Matt Anderson had booked a dream trip to Cape Verde for December 2016 through Thomson’s tour company.
Mr Anderson, 46, requested a wheelchair accessible room, even providing a letter from his GP as evidence of his disability.
However, upon arriving at the hotel at Boa Vista, the self-employed personal trainer was told that an accessible room had only been requested, rather than reserved for him.
The five-star hotel had no accessible room available and, after ringing around other local hotels, staff informed Mr Anderson that nowhere else did either.
From there, the Christmas holiday that had cost him and partner Shelley Grainger £2,800 quickly descended into a nightmare.
The hotel found a ground-floor room for the pair – but Mr Anderson’s wheelchair couldn’t fit through the bathroom door.
He was forced to use the toilet in the hotel lobby.
The shower was off limits too, as there was a large step up to it – leaving Mr Anderson to wash in the sink.
“I had to wash at the sink – I stunk,” he told The Sun Online.
“I was covered in suntan cream and sweating because it was hot – it ruined the holiday.
“I get one week off a year and like to de-stress, but this ended up being more stressful.”
Mr Anderson added: “Why would you send someone 3,000 miles away, who is obviously disabled, to a place with no accessible room?”
Having complained to Thomson, he received a standard apology letter.
The tour operator wrote: “It is important to highlight the difference between your actual holiday booking, and the requests you have made.
“A request is actually not part of your holiday contract with us and we are unable to guarantee any of these for you. Of course we will do everything possible to meet these requests, however, this is not always possible.”
A Thomson spokesperson told Express.co.uk: “We’re sorry to hear of Mr Anderson’s holiday experience and we will be in direct contact with the customer to resolve the matter. We are concerned to hear that their holiday fell short of expectations and will take the feedback on board to review our processes as appropriate.”
