When Vancouver newlywed’s David and Mira Varzari tied the knot in the spring everything went off without a hitch. Then came their fall European honeymoon, which ended in what was supposed to be four magical nights in Paris. But when they arrived late at night at their Paris hotel they were shocked to find it undergoing extensive renovations. Instead of receiving the red carpet treatment, the carpets were just covered in plastic and the Varzari’s say some of the emergency exits were even blocked. They say there were workers everywhere, and the noise was excessive.
"I describe it as my worst travel experience," Mira said. "The new paint and I don't know whatever chemical they have over there makes me feel really bad.”
She told CTV News she has asthma and sensitive eyes. Her new husband says he suffers from allergies.
"No doors were open and we couldn’t even open the hotel room bedroom window because of the scaffolding," he said.
The spa amenities were closed too.
The trip was booked through Flight Centre on West Broadway.
"At that time that our agent booked it, they were not aware that there was construction happening at the hotel or we never would have booked that client in the hotel," Flight Centre’s Allison Wallace told CTV News.
Flight Centre accesses a special system to book hotels and told us that no renovations were noted at the time they booked the Vazari’s package.
And the Varzari's said when they looked at the Pavillion Opera hotel website they saw nothing indicating construction - but there's a notice of renovations now.
They say a promised refund from the hotel never happened. So Flight Centre stepped in.
"They've been taken care of and we are working to get our refund from the hotel," says Wallace.
Flight Center is refunding the Varzari’s $788 and will now go after the hotel to recover the cost.
"I'm glad they did something right now ,” says Mira.
Here are some recommendation if you run into a hotel problem during your travel. First, try to resolve the situation with the hotel management. If that doesn’t work, contact your booking agent and be sure to take photos and hang on to correspondence to document the problems.
