One Stop Travel and Tours – Extremely Disappointing Experience

**One Stop Travel and Tours – Extremely Disappointing Experience**

I would absolutely not recommend One Stop Travel and Tours. Our experience was appalling, and what made it even worse was their refusal to take responsibility when things went wrong. Instead, we were met with excuses, contradictory explanations, and blame-shifting.

My family and I travelled for Umrah in September. Our experience in Makkah was good, and the hotel was satisfactory. Unfortunately, everything changed when we arrived in Madinah.

We were booked into Deyar Al Eiman, also referred to as Kingsgate Hotel, which One Stop represented as a four-star hotel. The condition of the hotel was shocking. The rooms were untidy and dirty, there was thick dust everywhere, the beds were rock hard, the rooms were extremely small, and the bathrooms were dirty. It was nowhere near the standard we expected or paid for.

When we complained, we were told that the hotel had been rebranded and that this explained its classification. Whatever the explanation, the condition of the hotel was unacceptable. We paid over **R300,000 for our family’s Umrah package**, and being placed in accommodation of this standard was completely unacceptable.

We were subsequently offered a move to Ankira Hotel in Madinah, which was also represented as a four-star hotel, despite our concerns about its actual standard and its location on the opposite side of the mosque.

I then requested to be moved to Shaza Regency, a hotel I had stayed at before and knew would be more suitable. I had already lowered my expectations considerably. Initially, I was told I would have to pay extra to move there. I questioned this because Shaza Regency is a three-star hotel, while One Stop continued to insist that Kingsgate was a four-star property. Why should I have to pay extra to move to a lower-rated hotel when the accommodation provided did not meet an acceptable standard in the first place?

They then claimed they had checked Shaza Regency and could not find availability. Throughout this process, we received conflicting information from different people, and nobody seemed to know what was happening.

We were informed about a hotel option at around 12 pm. When we accepted Ankira Hotel at approximately 1 pm, we were then told that we had taken too long to respond and that the room was no longer available. This was incredibly frustrating, especially when Umar, the representative I was speaking to, had stated that we had been given options on the day we arrived in Madinah.

If we had genuinely been given the opportunity to move on arrival, we would have taken it. We would never have spent that night at Kingsgate.

The consequences were particularly distressing because my young son developed a severe chest infection and was vomiting while we were staying there. We had been at the hotel for less than 24 hours. I cannot definitively establish that the hotel caused his illness, but the amount of dust and the unhygienic conditions were extremely concerning, especially with a young child.

The treatment we received from their head liaison, whose name we unfortunately did not get, was equally appalling. Her attitude was incredibly rude and dismissive. I am not a confrontational person, but the way we were treated pushed me to the point of hyperventilating, crying, and experiencing what felt like a complete emotional breakdown. No customer should be put through this while travelling for such a meaningful and spiritual journey.

What makes the situation even more frustrating is that we were repeatedly made to feel as though we were the only people complaining about the hotel. However, fast-forward two weeks, and another traveller who had also booked through One Stop complained about the same hotel. They too were not upgraded unless they paid an additional R10,000.

This raises serious concerns about how One Stop represents its accommodation and handles legitimate customer complaints. We were told one thing, given contradictory explanations, and left feeling that our concerns were being dismissed rather than properly addressed.

My advice to anyone considering booking an Umrah package with One Stop Travel and Tours is to be extremely cautious. Do not rely solely on the star ratings or hotel descriptions they provide. Independently verify the actual hotels, their locations, and their standards before paying.

Spending over R300,000 on an Umrah package should not mean having to fight for clean, decent accommodation or being treated disrespectfully when things go wrong. The lack of accountability and the way this entire situation was handled left us deeply disappointed.

An Umrah journey should be a peaceful and spiritually fulfilling experience. Unfortunately, One Stop Travel and Tours turned a significant part of ours into an incredibly stressful and upsetting ordeal.

Based on our experience, I would not recommend them.