convince me it wouldn’t be that bad but we walked in and were greeted with a framed newspaper article detailing a visit from the Hotel Inspector
“Why they were advertising that and so boldly I have no idea.”
Reluctantly, Shany and her family made their way into the hotel lobby where they were given keys to two rooms, where things would only get worse.
“After we lugged our suitcases upstairs we realised that our beds were soaked through because it was raining and we couldn’t shut the windows due to the rust,” she says.
“There was broken glass on the floor and the room was covered in mould.
“When I complained about the wet beds they said they would get someone in to change the sheets but they went to the wrong room.
“Mind you we were lucky to have a soggy mattress because the old couple who were with us on the coach had a bunk bed on the kitchen floor.
“They had members of staff stepping over us, it was just like Fawlty Towers.”
Exhausted by their long coach ride, the Hagans made an attempt to get some sleep in their sub-par rooms, but they were in for a rough night.
“To add insult to injury there was an Elvis Presley impersonator singing all night in the bar and he was well out of tune,” Shany says.
“We couldn’t even close the windows because of the rust, it left me questioning what I had done wrong in a previous life.”
The following morning after breakfast, where guests were limited to one sausage each, Shany headed down to the beach determined to enjoy her holiday.
She says: “The coach took us down to the beach the next day and as we stepped down onto what we hoped would be white sands we were instead greeted by the not-so friendly neighbourhood mugger.
“The weather wasn’t even a consolation prize with my poor old mum sitting on the beach in her kagool in the rain waiting for the pub-cum-hotel to open again so that we could get our shoes sticky on the carpet.”
Enough was enough and Shany decided to call it quits at the Goldolphin.
When I complained about the wet beds they said they would get someone in to change the sheets but they went to the wrong room
“We complained to the hotel who told us, in no uncertain terms, that it was tough sh** and we had to just get on with it,” she says.
“There were no other rooms available so we were given no other choice but to find another hotel but unfortunately for us, and especially my old mum, the only thing available was a youth hostel complete with bunk beds.
“Not only did I fork out an additional £300 to stay in the hostel but each day I was paying for taxis back to the coach to go on our painful excursions.”
Shany says that the highlight of the holiday was unfortunately the journey home.
“We were there a week but it felt like a year,” she says.
“It’s traumatised me, we’ll never go near Cornwall again and the best bit was getting back on the coach to York.
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“When we got home we immediately booked a holiday abroad to take the edge off.”
Following the holiday, Shany complained to the coach company where she received £400 compensation.
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