Booking a holiday abroad can be a gamble - you've got to trust that the hotel pictures and reviews online live up to expectations.
Unfortunately, one British couple were met with more than they bargained for when their romantic honeymoon turned into a 'nightmare' as soon as they checked into their resort in Majorca, Spain.
Magdalena Brylinska-Beaton, 36, and her husband Andrew Beaton, 37, were looking forward to their delayed break abroad after getting married during the pandemic.
They took a risk with a two-star budget resort, which was booked through loveholidays, but sadly, it didn't pay off - with one look at the bathroom enough to disappoint.
The couple, from Inverness, Scotland, spent several days scouring the internet for an affordable beach holiday, before choosing the Sun Club El Dorado in the "picturesque" Puig de Ross resort.
"There were bad reviews but there were also good reviews saying, 'Not as bad as people say'," Magdalena explained.
"All together, we paid around £860 including the transfer and extra luggage.
"It did say that the hotel was basic, but that wasn't a problem for us provided that it's clean, because we wanted to go out and explore anyway."
Sadly, there were warning signs from the moment the newlyweds touched down in Palma on May 15.
"We went up to the transfer desk and the driver asked where we were staying," Magdalena explained.
"He said 'Oh Sun Club El Dorado' and then started laughing. That was the first thing I should have picked up on."
Next, they were handed two brightly coloured plastic cups at check-in and told they were to present these at the bar whenever they wanted to order a drink.
"The first night I went to the bar and asked for a sangria and the guy says, 'Where is your cup? You must have been given cups at arrival?'," she said.
"I was like, you have got to be joking me. They expected us to use the same cups for the coffee the next morning - it was the weirdest thing.
"We were supposed to use it for our alcohol, our tea, juice, coke, sprite, whatever, everything was poured in the same cup.
"They weren't even washed properly, I had to wash them myself using my own shower gel."
But it was the horrific state of the bathroom that really put her off - with dirt, hairs and stains on the surfaces.
"I opened the door and thought, 'oh wow'," she said. "The bathroom was absolutely disgusting - just filthy."
She called reception to complain, but when nobody had turned up by noon the next day, Magdalena decided to take matters into her own hands.
"I went out and bought some bleach, sanitary wipes and anti-bacterial gel," she said.
"I cleaned the shower and black stains in the bathroom but left the floor, because it's not really my job.
"When someone finally came, he pulled a handful of black hair out of the shower and threw it in my bathroom bin."
Magdalena said she tried contacting loveholidays after three days to see whether they could be moved to a new bungalow but "nothing happened".
"I tried to get through to them, but impossible, it's telling me, 'Please contact our agent online'," she said.
"I don't know where they got pictures of the horses or the new bungalows because our one needed to be refurbished."
The pair began looking at flights home but they were too expensive, so they went hunting for another hotel in Palma, the island's capital.
"When we arrived in Palma, I thought I had been let out of the I'm A Celebrity camp," Magdalena said.
"We sat in a coffee shop holding an actual coffee cup in our hands.
"This was the point where I couldn't take it anymore and I said to my husband, Andrew, I think the celebrities in the jungle have better conditions than us."
One of the main reasons Magdalena decided to book the hotel was because there appeared to be plenty of outdoor activities.
"I looked at the pictures online and saw that we could go horse riding, pictures of people playing tennis, crazy golf and the possibility of renting quad bikes," she said.
But when they went looking for the horses, they were told the animals had been sold in October.
"I know it's only two stars but nothing that they were advertising is there anymore," she said.
Finally, the couple found an affordable alternative, hotel Tal El Arenal, for £425 for five nights, and packed their bags.
"I went to reception and asked for a refund for the five unused nights but the only thing they gave us back was €11 tourist tax money," she said.
Magdalena said the rest of their holiday was "really good" with "great food" and "normal cups".
"What I've learned is that times are changing, if you book cheap it's a disaster," she said. "I will not book a holiday with loveholidays for the rest of my life."
A spokesperson for the company said: "We're sorry Magdalena Brylinska-Beaton's experience did not live up to her expectations on this occasion.
"While we always encourage customers to raise any issues with our dedicated in-resort team at the time so we can address them, we've reviewed her case and issued a refund for the days she did not use the hotel."
A spokesperson for the hotel said: "Since Covid, customers' expectations are very high. It's normal for a website to advertise the best photos of a hotel.
"They have to take into account the value for money and this hotel is one of the cheapest."
Have you experienced a holiday nightmare? We pay for stories. Email nia.dalton@reachplc.com.
