BBC Holiday Hits Squad visits Tenerife tonight at 8pm BBC1

[Vortex Wake]

Joe Crowley tours some of the least desirable hotels in Tenerife and the Dominican Republic on a mission to persuade owners to eliminate their pests and make some vital improvements.

Angela Rippon visits Palma, Mallorca, and meets the staff of the British Consulate who deal with everything from missing passports to people arrested abroad.

Meanwhile, Helen Skelton is in Malaga to try to rebuild the confidence of two holiday-makers who became victims of a highway robbery.

http://www.holidayhitsquad.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/holiday_hit_squad__season1.jpg

[bonitatime]

Here we go again. I hate this sort of sensationalized televisión

[primrose]

Here we go again. I hate this sort of sensationalized televisión

It has to be one of the most boring programmes on TV.

[honda]

Glad they can afford the flight costs to Tenerife at the moment.

[slodgedad]

Glad they can afford the flight costs to Tenerife at the moment.

Not them that are paying. It's the licence fee payer.

[duquessa]

i will probably take a look why not feature on the good things though its so negative.

[tfs_longlets]

Book me in to Malibu Park? It will be probably the best 3* in Tenerife................. In 3 months time?

[AL JAY]

One thing the programme reinforced for me was that as a tourist we want nice clean apartments to stay in!! Malibu Park is one of the legal complexes to stay at but i wouldn't stay there rent free, Give me a nice clean illegal let on Parque Santiago 1 or 2 or El Mirador anyday! Would any of you who watched the programme stay there??? There are quite a few similar to Malibu Park in that area and elsewhere that should be closed until they have been visited by the relevant authorities but sadly i know that won't happen! How would a sole agent help tourists out at these [lets call them downtrodden] complexes? Private lets win every time for me!

[lapalma]

Same here,I would never stay there,a private let will always be the way forward,even although some people dont pay their taxes !!!

[tfs_longlets]

It is said that the best time to visit any establishment is after it has been inspected, closed for improvements and then reopened after inspection.

I am sure that this programme is after the sensational and can find it anywhere it looks. I will guarantee cockroaches and 'pests' anywhere in Tenerife, especially after the previous weeks occupants left a half eaten Pizza, sugar grains and unwashed pots in the apartment sink. Unavoidable until all visitors are educated to hygiene standards.

It would be good TV to visit some private homes in Europe to see how hygiene compared. Tourists expect the best on holiday, how would their homes compare? Many better but some apartments I see after they have left makes me wonder how they live in their own home.

I have seen some cockroaches in my time, but the worst infestation? hundreds of thousands, dead and living, behind the cover of a deep fat fryer in a kitchen on a shore base of a naval establishment in Hampshire. It definitely isn't a Tenerife problem exclusively.

[AL JAY]

I agree totally with you, There are probably some nice privately owned apartments on every complex including Malibu Park and as you say Cockroaches can be found anywhere if hygeine standards are not kept up! My main point was that you learn over the years where to stay and where to avoid!

[seanocelt]

total and utter tripe that programme, and the eejits that " investigate" are so plastic.

[Vortex Wake]

Much ado about nothing - not the program, just most of the comments on this thread :)

[TF1]

If they were looking for cockroaches they should have gone straight to Arona town hall.

[duquessa]

actually i found it quite interesting. I had a cold the minute we got there last time. Never occured to me about the shower heads mind you never had any problems.

[Vortex Wake]

actually i found it quite interesting. I had a cold the minute we got there last time. Never occured to me about the shower heads mind you never had any problems.

Yes, I've watch a couple of the other programs on iPlayer and found then interesting. The opening titles and many of the backdrops show Tenerife in glorious sunshine - which can't be bad.

The problems of Cockroaches in apartments can be compounded not JUST because of poor hygiene standards, but because they can enter through gaps in brickwork/pipework that are not sealed.

One of the women featured was hospitalized on a balloon trip in Egypt 4 years ago - considering recent tragic events , that story was hardly 'sensationalized'.

[blondie]

Yes, I've watch a couple of the other programs on iPlayer and found then interesting. The opening titles and many of the backdrops show Tenerife in glorious sunshine - which can't be bad.

The problems of Cockroaches in apartments can be compounded not JUST because of poor hygiene standards, but because they can enter through gaps in brickwork/pipework that are not sealed.

One of the women featured was hospitalized on a balloon trip in Egypt 4 years ago - considering recent tragic events , that story was hardly 'sensationalized'.

Wellafter reading all the comments re. this programme I am afraid I have to disagreee with most of them. I actually spoke to Angela Rippon when they were making this series inTenerife a couple of months or so ago and told her there were not enough of these name and shame programmes on tvand good on her.Some of the accomodation is Tenerife is dire now and not fit for humans, we are lucky in thefact we have been coming to the Islandfotr over 20 yrs and know the no go areas and accom. but othersare not so fortunate. Well done to the folk who manage to book a private let I tried many times and gave up , what with no answer to e mails I would phone to be told it had gone. We spend around 12 to 14 wks a year in Tenerife prefering apts butnowgo to hotels due the sky high prices now for sub standard accom.Tenerife has become its own worst enemy now , we commented last week when there that the staff shortages everywhere meant a longer wait for service and for bills not that it bothered us but others were becoming impatient wit what I thought were overworked , underpaid staff, the same applied to our hotel unfortunately.So roll on more name and shame programmes which make these places sit up and take notice. While I am in full flow I was glad to see more of a police presence but in Los Cristianos only I am sorry to say , the thieves frequent Las Amer too but where the bloody hell are they at night !!!!!!

[golf birdie]

makes me think the 17 inspectors should be inspecting the standards of some of these legal places. How any so called hotel could have electric's like that is scary. Even worse is it takes a team to fly from Britain to point this out.

[TF1]

Well done to the folk who manage to book a private let I tried many times and gave up , what with no answer to e mails

Did you email those private lets in coherent English?:wink:

[nelson]

where there is the heat , there is the cockroach. They are everywhere in the fabric of buildings. In the best hotels they live like rats in the sewers , behind all the light passages, or behind the bathroom panels. On our place they have been controlled much better in the 10 years since we bought, the english presidency ensured much better pest control around the complex. having said that I personally have only had one cockroach free holiday in our apartment, which was last april. Normally I have to deal with one or two visitors, or my spraying on entry points results in the odd dead one. I have become more used to them in our time in tenerife, I think that they are more angular and scary than the ones say on the australian jungle programme, the ant and dec ones always seem more rounded and less threatening than the tenerife ones.

Based on our experience on our complex, I would say that better pest control does greatly improve the cockroach situation, regardless of guests personal standards. In our case the private owners have improved the situation as compares with the hotel group who we bought from. They clearly were thinking about their profits and were not prepared to spend the extra money needed to really get on to of the issue.

There is no excuses for being overrun by cockroaches, but being on top of the matter costs money. No private renter is going to want cockroaches in their own private apartment.

[seanocelt]

Your right. Its an ENTERTAINMENT show, that's all.

[lapalma]

total and utter tripe that programme, and the eejits that " investigate" are so plastic.

Realy ! Are you that good in your public performances ? you must now tell me and the rest of this forum why 'the eejits (dont know what you mean) are so plastic ! Do you not like the truth ? or are you better than the 'eejits'.Dont be afraid to reply.

I like coming on holiday to Tenerife,but the more I hear of 'eejits' like you puts me off spending any more cash.By the way,when you answer this post,dont say what you said the last time,as I aint going anywhere,sonny............

[slodgedad]

The problem, to me, with programmes like this is that they pick on places where an entertaining programme can be made.

Malibu Park has always had the reputation of being slightly poor quality, but the way the programme is presented it gives the impression, to people that have never visited us before, that this is the norm.

Just as previous programmes have given the impression that Tenerife is Veronicas.

[seanocelt]

answer provided by PM, EEJIT. "Realy"? 2 letter "L"s there by the way. The "last time" must mean a lot to you, SONNY, i "really" cant remember, sorry. Really. I cant. PM sent anyway. EEJIT.
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Realy ! Are you that good in your public performances ? you must now tell me and the rest of this forum why 'the eejits (dont know what you mean) are so plastic ! Do you not like the truth ? or are you better than the 'eejits'.Dont be afraid to reply.

I like coming on holiday to Tenerife,but the more I hear of 'eejits' like you puts me off spending any more cash.By the way,when you answer this post,dont say what you said the last time,as I aint going anywhere,sonny............

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To my many forum friends................. no idea where this outburst came from, checked the posts from Lapalma, cant see the conflict. I await the explanation of the agenda.....or duel identity?

[waverunner]

I was incensed after watching the program, its Tenerife again being targeted for shoddy apts, I couldn't believe the heath and safety guy making a big fuss about a bit of calsate on the shower head, Tenerife water is not the best for this but I think saying it can cause Legionnaire's disease is a step to far, who the hell stands in front of a shower and turns it full on whilst breathing in !!! As for cockroaches - well my apts are treated and we still get them wandering in from the garden I even have the odd one at home we live in HOT country for heavens sake don't we.

The BBC have not done themselves a favor with this rubbish its badly presented and shabby - I have writtenen to the BBC so lets see what they say if anything.....

[golf birdie]

I was incensed after watching the program, its Tenerife again being targeted for shoddy apts, I couldn't believe the heath and safety guy making a big fuss about a bit of calsate on the shower head, Tenerife water is not the best for this but I think saying it can cause Legionnaire's disease is a step to far, who the hell stands in front of a shower and turns it full on whilst breathing in !!! As for cockroaches - well my apts are treated and we still get them wandering in from the garden I even have the odd one at home we live in HOT country for heavens sake don't we.

The BBC have not done themselves a favor with this rubbish its badly presented and shabby - I have writtenen to the BBC so lets see what they say if anything.....


a shower head takes minutes to clean, there is no excuse for having anything dirty in an apartment which you have saved for a year to enjoy for a week or two.

[waverunner]

Yes I quite agree but 'dirty' is another issue a little calsate on the shower head is not the end of the world.....

[golf birdie]

Yes I quite agree but 'dirty' is another issue a little calsate on the shower head is not the end of the world.....

it should not be there and shows the cleaning is done to a poor standard. Another point is the BBC never went under cover to film this show, they were invited in by the manager to point out what holiday makers were complaining about. Now, as he has to ask a British team to check his place it makes you wonder if anyone is checking hotel and apartment standards here at all. So much for trying to raise tourist standards.