When we arrived at 9:00 p.m. at our hotel in Tenerife it was closed

In February we responded to a promotion from the Holiday Gems travel agency for an all-inclusive package at the Bluesea Callao Garden hotel in Tenerife. We paid £850 for a week's stay in June. When we arrived at 9pm, we found the hotel closed. I called Holiday Gems on their emergency number and was advised to find another hotel that could accommodate us and wait for them to contact us the next day.

We are both in our 70s and my wife recently recovered from major surgery. We had to haul our luggage to the nearest hotel which was fully booked, but the receptionist phoned and found us a room in town for €104 a night. The next morning there was no word from Holiday Gems. The emergency number was closed so I emailed to say that unless we heard before noon when we were due to vacate our room, we would book it for the remaining six nights. It was not until 12:30 p.m., when we had paid €537 more for the week, that Holiday Gems told us that we were expected at a hotel in Santiago, 25 kilometers away.

The price of the new hotel did not include meals, so we limited ourselves to one meal per day to save money. We later found out that the Bluesea Hotel had been closed for renovations for two years. We have close to £1000 left out of pocket, our holiday has been ruined by stress and we have yet to hear back from Holiday Gems as to whether we will be refunded. If we hadn't had a credit card with us I don't know what would have happened.GA, Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire

Holiday Gems m' said he booked the hotel in "good faith" and no doubt he did, but there is clearly a serious flaw in a system that does not flag unavailable accommodations. More concerning is the apparent lack of support when you find yourself without a bed for the night. If the first hotel you tried could drive around town and find you a place, you'd assume Holiday Gems could have done the same.

The company n didn't answer my questions about their customer service, but they decided they would refund you the cost of the original hotel and add £200 compensation for the "frustration", totaling £612. It doesn't even cover your costs. When I pointed this out, it doubled the "pay" which means you won't be paid out but despite company assurances you won't have received anything to reflect stress and disappointment.< /p>

Holiday Gems seems to believe itself the aggrieved party. "We are very disappointed that this has escalated as it does not accurately reflect our usual quality of service," he said. "We have resolved the issues causing the situation at the resort with our local partners and internal teams to ensure this is an isolated event."

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