Club La Costa Sunningdale Village resort in Tenerife

We had such an enjoyable time at this hotel in September that I decided to rebook it for a Christmas holiday treat.

Huge mistake & I still can’t comprehend just how many issues we actually had with our apartment. The following will sound so unbelievable but I swear it’s all true & not exaggerated.

When trying to use the washing machine for the first time, I discovered a rigid sharp object protruding through one of the drum holes. It was wedged so tight that maintenance had to be called. On inspection, it was concluded that the machine would need replacing & was the following day.

The tv in the lounge area had a constant audio description on every English Channel we tried to watch which maintenance were unable to switch off. This totally ruined our enjoyment of any programmes or films over the festive period. An old back injury flared up during the holiday, giving me constant pain & discomfort all week & also when I got back home. I finally realised it was due to a spring protruding upwards from the warn & very soft mattress in the apartment.

Reception was notified & after further inspection the mattress was finally changed. One evening, we attempted to cook a thin crust pizza in the oven. However, the graphics on both oven dials were either missing completely or so worn you couldn’t read them. We tried to guess the settings but the oven failed to cook the food successfully. The reception was informed & the dials had to be replaced.

We took a new DVD with us to watch during the holiday. Regretfully, the DVD player failed to load it properly & it got jammed inside. I was unable to get it out myself so a further call to reception had to be made. A man from maintenance finally got it out after taking the unit apart. I loaded the replacement washing machine for a second time before preparing the evening meal on Christmas Day.

While chopping up the vegetables for roasting, I noticed the machine had stopped working with the drum full of water & all our clothes still inside. After attempting to get it working again myself another call to reception had to be made & maintenance had to come out yet again. He also couldn’t get it working but finally managed to get the soapy wet clothes out by manually bailing out some water from the drum. During this process, I tried with some difficulty to continue preparing & cooking the evening meal. My ability to do this was compromised because the washing machine & oven are in close proximity & I had to work around the maintenance man who was mopping up water from the kitchen floor.

We explained that we were checking out in the morning & were concerned about our clothes. He took them away with him wrapped in a towel. While trying to cook my vegetables in the oven, the grill pan kept falling down.

It became obvious that it was too small to reach the shelf supports on the oven walls so I had to balance it somewhat precariously on the only wire shelf available in the cavity. While using the oven for some reason the smoke alarm kept on going off. We had made plans to go out that evening with friends we’d met at the hotel. However, the sheer amount of issues we’d encountered during our holiday had finally taken their toll so we cancelled. Later that evening, the maintenance man returned our clothes folded & dry.

The table lamp in the lounge kept flickering while in use & when trying to move the dining table, one of the table legs kept collapsing. During our holiday, we communicated our disappointment to reception & asked if we could upgrade by paying more but were informed this accommodation was only available to members. We were even prepared to downgrade to a studio like we’d stayed in before but were astonished to be told this wasn’t an option either. In summary, we’d obviously been designated one of the older, more tired apartments on the complex which needed some repair or renovation. Any issues would only be addressed or rectified on a piece by piece process if complaints were raised. Incidentally, the friends we’d made had been given upgraded accommodation in the hope that they’d agree to sign up as members & invest in the timeshare on offer after staying in that accommodation for their complimentary week.

Whilst I appreciate CLC World would like to be seen to be taking exceptionally good care of their existing members & potential ones, I think it is unjust & very wrong to ensure this happens at the expense of other holidaymakers whose accommodation is not fit for purpose or up to a reasonable standard. We checked out the following morning with the smoke alarm still going off.

Incidentally, I still have my free week with CLC to utilise but hadn’t used it this time around because I’d already booked this holiday before attending their initial meeting. Had it not been for the glorious sunshine during our stay, Christmas would have been ruined.

Despite this, the number of problems we actually experienced did make me tearful on the morning of departure & continued when I got home. We requested a copy of the log, recording the issues associated with our apartment from reception but not surprisingly that request was also denied.

In hindsight, I wish we’d taken photographic evidence of everything now as the whole scenario does sound like an utter & complete joke although totally factual & true