Two couples were forced to fork out twice for their holiday in Lanzarote - or face being kicked out of their hotel following the collapse of airline Monarch.

A family holiday for Karen and David Fulshaw and in-laws Kathleen and Neil Furniss turned into an expensive trip when they faced paying for their hotel twice at an extra cost of £1,090.42 per couple, or lose their accommodation with two days of their holiday left.

Karen Fulshaw, of Brough Road, Winshill, was on holiday in Lanzarote with her husband David and in-laws Kathleen and Neil when they found themselves caught up in the Monarch collapse which led to the repatriation of 110,000 tourists.

They had booked the entire 10-day all-inclusive trip to stay at the Hotel Grand Teguise Playa in Costa Teguise back in February with Monarch for their annual family trip. They were also joined by in-laws Maggie and Nigel Dunne but they had returned home on the Saturday before Monarch went into administration on Monday, October 2.

The letter sent to Karen and David Fulshaw after the collapse of Monarch

Mrs Fulshaw said they returned to their hotel room on the Monday to find a letter pushed under their door, which had been circulated to all Monarch customers telling them of the collapse and asking them to go down to reception.

The 60-year-old said: "We went down to reception and they were very rude to be honest. We were told to pay for the room by 5pm or we would get kicked out. We asked to speak to the manager and they said he was not available. When he did come down he said the same thing.

"We explained the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was getting in contact with them about payment but the hotel was not listening so, along with all other Monarch guests, we had to pay again and will have to put a claim with the CAA to get it back, I can't believe how we were treated.

"We paid for the whole trip through Monarch and it was for an all-inclusive trip. There was another lady on the phone to the CAA and she was told they were sending confirmation to the hotel. They told us not to pay but if we had to then we would have to claim the money back.

"Some people don't take their credit card on holiday with them as it was all-inclusive but luckily it is something that I have always done. It put a lot of stress on us, I wanted to explode. They kept saying we needed to pay or we were out.

The resort in Lanzarote where Karen and David Fulshaw stayed when Monarch collapsed

"It has made me really angry obviously as we paid for our holiday and then we had to pay it again. We are out of pocket at the minute and we don't know how long it will be until we are reinbursed. It was unbelievable.

"This is something we do every year with the holiday. There must have been a lot of people out there who are unable to pay. You expect to go and have a good time but this really has upset everyone and we could not relax after that."

They also lost money on transfers to the airport as they had to book a taxi. However, the mother-of-one praised the CAA and returned home on Wednesday, October 4 at the scheduled time. She said they had received all the details of the flights beforehand.

What happened to Monarch?

Monarch announced on Monday that it had gone into administration with all flights cancelled, leaving thousands of holiday-makers stranded at airports or worried about getting home.

The airline had until midnight on Sunday, October 1, to reach a deal with the CAA on renewing its licence to sell package holidays. The deal was never reached, which led to its collapse.

On its website, the firm made the following statement: "Monarch has confirmed that the following companies have ceased trading and now entered administration:

  • Monarch Airlines Ltd
  • Monarch Holidays Ltd (ATOL Number 2275)
  • First Aviation Ltd (ATOL Number 4888) previously trading as Monarch Airlines
  • Avro Ltd (ATOL Number 1939)
  • Somewhere2stay Ltd

"As a result, we are sorry to inform you that, as of October 2, 2017, all future holidays and flights provided by these companies have been cancelled and are no longer operating.

"This is an unprecedented situation and because there are up to 110,000 passengers abroad, the UK Government has asked the CAA to coordinate flights back to the UK for all Monarch customers currently overseas. These new flights will be at no extra cost to you."

A dedicated website monarch.caa.co.uk has been set up to help customers.

The CAA has stepped in to get customers who are abroad and due to fly back on or before October 15 home for no extra cost. These will be as close as possible to the original booking and passengers are being informed of their flights via the website.

The CAA has said that it will be informing all hotels that they will be paid but if guests are asked to make further payments, they should pay and claim it back from the CAA when they return home.

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