A British couple’s honeymoon fantasy went up in flames after the luxurious forest surrounding their luxe destination hotel burned to the bottom — a full yr prior to their arrival.
The newlyweds now claim that staff on the hotel in Dalaman, Turkey, did not tell them concerning the disaster.
“It was a large shock after we got there — I opened the curtains within the room and looked out on a burnt landscape and I used to be so upset I just burst into tears,” Alecz Finch, 50, told Kennedy News of the apocalyptic scene. “I couldn’t consider what I used to be seeing.”
Alecz and Colin Finch, 60, had booked their dream honeymoon at Julian Forest Suites off of Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, through TUI Travel, a British leisure travel group.
The partners from Sussex specifically selected the hotel for its bucolic setting, described online as “fringed by deep-green mountains on three sides … [and] pitched on the last road before you hit the thick forests behind Icmeler [Beach].”
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In August this yr, the couple booked their honeymoon for September 13, planning to fly off only one week after they tied the knot.
However the Finch’s honeymoon phase was quickly challenged.
“It’s just barren. It looks just like the apocalypse has happened, there’s just nothing. There have been no birds, foliage or flowers. It was grim,” Alecz described. “That view was the identical across the whole hotel. Colin just checked out me and said ‘What have we done?’ We were so completely deflated.”
Alecz stormed right down to the lobby to complain, but wasn’t getting any answers from the people at reception. Finally, a bar employee informed the distraught travelers that a terrible forest fire had ravaged the realm a yr prior in September 2021 and completely destroyed the land.
After complaining to TUI concerning the “total misrepresentation” of the hotel, Alecz claims they were refused any compensation on the grounds that the hearth was an “act of God.”
“The forest doesn’t exist as they’re describing it and there’s nothing on the web site to point that the forest isn’t there anymore,” Alecz said. She argued that the hotel and TUI had “loads of time” to update their web sites and promoting.
“To think I’m going to just accept that that is an act of God a yr after it happened is totally ludicrous,” she added.
A spokesperson for TUI issued a voucher and an apology, in response to Kennedy News, recognizing that the stay “didn’t meet the usual [the Finch’s] expected” and are investigating the problems raised.
Julian Hotels didn’t reply to a request to comment.
A British couple’s honeymoon fantasy went up in flames after the luxurious forest surrounding their luxe destination hotel burned to the bottom — a full yr prior to their arrival.
The newlyweds now claim that staff on the hotel in Dalaman, Turkey, did not tell them concerning the disaster.
“It was a large shock after we got there — I opened the curtains within the room and looked out on a burnt landscape and I used to be so upset I just burst into tears,” Alecz Finch, 50, told Kennedy News of the apocalyptic scene. “I couldn’t consider what I used to be seeing.”
Alecz and Colin Finch, 60, had booked their dream honeymoon at Julian Forest Suites off of Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, through TUI Travel, a British leisure travel group.
The partners from Sussex specifically selected the hotel for its bucolic setting, described online as “fringed by deep-green mountains on three sides … [and] pitched on the last road before you hit the thick forests behind Icmeler [Beach].”
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In August this yr, the couple booked their honeymoon for September 13, planning to fly off only one week after they tied the knot.
However the Finch’s honeymoon phase was quickly challenged.
“It’s just barren. It looks just like the apocalypse has happened, there’s just nothing. There have been no birds, foliage or flowers. It was grim,” Alecz described. “That view was the identical across the whole hotel. Colin just checked out me and said ‘What have we done?’ We were so completely deflated.”
Alecz stormed right down to the lobby to complain, but wasn’t getting any answers from the people at reception. Finally, a bar employee informed the distraught travelers that a terrible forest fire had ravaged the realm a yr prior in September 2021 and completely destroyed the land.
After complaining to TUI concerning the “total misrepresentation” of the hotel, Alecz claims they were refused any compensation on the grounds that the hearth was an “act of God.”
“The forest doesn’t exist as they’re describing it and there’s nothing on the web site to point that the forest isn’t there anymore,” Alecz said. She argued that the hotel and TUI had “loads of time” to update their web sites and promoting.
“To think I’m going to just accept that that is an act of God a yr after it happened is totally ludicrous,” she added.
A spokesperson for TUI issued a voucher and an apology, in response to Kennedy News, recognizing that the stay “didn’t meet the usual [the Finch’s] expected” and are investigating the problems raised.
Julian Hotels didn’t reply to a request to comment.
