“Booked this as 60th Birthday surprise for my sister. The biggest surprise was how bad the hotel was The Torbay Hotel in Torquay is the worst hotel I have ever stayed in we had to ask for our room to be cleaned as it had clearly not been for our arrival everything was dirty it was cleaned the day after but not again in our 4 day stay had to ask for clean towels as they had not been replaced at all. Food really bad really disappointed will not be going again”
“We went to the Edinburgh Tattoo with Caledonia Travel in August 2023. Stayed in the, 3 star, Brittania Hotel, which was dreadful and should not even be rated a 1 star! We waited 1.5 hours to get checked in, others waited longer. When we eventually got to our room it was disgusting; filthy windows; stained and un-hoovered carpets; dirty sink/bath; no hook to hang wet towels, curtain coming off the rail and very poor decor. The view from the room was of the reception roof which had empty cans, used vapes and other litter strewn around. Slept on top of the bed due to the uncleanliness of the room.
The lounge/bar area was unpleasant and poorly furnished. We were informed the bar closed at 11pm despite it being a Friday during the Edinburgh Festival. The dining room was dull and set out like a canteen. Meals were self- service so food trays had to be carried from the lounge to dining area causing some difficulty for people with mobility difficulties. The choice of food was very basic and unappetising. Desserts were also left on a counter, uncovered for 2 hours, before meal time. We ate out in Edinburgh including breakfast the following day, which was an added expense but at least it was fresh and appetising.
Caledonia Travel must have been aware of the poor online reviews for the Brittania Hotel yet continued to use it for overnight trips to the Edinburgh Tattoo. Coaches cannot park directly outside the Brittania Hotel! We witnessed people struggling to climb the hill to the coach due to mobility issues and breathing difficulties. It's a disgrace.
I've done trips with Caledonia Travel before but will NEVER use them or recommend them again.”
“Been on a shirt break with your company to the Ayrshire coast and Loch lomond shores wouldn't go again we stayed at the Adomton Country House Hotel you can tell it dates back to the 11th century food lukewarm rooms dirty the first room didnt even look like it had been cleaned and excursions are OK if you want to go shopping every day not much of a scenic holiday wouldn't recommend this holiday maybe someone from the caledoian office should stay at the said hotel and see if its exetable to ask paying guests to use it also some of the kitchen staff were rude you couldn't even go out of an evening unless you were prepared to pay £15 for a taxi to go to Prestwick really disappointing holiday.”
“They changed my seating reservation without my knowledge…. They supposed to let the person in question who reserved the seat ,of any changes… used this travel company numerous occasions… sadly they have lost six customers now… bums on seats policy… they often change the itinerary without prior notice.. saying includes trip to Manchester. Then go to Salford keys.. not recommended…”
“Awful, was supposed to be first coach trip of many.Britannia hotel Bolton filthy, total dump, driver knocking shots back in bar with passengers on first night, didn't get to one of drops at lakes because he couldn't find the coach park, awful, will not book through Caledonian ever again.”
“Hello, my name's Zoe and I'm an Autistic Young Adult. I have been travelling with Caledonian Travel for six years, back in 2017 up to June 2023 I enjoyed every single coach holiday with Caledonian until the company started to go downhill. They have been ignoring my hidden disability recently when I explained to them about it.
From 01/08/22 to 05/08/22, me and my carer went to The Lake District where we stayed in The Seacote Hotel in St Bees for four nights, the excursions felt rushed and the food in the hotel was at a poor standard with the music blasting to almost 100% volume.
From 27/10/22 to 28/10/22 we have done The Enchanted Forest in Pitlochry with an overnight stay in Perth where Nino the Driver from MacPhails Coaches mistreated me throughout the two-day coach break. One Time during our coach trip the driver laid over to my seat and whacked me so hard in the head with a thick layer of tickets and angrily scolded me for absolutely no reason at all which he found funny, hurting and yelling at an autistic person. My carer told the driver "Do not hit or shout at my granddaughter like that, she's special needs. She was only showing me where the USB socket is". I got upset about Nino yelling and hurting me on the coach. I didn't understand why I got punished for it. When my granny and I had finished doing the forest the return journey to the whisky distillery was absolutely terrible. I was very anxious and uncomfortable on the minibus due to lots of people packed into one minibus and the lack of legroom between seats. I started to sweat like mad and started to feel sick too along with cramped legs on the minibus. It wasn't a nice experience for me. I ended up feeling sick and not able to sleep during the night because I had a very hot body temperature, I also had an anxiety attack after a rough experience on the return journey to the accessibility bus meeting point on the crowded minibus and also the driver's behaviour towards me. The food in the hotel was poor standard for Dinner and Breakfast. I and my carer got food poisoning after we had breakfast. I've reported this to customer service and unfortunately, there's no further action taken about the coach break and a £ 25 holiday voucher from Caledonian for my disappointment.
From 27/01/2023 to 29/01/2023 me and my carer went on the Peterhead and The Northern Lights coach break, the whole coach break was rubbish except for our accommodation which was The Waterside Hotel. Excursions weren't very good, especially The night excursion to chase the northern lights. The Coach journeys to and from were very stressful. The passengers shouted from the top of each other, telling everyone their whole life story and carrying on in a very inappropriate manner, blasting music without consideration for other passengers, especially passengers with additional support needs like me. kept pulling down and slamming their fold tables off our seats every two minutes and drunk alcoholic beverages on the coach. I was getting stressed out about the situation to the point. I ended up feeling drowsy, anxious, worked up, didn't want to eat and feeling overwhelmed for the rest of the coach holiday after three days of torture for me, our coach holiday had gotten too much for me. We had the worst Search of the Northern Lights experience ever, I locked myself in the en-suite bathroom and had a warm bath and cried about when people will ever understand my story of me having autism and accept me for being who I am. I've reported this experience to Caledonian and nothing has been done but give us a £20 voucher for the distress on the coach trip.
Lastly from 17/04/2023 - 21/04/2023, I took my mum on her first holiday to The Cotswolds for five days. we stayed in The Royal Court Hotel where we had the worst experience staying there. We have to move into multiple rooms throughout the week due to some of them being allocated are at a very poor standard. The staff were very ignorant and refused us customer service. Every time we went for breakfast and dinner, it was always a stewards inquiry by the rude restaurant staff at the door. I had to explain we were with a Caledonian coach party, this was not only embarrassing but very distressing for a mother and an autistic young adult like us. It totally ruined our trip to the Cotswolds. I've told Caledonian and requested a full refund on the trip. But a month later Caledonian emailed me back today saying they could not refund me for the holiday and gave me a £60 holiday voucher from them and my disability was ignored.
It was my last straw using this company, it shows that they no longer accommodate young people with hidden disabilities on their holidays anymore. I’ll not be using Caledonian Travel again after the way they have been treating me.”
“Hello.
We had a five day trip to Liverpool, our driver Neil went above his duty of care. Coach was very comfortable and journey with Neil was a very pleasant and informative experience.
However due to the hotel we were allocated I will not be using your company again. The Adelphi hotel in Liverpool was filthy and it felt like it was a lodge for the homeless. There were @ large number of what appeared to be people who were on drugs or whatever. Things were bad enough because of the bathroom in our room,like as it had never been cleaned since before covid, or before that.
I do realise that some hotels accommodate for people in need, but I do accept I have to pay money for a holiday and land in that situation.
Hope you will sort out this problem because it was such a shame that the holiday was ruined because of the filth. Many Thanks Margaret”
“4 day trip to Scotland = no communication from driver about places we were going= He took us to Ayr (not a town you want to visit)which wasnt on itinerary and dumped us there for 6 hours = was supposed to go to Isle of Cumbrae,Girvan and Ballach we never got to any of them because of incompetence and couldnt care less attitude of driver who was very rude when anyone complained=hotel room carpet stank and people got food poisoning from evening meal = I could go on and on!😡 Customer services are a joke!”
“Went om 7 day holiday to LANGHAM COURT HOTEL I.O.W. What a dump if this is the best Caledonian Travel can offer we will not be using them again. Room was small with badly stained carpet, window frame was thick of dirt not just dust, furniture was from the 1950s . the bathroom was tiny, sink overlapped the bath shower was a rubber tube from mixer tap that leaked , extractor fan was useless behind toilet and sink had not been cleaned in years. View from window was of building site next door with scaffolding three feet from window. Dinning room was clean but outdated. Breakfast was good but took ages to arrive evening meal was pathetic we finished up eating out some days. The outside area was next to the road. A big never again for the hotel and Caledonian Travel. Please check hotels”
“Went on the 2 day trip 13th and 14th August Anderton Boat Lift & Steam Railway. What I wanted to say, was that it was a great trip! Unfortunately the trip was filled with problems and disappointment.
This was our first trip with Caledonian Travel and probably the last!
First issues we was aware of the boat lift being broken, but we did not do the boat session until 3.30pm. This meant that the cafe and Museum would be closed when we got back. Considering how hot the weekend was 31 degrees we was shocked to be told this. Why was our session so late and the hottest part of the day? They did in the end keep it open so we could use the toilets(only one on the boat) and get refreshments. But we was made to feel bad making staff stay late when they just wanted to go home.
Now let’s get to the boat tour/cruise they only had one large fan at the front in the middle. This meant only the front got the benefit. The commentary was very good, however for children or a school trip. As a teacher assistant I could see this working for children, but it was not aimed at adults. )comments from other people was it was being at school in a history lesson. I was on this trip with my daughter, but it was just too much being out in water in extreme heat, no shade and reflective glass.
Now the hotel was a complete miss communication and not suitable! I was not told the hotel was the Princess hotel in Buxton. We received an email with a letter attached which said our hotel was to be changed to holiday inn express in Crewe!
So we was shocked it had changed again with no communication. But this did not prepare us for the horror of the actual hotel. It was worn down dirty and tired looking. The lift hardly worked so with any heavy bags you had to
carry up to the 3 floor. The staff looked tired and was hard to get their attention. The rooms was dirty, especially the bathroom(which I had to clean before we used it.) The furniture was old and tired and the beds was falling apart. I would not of stayed there another day there it was appalling. The dinner menu, there was no kids menu, and we was restricted to a set menu and made to sit in one area. The walls
of the hotel had holes and paper falling off the ceiling. They played the piano until nearly 11pm and the door was not very secure and let a lot of light it. To say we both did not have a good night sleep is a understatement. Caledonian Travel should not use this hotel again and it is certainly not a 4 start hotel, my 10 year old said a 1 star, and I agree!
Now we get to today, the steam train was a real disappointment. Firstly our coach did not have tickets booked (they was not expecting us.) There was another coach there which they was allowed to use the majority of the coaches. Us on the other had to squeeze on the back carriage as we was not on their booking. We should of had a great experience and had seats where we could spaced out on the train, not pushed together and be on a over crowded train.This was embarrassing for us never mind David our wonderful coach driver. I must say David made the trip bearable, he communicated and his driving skills are excellent. The next issue was there was not much to see, a lot of green fields and trees, houses, 2 stations. Most of us was expecting great sights which never came. Plus the journey was just about 4miles long, we
ended up really hot cramped together wishing we could get off!
The only part we did enjoy was being in the town of Bakewell. However that was not what we had booked this trip for!
I have gone on various trips with National Holidays and never had an experience like this. Never again!!”
“Just returned from holiday to Republic of Ireland whoever planned this holiday destination had no consideration for those traveling. We traveled from central Yorkshire our destination was Enniscorthy about 70 miles south of Dublin we were taken to Stranraer to catch a ferry to Belfast the traveling is horrendous and ruined what should have been a lovely holiday. Never again with this company for me and I'm sure the rest of the passengers judging by the disgruntled comments on the way home.”
“hygiene facilities on coach; food very poor standard; queuing for food, disrespectful to people, especially the elderly and infirm, no toast or cereal? Is this the norm for caladonian travel?”
“Just returned from Norbreck in Blackpool with Caledonian Travel absolutely disgusted that they use this place its disgusting and so run down, we also got money and possessions taken from our room. Only good thing was our driver Robbie”
“Booked specific seats due to distance we were travelling as due to knee problems needed a little more room, even telephoned to make sure of this before booking arrived to find them taken, driver would not do anything about it when mentioned to him. Could not do the following days trip due to this and needed a day in bed when returned home which spoiled the whole break. Telephoned to complain told to email company. Emailed and no acknowledgement from them. They just take the money and run no customer service whatsoever never again.”
