Wheelchair user angry over lack of facilities at holiday hotel

Rachel DongerA disabled holidaymaker has hit out at a tour operator after staying in a Greek hotel that she said provided almost no specialist facilities for her. Miss Rachel Donger booked in April to stay at the D’Andrea Mare Hotel in Rhodes with her partner, Phil. Also staying there was her sister, Sophie, and Sophie’s boyfriend, Ben. A wheelchair user, Miss Donger contacted operators Jet2 before booking the holiday to ensure the hotel was equipped for a disabled person. Although Jet2 does not include such details about the hotel on its website, Miss Donger said the firm confirmed in a subsequent telephone conversation and email that the it had a specially-adapted room. Miss Donger agreed to pay an extra £28.71 for the room — on top of the £1,077 she and her partner paid for the holiday — and flew out from East Midlands Airport for the week-long trip, that began on May 17. After taking a specially-booked taxi from the airport to the hotel, Miss Donger said problems started almost immediately when they arrived at about 11pm. “Although our room was on the first floor, there were ramps up to it and I couldn’t get up them,” said Miss Donger, who suffers from incomplete paraplegia, which means she is 95% paralysed below the waist. “When we reached the room Phil noticed that there were no grip rails, the bathroom wasn’t big enough for me to go into without taking the footplates off my wheelchair, and to shut the door I would have to wheel myself so that my knees were under the sink. “There was no shower chair for me to use, so we asked for one at reception. “The next morning, we found that the cleaners had just left me a plastic seat, which was pretty useless. “This meant Phil helped me on to the floor and then I would have to shuffle on my bottom to the shower, then he had to turn on the taps. “The whole process took about 20 minutes and would have taken even longer, but I just wanted it over and done with. disabled toilet filled with various items" title="Rachel Donger's stay at a Greek hotel" />The seat given to Rachel Donger for her showers (left); the disabled toilet filled with various items“Later on we chatted to another couple at the hotel who had stayed there three times and they told us that it didn’t have any specially-adapted rooms. “When I saw a sign for a disabled toilet I thought ‘great’ but when I opened the door it was full of cleaning equipment, a pushchair, a floor polishing machine and other things. It certainly wasn’t usable. “Jet2 later sent me an email that said the hotel manager had told them the disabled toilet was ‘under construction’.” Advertisement 'What I lost in Greece was most of my independence' Miss Donger uses a wheelchair following an accident in a tractor ten years ago, in which she broke her back in three places. She said that she had maintained a positive approach following the incident, but that the holiday and subsequent correspondence with Jet2 had left her angry. “My sister told me that what I lost in Greece was most of my independence,” said Miss Donger, a 34-year-old events co-ordinator from Bilsthorpe. “When I wrote to Jet2 they offered a £150 voucher off the cost of my next holiday with them, which I declined. “They then offered a cheque for £150, which I also refused. “This is more about making people aware of the struggles you can go through. You don’t have to be a wheelchair user. It could be someone who struggles with standing up for a long time.” Since the Advertiser contacted Jet 2, they have offered to send Miss Donger a cheque for £733 to fully cover her accommodation costs. In an email to Miss Donger, the firm said that the request for a specially-adapted room was not relayed correctly, resulting in a room that did not meet her needs. In a statement to the Advertiser, Jet2 said: “We completely sympathise with Rachel’s situation, which is why we have offered to refund the full cost of her accommodation. We have also apologised to Rachel for the inconvenience and upset caused by this isolated occurrence.”