Holiday accommodation photos that don’t match reality
A hotel room or holiday let may look idyllic on the website, but how can you be sure the reality will match up?
Whether it’s a swimming pool the size of a puddle or half-finished building works, it’s bitterly disappointing to check in and find your accommodation provider has over-promised and under-delivered.
Here disgruntled guests reveal how their holidays fell woefully short of what they were promised online.
Building works unfinished
Which? member Caroline Quick was left disappointed after booking what she believed was a newly refurbished four-star hotel in Tenerife with Jet2 Holidays.
The ‘planned appearance’ online showed images of a sun-soaked terrace dotted with loungers and palm trees. So she was shocked to turn up and find an ugly tarmacked car park in its place.
Caroline also claims that many of the advertised restaurants and bars were closed for the duration of their stay. She said: ‘The car park housed a massive generator that sounded like a jet engine.
‘We’ve never heard anything like it. We booked this holiday after a very tumultuous year, paying for every possible upgrade to ensure a stress-free experience. Unfortunately, this was not the case.’
Jet2 Holidays insisted the hotel was as advertised, telling us: ‘We are satisfied that everything Ms Quick paid for was delivered’.
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Tatty cottage
Catherine King booked a four-bedroom house in Donegal through Sykes Cottages.
Ferry House was billed as a ‘characterful historic’ property on the water’s edge, and it was promoted with a gallery of idyllic photos online.
However, when Catherine arrived she found a bit more character than she had bargained for. She claims the outside of the stone building was weathered and the interiors tired, damp and cold. She also complained that it ‘lacked basic home comforts’, with cracked windows, uneven flooring and threadbare carpets.
Catherine said: ‘I had dreamt of having this sanctuary and I felt duped. Every room I entered was another set of problems and disappointments.’
Sykes told us that it had offered Catherine a partial refund. It added: ‘The Ferry House has been rated highly by other guests, but her feedback has been passed to the owner.
Read our guide on your rights if your self-catering accommodation is not as promised
5 signs your accommodation won’t be as promised
Location lies
Have you ever found yourself straining to see the ocean view you were promised, or taking a taxi to the city centre that was supposedly just a short walk away? The location of your hotel can make or break a holiday, so beware of vague descriptions such as ‘just steps from the beach’ and make sure to do your homework before you book.
How to avoid this Put the hotel address into Google Maps to double-check the exact distance from local landmarks. You can also use Street View to see the hotel’s exterior and get a sense of the surrounding neighbourhood. Just drag the yellow man icon in the bottom right corner onto the area you want to explore.
Too good to be true listings
Most accommodation listings are genuine, but scammers have figured out ways to set up fakes - even on trusted platforms. Be suspicious if the price seems too cheap, or the host asks you to pay outside of the official website - particularly by bank transfer.
How to avoid this To check if photos have been lifted from another source, do a reverse image search. On Chrome browsers, right-click on the property picture and choose ‘search image with Google Lens’. If you find the same picture being used for several listings, it’s probably a scam. On top of this, always pay via the official website. Platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo purposely ban contact outside of their mail systems to deter scams (and protect their commission).
Find out more on how to spot scams on Airbnb and other lettings sites
Overly staged or edited photos
An ultra-wide fish-eye lens can make even the tiniest hotel room look palatial. Or perhaps the website shows a pool that is an unrealistic shade of azure. It’s most likely that filters have been applied to improve the colours and contrast of landscapes, or make dark rooms appear brighter. Endless close-ups of arbitrary objects, such as vases of flowers, should also arouse suspicion. Ask yourself; what is the owner trying to hide?
How to avoid this Be wary of images where the photo edges appear stretched or blurred. Walls and ceilings might also have a distinctive curve if a fish-eye lens has been used. Question tones that seem unnaturally bright or odd shadows – has something undesirable been edited out?
Suspicious reviews
Most of us check online reviews and it’s a bad sign if every glowing write-up is years old. Also question whether a post is genuine: a previous Which? investigation found thousands of suspicious reviews on TripAdvisor.
How to avoid this If you see repetitive language or a member of staff’s name cropping up in countless five-star write-ups, it’s likely that person is personally co-ordinating reviews – or fakers are sticking to a template they’ve been given. Similarly, a flood of excellent reviews all at once could indicate there’s been a concerted ‘push’ by staff. You should also be suspicious if the majority are one-offs from people who have never posted on the site before.
Work in progress
A newly refurbished hotel sounds like a win, right? Not if some facilities, such as restaurants or pools, are still under development when you arrive – or noisy building works continue well into your stay.
How to avoid this Check with your hotel or holiday company beforehand, particularly if you’ve booked off-season (when maintenance is most likely to take place). Your operator must tell you in advance if the work could seriously impair the enjoyment of your stay. If not, you could be due compensation. Just be sure you take plenty of photos as evidence.
