In recent months, reports of 'disaster' trips booked through online travel company Loveholidays appear to be on the rise, with a string of complaints and incidents emerging from unhappy holidaymakers.The latest victim of alleged 'hotel catfishing' is Tracy Haslam, who booked a £4,000 family holiday to Tunisia through the website, only to arrive and discover her hotel was located on the site of an elderly care home.But she is far from the only Brit to have been drawn in by Loveholidays, which offers a choice of 56,000 hotels alongside flights from major UK airlines and airports, with low deposits and monthly payment options helping to attract customers.Founded in London in 2012, Loveholidays has grown into one of Europe's leading online travel platforms, helping a record 4.7 million holidaymakers travel abroad in its last financial year.The company reportedly saw pre-tax profits rise by a fifth to £67.6 million on sales of £284 million in the year to October 2024, according to Sky News.The Ryanair-verified and ATOL-protected package holiday provider allows travellers to book entire trips through the site - or simply accommodation - with destinations spanning the globe, particularly across the Mediterranean, Spain and North Africa.'We used the pandemic to double down on our technology, ensuring our platform could stand up to the demand we knew we would see when international travel resumed,' said Donat Rétif, chief executive officer of Loveholidays.'Since then, we've continued to invest in our platform to ensure it's the fastest and most flexible in the market, making it easier than ever for consumers to search for, book and manage their holidays.'But while the reality may sound idyllic, customer complaints paint a very different picture, with reports ranging from 'dirty, mouldy' accommodation to hotels that turned out to be 'construction sites'. Here, we take a deep dive into the holidays from hell booked through the site...A FAMILY HOLIDAY - IN A CARE HOME? Tracy Haslam, 52, flew to Tunisia for a family holiday at a resort. But pensioners were wheeled past near the pool, as seen pictured She shared images of elderly people being pushed past her sunlounger in wheelchairsEarlier this week, a British grandmother claimed her £4,000 all-inclusive getaway was ruined when the hotel turned out to be part of a care home - with pensioners being wheeled past her sunbed.Tracy Haslam flew to Tunisia with her two daughters and six grandchildren on April 12 and on arrival at the four-star hotel, booked through Loveholidays, noticed a large number of older people in wheelchairs. She captured footage of elderly patients, some who she claimed had dementia, being wheeled inches past her sunbed 'every five minutes'.Explaining that she felt misled, the mum-of-three says she would 'never have' booked the hotel if she had known.She filed a complaint with Loveholidays, for not disclosing the hotel was part of a care home.Loveholidays said since Tracy's feedback they 'became aware' that the hotel accommodates residential care guests in a designated portion of the resort.They have temporarily removed it from sale while they 'investigate further' with their accommodation partner.In response to her initial complaint, Tracy says a Loveholidays rep told her hotels 'operate under their own policies and discretion regarding who they accommodate and this is outside of our control'.The rep also stated that after 'carefully reviewing' the evidence provided it 'is not sufficient to support a claim for compensation'.Eventually, Loveholidays issued an apology and a full refund. A Loveholidays spokesperson said: 'We're very sorry that Ms Haslam and her family's experience at their hotel in Tunisia fell short of our usual high standards.'We are investigating the issues raised with the accommodation provider as a priority, and have removed the hotel from sale whilst this investigation is underway.'We have been in touch with Ms Haslam to offer our apologies and a full refund of the cost of her accommodation.'THE GIRLS HOLIDAY FROM HELL - WITH A CATFISH HOTEL The tales don't end there. Other customers battled for their money back after checking into holiday lets that they claim didn't match descriptions on the platform.The Daily Mail's Louise Oliphant experienced the drama of a Loveholidays mess-up for herself, on a break to Rhodes with her best friend.After booking a four-star retreat at the Kolymbia Bay Boutique Art Hotel, Louise said on arrival it was abundantly clear she had been catfished.Louise wrote: 'The Instagram-worthy swim-up pools, chic cabanas and stylish parasols we'd seen online were nowhere to be found. Louise Oliphant was expecting the above 'deluxe' bathroom, as advertised LEFT: The bathroom was falling apart and smelled foul. RIGHT: The hairdryer didn't work, 'though judging by its age, she wasn't surprised''In their place were foul-smelling bin bags lining the walkway to the pool, bottles of toxic cleaning chemicals dumped in plain sight, and cigarette butts scattered across the floor - likely discarded by the cleaner we watched smoking while changing the bedsheets.'The bathroom was falling apart and smelled foul. The hairdryer didn't work, though judging by its age, I wasn't surprised.' After complaining, eventually Loveholidays offered a maximum refund of just £62 on a £950 holiday.In a statement to the Daily Mail, Loveholidays said: 'We're very sorry Ms Oliphant's experience at her hotel in Rhodes fell short of our usual high standards.'We're reviewing the hotel listing on our website, and have been in touch with Ms Oliphant to offer our apologies and a full refund of her accommodation costs.'OUR NIGHTMARE EGYPT BREAK - IN A 'FILTHY' PROPERTY Further afield in Egypt, a British family demanded a £3,000 refund after claiming a nightmare holiday in Egypt left them sick from restaurant food, all while enduring 'filthy' and 'hazardous' hotel conditions throughout their stay.Scott Edward, 36, from Newport, South Wales, had travelled to Hurghada for a family holiday in January, accompanied with his wife Katie and his children Freddy and Alexandra.After an exhausting 18-hour journey filled with delays and transfers, the family finally checked into the four-star Eagles Downtown Zahabia Resort & Aqua Park.Their trip got off to a rocky start when they checked into a 'filthy' room with no working Wi-Fi, forcing them to request a room change.From there, things only went from bad to worse.Renovations turned the family's holiday into a stay at a construction site, according to the father-of-two, who reported finding a 'mouldy, dirty' room and an unclean toilet.'The rooms were dirty and broken, there was faeces and urine all around the toilet that had not been cleaned.'The air conditioning was full of mould and dust and caused us all to have severely bad coughs so we just had to cool ourselves with cold water. Scott pictured with his wife Katie and his children Freddy and Alexandra Pictured: Conditions at the four-star Eagles Downtown Zahabia Resort & Aqua Park in Janaury, described by Scott as a 'construction site' 'Everything was run down, damp and mouldy and plaster and paint flaking off the walls. There was also an exposed live fuse box outside our door.'In addition, Scott alleges that he, along with his wife and two children, were left bedridden after eating at on-site restaurants, forcing them to miss out on pre-paid excursions while spending extra money to travel and eat elsewhere.He said: 'The food caused everyone to become violently sick and we were not able to eat at any of the restaurants.'I had sore kidneys for two weeks after the holiday because of dehydration from the sickness.'We ended up not attending most of our excursions due to the illnesses and we also spent a lot of money on transport and additional food because of the extremely dangerous food standards at the hotel.'As well as falling ill, the Edward family claimed the children's resort amenities - including play zones and the kids' club - were unusable due to hazardous, broken equipment.He explained: 'That night we had children's music, like Baby Shark and other obnoxious music, playing outside our hotel room because the entertainment stage was being refurbished.'There were huge areas of the hotel that were in full construction with concrete pouring, jack hammers and drilling all day and rubbish like doors, windows, toilets and broken bricks, glass and rubble all over the place.' A Loveholidays spokesperson told NeedToKnow: 'We're very sorry that Mr Edward and Ms Hillman's recent experience at their hotel in Egypt fell short of our usual high standards. 'As Mr Edward has initiated a chargeback, the refund process is now being managed through his bank. We are working closely with our dispute providers to expedite this and will ensure he receives a full refund for his holiday as quickly as possible.'A DREAM TRIP RUINED - WITH SEVEN HOURS ON THE PHONE Darren Tanser (pictured) shared his experience on TikTok after a holiday disaster in TurkeyLast year, another family's dream holiday was ruined after they were left stranded due to a booking blunder.Darren Tanser shared his nightmare experience on TikTok, @darrentanser, after he paid £6,000 for trip to Turkey. The family had arrived at the hotel at 5am, only to be told their booking 'hadn't been secured'.Darren claimed they didn't receive a new hotel until midnight, adding: 'Loveholidays are an absolute joke, I recommend none of you ever book with them at all.'I spent 425 minutes throughout yesterday, which is seven hours, on the phone to Loveholidays on and off, they never called me back once for any issue, I had to continuously call them.'Hours after the call, Darren was then told the booking was 'still being processed'.'Bearing in mind at this point, we're sat in a hotel that we don't have a booking for, the hotel don't want us there. We have no use of amenities, we can't shower, we can't brush our teeth, we can't do nothing and we've been here since 5am at this point and we're just stuck at the hotel,' he said.The holidaymaker also shared that his son had undergone 'two major brain surgeries' which complicated the situation as he had to make sure he wasn't 'over fatigued' or 'dehydrated'.At 8pm that evening, Darren was told by Loveholidays the booking wouldn't process at that particular hotel because the 'payment wouldn't go through'.The family were offered another hotel which they refused because they had stayed there previously and got food poisoning.Eventually, at 10pm that evening, Darren was sent to one of his new hotels of choice.However, the nightmare didn't end there. The Uber that Loveholidays booked to transport the family to the new accommodation was cancelled and they had to arrange a taxi themselves.Though they eventually arrived at the hotel, Darren felt it wasn't quite up to scratch compared to their original booking.'We told them, the kids and us had been awake by this point for like 43 hours with shower, no amenities, we couldn't easily get food, drink or anything, we were stuck at a hotel in the middle of nowhere and they just did not care at all,' Darren claimed. A Loveholidays spokesperson said at the time: 'We are very sorry that Mr Tanser and his family's experience fell short of our usual high standards after their hotel overbooked.'Our On Holiday Support team was in touch with Mr Tanser on the day of arrival to book the family into an alternative five-star hotel, and we recognise this process took longer than usual due to limited availability in the destination.'We have been in touch with Mr Tanser to apologise for the stress and inconvenience caused, and have offered him a significant compensation package to make up for this and cover the out-of-pocket expenses he incurred.'DISGRUNTLED CUSTOMERS ARE EVERYWHEREThe stories are seemingly endless. On a Reddit thread dedicated to Loveholidays, many have complained of poor trips.Plus, the service and refund system have left much to be desired.One user wrote: 'It appears that they are acting solely as a booking agent, so if everything proceeds smoothly, you will have no interaction with them.'However, if any issues arise, you will not receive any support or refund from them. For instance, my outbound flight was cancelled, and their emergency helpline was unable to provide any assistance.'Ultimately, I had to resolve the situation on my own, and they did not issue a refund due to the shortened trip. As a result, I will not use their services again. It is preferable to pay a slightly higher fee in exchange for comprehensive protection and support.'Another chimed in: 'The hotel was riddled with bed bugs, it took several hours to be accommodated suitably. The reason why I would not recommend them is because when I attempted to resolve this, they passed all the blame onto me, and several agents were very argumentative and rude. 'No call backs were fulfilled when requested. They ended up issuing a partial refund, despite chasing them for several weeks.'A third wrote: 'Avoid and avoid again. We had difficulties due to airline strike, lost two days off holidays and they were of no use whatsoever. Had to book our own flight home at over half the cost of the holiday. 'They refused refund as they were only booking agency. Eventually got refund for flights but that was done to sheer perseverance by her good self. And remember, avoid at all costs.' A Loveholidays spokesperson said: 'We're taking 5.5 million UK holidaymakers abroad this year, and we're committed to maintaining high standards across each and every holiday. 'We take all customer complaints seriously and will always investigate with our accommodation partners, taking action where standards fall short. Our team conducts regular checks on our hotel listings, however, we are reliant on our accommodation partners providing us with accurate content and imagery.'We know how important it is that the hotels we offer match our customers' expectations. That's why we recently became the first UK-based online travel agent to launch our own integrated customer reviews, giving holidaymakers greater transparency and confidence. 'These reviews sit alongside official star ratings and TripAdvisor reviews on hotel listings, helping customers compare options and make more informed decisions before booking. We continue to invest heavily in our customer functions and remain focused on ensuring our customers have the best experience possible.'