It is truly regrettable that I find myself writing this review about a much-anticipated Tuscan Italian Language Course Holiday with Flavours Holidays, on 17th- 24th June 2023, which has left me feeling cheated out of the £2,000+ cost and disappointed by customer service.
The catalogue of issues are suitably long enough to fill at least two A4 pages and I only have 500 words, so I shall synopsize the main unacceptable events.
Inexplicably long wait at Pisa airport to be transported to our villa, no air conditioning for 3 days in temperatures of 33o due to Flavours holidays allegedly not paying for the use of air con.
The Flavours holiday experience comes with a Chef and Host in your isolated villa. Unfortunately, the chef (I use this title very loosely) served appalling food that was inedible and, most of the time, not sufficient in quantity for all the guests. One evening (even though I had informed the company I was a non-meat eater) I was served some sort of processed chicken or maybe turkey, that was grey in colour and completely unrecognisable as any form of edible food. It was a meal I would not have fed to my dog. This was a recurring theme throughout the week, so most nights I went hungry.
Breakfast, not much better. We were served stale bread, prepared in a dry frying pan as there was no toaster. No fruit was available, until a complaint was made, and then not enough was provided for all the guests. A continental breakfast of sorts was provided after two days, but it was inedible due to being left uncovered to be feasted on by flies while wilting in the heat. Completely shocking, that, in a country famed for its delicious food, fresh fruit and vegetables, that none of it was available on this holiday.
The entire holiday (I can only call it this as the Tuscan landscape made it such) felt like a 'rip off' from start to finish. In a time of economic difficulties, no one takes parting with such a large sum of money for a week's holiday lightly
Before writing this review, I informed Flavours of my dissatisfaction with the holiday. Following various back and forth emails, I have been left feeling as though the onus was on me, as the paying guest, to seek out the owner of Flavours to complain about the many, catastrophic issues this holiday was presenting, as opposed to speaking to the Flavours representatives that were present on the holiday (which I and the other guests did, to no avail).
To my knowledge, when you book a holiday you book it in its entirety and expect all aspects provided to be of a certain standard. When paying at a £2,000+ per week price point it is not unreasonable to expect the equivalent price point in the holiday experience and provided service.
I believe Flavours completely misrepresented the holiday that I paid for in their brochure, leaving me feeling cheated and ripped off.
In my final email from the company I was offered, as recompense, a discounted price for a Flavours holiday next year. Why I would choose to part with my very hard-earned money to risk going through that awful experience again beggars belief.
If, like me, you type your holiday choice into your internet browser searching for that perfect holiday, I would advise that when Flavours Holidays comes up, continue scrolling. read more
