Tots To Travel Reviews 

Fantastic service from start to finish, very knowledgeable staff who’d help you choose what’s right for you and your family and not just the most expensive. Fabulous extras for anyone with small children who need to take the kitchen sink and more for every holiday. Can really trust that all properties have been checked and are safe for little ones.

Great initial service and very thorough follow up interactions. Looking forward to our holiday, and will no doubt be using Tots to travel again.

Brilliant! Efficient and friendly exactly like last year. We now hope the resort is as good as it was previously.

We are just at the end of a lovely family holiday at Villacana in Marbella, and we have had a great time here.

The booking process with TotstoTravel was great, and straightforward. Yes you pay a bit more, but I needed somewhere I could be sure my daughter would enjoy and be and easy experience.

Its a great resort for toddlers like my 19 month old, with 2 large pools, an indoor pool for when its too hot, several small pools near the apartments themselves, and three good restaurants (there are several others but we didn't try them). The food is good, although a few more vegetables and non-fried food options would really be appreciated for the little ones!

The apartments themselves are in a beautiful complex, whitewashed with bourganvillia flowers and well tended lawns. They are well furnished and very comfortable, and the benefits for the kids were exactly what we needed. The toys and books were very well chosen and in great condition, well presented and clean. The bed guards and cot were excellent, and we loved the fact you can get CBBees on the TV :) much needed post-pool cool down time.

There is entertainment for the toddlers with a wonderful lady called Kay, who runs two sessions a day with painting and play. The playground for the toddlers is sweet if a little tired by the end of the season.

A few small things we felt could make it an even better experience:

There wasn't anyone to help with getting luggage to the apartment, which was on the 2nd floor up two flights of stairs which was a bit tricky (apparently they was no-one around?)

The hotel has not taken on board the switch to no-plastic at all. Plastic straws in every drink, and the supermarket on the resort only sells fruit wrapped in polystyrene and cling film. Even the bananas....Perhaps T2T could figure out a way to share some of the responsibility for plastic pool toys? When we left there were 9 inflatables in the pool left by other guests - maybe there is a way to have a sharing scheme?!

And one thing that is not the responsibility of T2T but important none the less...at one of the pools there was a lifeguard on duty. An older couple got into trouble - the gentleman got cramp and his wife tried to help but couldn't swim. The lifeguard did rescue the wife but she was really, really slow (I saw the whole thing unfold whilst holding my toddler at the edge of the pool). It was left to other guests to rescue the gentleman. Both were fine, but it did make me very cautious about relying on a lifeguard there. The next day, signs all over the pool appeared saying "No lifeguard on duty until July 2020"...bit of a poor response from the hotel?

All in all we've had a great time I am surprised to see the bad 1 star reviews on Trustpilot, as I think T2T have done a great job!

We have been on holiday with TOTS numerous times now and I recommend it to everyone I know. Great service, great accommodation.

The apartment we rented was clearly not set up for families, just part of a complex and when required certain items for children are placed into the shabby and unclean apartment by housekeeping.
When we arrived there were many items that we requested that were missing.
There were no age appropriate indoor toys or books for either of my children. The only things provided were a set of train tracks and a plastic tool kit. The DVD player and tv were faulty and even if they had worked we were given 2 dvds. When I asked for more toys I was simply told the resort is too busy. No bath toys at all were provided. Nothing to entertain 2 kids for 5 days indoors.
We were provided with a high chair with no harness for an 11 month old and had to wait 2 days (after us reminding them 3 times) for a replacement. We just had to feed the baby in her buggy in the end which proved extremely messy.
I requested blackout blinds in both rooms, but after several requests were only ever provided with one set.
The cot was a basic travel cot, which wasn’t clear from the description.
Cleaning equipment was broken so we couldn’t clean the floor when it got messy/sandy.
The shower door would not close which flooded the floor each time we used it.
The apartment and equipment really did not live up to the assurances given by booking through someone a company such as Tots To Travel .

“By booking through Tots to Travel you have the peace of mind of knowing that all the properties (every single one!) on our site have been visited and inspected by a member of the Tots to Travel team and that all of them are fitted out with our exclusive Essential Toddler & Baby Kit to make sure your stay is as easy and stress free as possible”

It certainly wasn’t easy or stress free. We won’t book again through them. Just an all round bad experience from the minute we arrived.

These people, Sandra and Busola Oni, complaining and vilifying Tots to Travel, Trustpilot and everything under the sun because they saw a harmless fruit rat in the middle of rural Spain, and especially the character assassination attempt of lovely owners of a lovely Finca, Kerry and Lee.
My wife and I have spent two terrific holidays at this location and have nothing but praise for it and the owners. I am currently looking for suitable weeks to book once more!
I can only assume these people are serial complainants. They would no doubt complain about elephants in Africa, given the chance.
Need to sort their lives out in my view and stop trying to wreck excellent reputations. This seems a good case for the deformation of character lawyers.

Rats infestation at La Finca Costa Blanca Spain Villa accommodation labelled suitable for family with kids.

We had to abandon our family holidays with toddlers due health and safety issues with rat infested accommodation at our villa in Costa Blanca Spain. Anyone had any similar experiences? No mosquito protections either so we had an awful lot of bits and our toddlers too.

Where we stayed had lovely pictures and vetted apparently by our agent (who where featured in Telegraph newspaper on 12Jan18 and 12Jun17) but those pictures where up to 10years old and the property had lack proper maintenance ever since with overgrown bush that became home to rats.

Don’t stay at this villa and don’t be fouled by TotstoTravel review or vetting because they lack professionalism and take no accountability for their listed properties but they love taking your money upfront and management seems not to care about customer service as this is the second time we are complaining about TotstoTravel and we will never book with them again.


Kirsten O'Neill (Tots To Travel)
Aug 31, 17:10 BST

Dear Sandra and Ola,

Please see the response from the CEO Rob Shand:

Dear Sandra and Ola,

Thank you for your feedback and I am sorry that this situation has arisen on your precious holiday.

Before I respond on the point of the rats you witnessed at La Finca, let me clear up a confusion that has arisen, no doubt due to poor communication at our end. As CEO, I was made aware of your situation and complaint yesterday afternoon (our commercial director, Martin's manager, is indeed away). Your complaint was therefore escalated as you had requested and having reviewed it thoroughly I guided Martin on our position as I know you had requested a refund. I can quite see however that the way in which this was communicated to you has aggravated the situation, there were delays and inconsistencies and I will certainly be taking this up with our customer service team and Martin's manager and I'm grateful to you for highlighting it.

In reviewing your complaint I have reviewed Kerry's response (the property owner), reviewed all your emails and photos and also reviewed all the feedback from this season so far and past years too. We have had dozens of families stay at the property over the years and of course it is a concern when a family concludes that the property we have recommended to them should not have been for whatever reason. I did this to get some context and to see if anyone else had had a similar experience and to ascertain if what you witnessed could accurately and fairly be described as an 'infestation' - the word you used.

There have been no other instances of such sightings and as concerning as seeing some fruit rats outside certainly is, I do not believe that it warrants that description, nor means that our processes have failed in some way. The feedback for the rest of this year has been consistently good or excellent which points to this being an unfortunate but exceptionally rare occurrence, and not one that either the owner nor Tots to Travel can reasonably be held liable for.

I know that Kerry also offered to do all she could to help including the use of devices to keep rodents away using sound waves, traps placed locally under bushes and nets. I gather that you refused this offer having already decided to leave. Of course it is up to you to decide whether you wish to remain in a property or to leave, but in reviewing your complaint (and notwithstanding your feedback on the quality and speed of our response which I feel has some merit) I conclude that neither the owner nor Tots to Travel can be held responsible for the appearance of fruit rats from a local field outside a property in a very rural area. I also conclude that the support you received on the ground by Kerry was also consistently good.

Having reviewed your complaint thoroughly therefore I do not feel that compensation for your decision to move out of the villa before the end of your stay is warranted. None the less, as we also did last time for you, we have also asked Kerry if she would be willing to make a goodwill gesture to you, but as disappointed as she is she believes that none is due.

I have noted your further review on Trustpilot and of course we will make a balanced response in due course.

I apologise for our inconsistent customer service response to you and I can assure you this will be dealt with including a review of the escalation procedure and how this is communicated.

I wish you a very safe journey home.

Kind regards,

Rob

Rob Shand
CEO
Tots to Travel

Warm Regards,

Kirsten O'Neill
Administration Assistant

Trustpilot "Probably the most responsive company I have ever dealt with! I hope the holiday is as good as their customer service!" - Mar 2019
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Busola Oni
Aug 30, 18:45 BST

Hi there,

Just to further clarify...

1. TotstoTravel failed us with this booking. Your processes and procedures are lacking and led directly to this specific situation arising because you job is to ensure the property you advertised are fit for purpose which in this case has proven not to be the case. You should have checklist to ensure they properties you list on your site are fit for purpose including and especially when you label them family friendly or appropriate. So the primary accountability lies with you as our agent who we paid for this travel. Regardless of your complaint procedure statement laying no liability on yourselves which to be frank is not legal because it can be challenged legally.

2. I specifically asked you (Martin (also Taylor) over the over the phone to escalate this matter above Martyn’s level because I deemed him incapable of handling this matter based on his initial response, his proposed next steps, his lack of communication (I had to enforce his response on email which when received does not summarise our discussions over the telephone (btw you have recording and so do I of the conversations) and the general lack of effective resolution to our satisfaction. It is atrocious that Taylor responded in writing to my initial complaint before Martin and he is a manager that’s appalling.

3. You stated on your terms you aim to resolve complaints within 48 hours or written complaint and we are beyond that and to make matters worse to us you abandon us with no alternative accommodation to La Finca Holidays villa that was rat infested (we reported in writing we physically saw more than x3 rats over the wall of the villa!) And if anyone has management experience of mice or rat rodents, you will confirm it’s a fact that if you see just x1 near on or inside your property then there are multiple already because they often come with companions. So clearly TotstoTravel has little care for its customers in desperate situation caused by their lack of effective policies and procedures to protect and provide the best possible quality accommodation experience for its customers!

4. I asked what higher level of escalation contacts there were because I wasn’t satisfied with Martin’s ability to resolve this matter and I was told only his superiors the Commercial Director that Martin reports into and his superior who is the CEO. I insisted the matter should be escalated to his superiors to resolve because we couldn’t stay at an unacceptable unsafe accommodation especially given we are with toddlers. I was told that both the Commercial and CEO directors were enjoying their vacations and there was no other senior management available to escalate to apart from Martin who is in charge of handling the matter. A disaster from our perspective because it meant we had to ensure we find alternative accommodation for the duration of the rest of our trip in Spain with our children to think of most especially.

5. I complained to Martin he was meant to call us back yesterday to find a solution when we spoke this morning and ensure he updates us more regularly given the situation and also in writing because I was concerned about his ability to effectively handle the situation to ensure due and proper process and account where followed and reported to then have received his summary below is very disappointing and to an extent insulting given the facts.

6. If Martin has offered effective and acceptable solution when we initially spoke to him twice before committing to being forced to find alternative accommodation ourselves we would have considered it. To us, Martin never had control over this matter and TotstoTravel had no further escalation contacts available for emergencies because those that should be accountable were too busy enjoying their own holidays. It’s appalling! It’s inhumane to treat customers especially with vulnerable children involved like that.

In effective we have no other complaint avenues available to us during the rest of our stay which means it’s the end of the complaint procedure during our stay which is rather convenient for TotstoTravel indeed.

We will escalate this matter beyond Totstravel and at this point we will also consider publishing this experience on multiple social media (Facebook; Instagram; Snapchat; Trustpilot; WhichMagazine; WatchDog; to name a few) to draw public awareness to how Totstravel treats its customers including vulnerable children.

Best Regards,

Ola

MR ONI
Sent from my iPhone


Tayla Marshall (Tots To Travel)
Aug 30, 17:23 BST

Dear Sandra,

Thank you for your email. I know you have been speaking with our Operations Manager Martin regarding the issues you experienced during your recent stay. I am not aware of the situation Sandra, but I didn't want to leave your email until Marti

We found checking availability on the website and booking over the phome with Tots to Travel very easy. Staff were friendly and helpful. Really looking forward to our holiday!

Very friendly and helpful. Quick to respond to emails too

Great experience with friendly clear communications. The only challenge is aligning flights if you are looking for a good deal as you need to wait to book them after confirmation.

We are looking forward to our holiday with them!

Excellent, really helpful and easy to deal with.

We have just returned from 10 nights at the Villacana resort in Estapona, Spain. We have had an absolutely fantastic holiday and i can't recommend tots to travel enough. They were incredibly helpful from my first enquiry, with the member of staff i spoke to having just visited the resort herself. The Villacana resort is perfect for any family with young children. We have two girls, aged 3 and 6, they both absolutely loved everything the resort had to offer, from the kids entertainment package, where the staff are so welcoming and encourage the children to join in, to the pools, the restaurants and the luxury of having the beach right on the doorstep.
We stayed in a one bedroom apartment (mainly due to the fact we left it late to book), but this was no problem at all, the apartment was compact but plenty big enough for the four of us, exceptionally clean, with a beautiful courtyard area outside with a BBQ and sun loungers, The books and the toys in the apartment were also great and the girls enjoyed playing with everything daily.
There are three main pools to enjoy, all different depths, we spent time in the pool every day and it was perfect for our two non competent swimmers.
There is also plenty to do near by, a short walk into the local town and supermarkets a 10 minute drive away.
I have to especially mention Kay, the tots to travel playmaker, who was so endearing and made so much effort with every child. We haven't ever done the kids club thing before, but as the activities are right next to the pool area, it was perfect. Our girls could see us the whole time, but had the opportunity to make little friends, stay out of the sun for a while and enjoy making play dough, painting shells, pizza making and many more fun activities.
We will definitely be looking to book again, thank you tots to travel for all your advice, we loved it!

Such a great customer service experience! Nothing was too much hassle for Helena! Will certainly use Tots again.

The most helpful and patient staff, they have
made the whole research and booking process so easy and simple. I would highly recommend.

Unfortunately, the Trustpilot star rating system doesn't allow for a 'good' rating, so the three stars given here may seem a little mean; however, the four-star, 'great' option didn't seem to describe our holiday either. We have had a nice holiday (three and a half stars?), but our venue (Villacana, Estepona, Spain) wasn't as toddler-friendly as we had believed it would be. Our little boy (just turned 3) was delighted with the play-corner in our apartment and all the toys to play with, as well as the lovely private garden. We, the parents, were delighted that the apartment was as well-equipped as was promised vis-à-vis kiddie paraphernalia. However, the resort itself was not ideal for toddlers. There was no kiddie pool, for example, nor any real shallow end in any of the pools. We spent most of our time in the pool nearest our apartment, which was quieter than the main resort pool, and that was 1'3 meters at its shallowest. The main pool was no better and the indoor pool was, I think, 0’8-0’9 meters. But with armbands and with one of us constantly swimming alongside our son, we made do. Equally, the shaded playground and sand pits had been a great selling point; however, the playground was underwhelming – essentially a slide (which got too hot to slide down) and two spring-mounted rocking horses –, while only one of the three sand pits had any sand and, at that, there was only the barest scraping and certainly not enough for a child to dig or build sandcastles. This was disappointing, since we had read that the beach was unexciting, but we had thought that the sand pits (our boy loves to dig!) and playground would compensate. The beach certainly was underwhelming. It was accessed via a smelly alley and was pretty grey (sand) and didn’t seem very clean with cigarette butts in the sand, etc. In saying that, there was a tractor going up and down raking the sand and there were rubbish bins dotted around for disposal of rubbish. We only visited the beach once over the course of our 10-day stay, it was that uninviting. The resort was also quite noisy at night-time, with fireworks two nights in a row nearby (admittedly, out of the control of the resort management) and a late-night, noisy dip-in-the-pool next to us by a group of the teenage visitors another night, which was eventually moved on. Likewise, we could hear everything in the apartment overhead (plumbing, showers, etc.; sofa-bed being pulled out, chat, footsteps...) which we worried would wake our sleeping boy, though he was usually so tired from the heat and swimming that he mostly slept through it! To be commended, finally, were the kids’ club activities and their organisers, who were very good with the kids and very inclusive, and the friendly staff of the main restaurant on site. The food was quite good and not too pricey, thought the included breakfast was, again, underwhelming. I don’t think my family would return though we have had, as I said at the beginning, a good time overall.

Very helpful and professional on booking, looking forward to our holiday!