Apartment Living: It pays to complain if your holiday home is smelly and small, Edel Morgan discovers

Your self-catering holiday apartment has plaster hanging off the ceiling, mould patches on the wall and a noxious smell of damp.

Do you: a) say nothing. You really don't need the hassle of complaining to the management, especially given the language barrier or b) complain and if all else fails scream blue murder until you get moved to another room?

I was recently presented with such a dilemma. Bleary eyed, I arrived at my destination in middle of the night. After being given the key to the apartment at reception, my travelling companion and I negotiated a maze of corridors, crossed a courtyard and gardens, felt our way through a dark tunnel leading to the pool, descended a flight of steps and passed two more corridors before reaching the apartment.

A porter who looked on the verge of collapse followed with the bags and opened the door. I wasn't sure if I was hallucinating with tiredness but from the half light of the verandah, the room looked poky, dowdy and as I approached the entrance, I was left in no doubt that it was very smelly.

We decided to get some sleep and see if things looked any better in the morning.They didn't. Tempted to let the matter go, we reasoned that the adjoining hotel was very nice, what we'd seen of the swimming-pool was impressive, and we wouldn't be there much during the day .

I could have lived with the crumbling plasterwork and the fact the wardrobe was positioned sideways in a tiny alcove so that only Jack Spratt himself could open its doors. But the rampant odour was the deciding factor - and the fact the holiday was far from cheap.

The holiday rep agreed the apartment was unacceptable and told the duty manager at the reception area we wanted to be moved. "S'not possible," he said, "we are fully booked."

He seemed to be in a state of denial and aghast at the suggestion that such a reputable establishment could have a substandard apartment. He said no one had ever complained about the apartment before.

A number of English holidaymakers overheard what was becoming a heated exchange. "Don't take it lying down," urged Tony and Julie from Norfolk. Another older couple chimed in "hear hear!"

Spurred on by their support, we told the manager we wouldn't stay in the apartment under any circumstances and they would have to sort it out. All of a sudden a room in the hotel became available where we could stay for two nights and then they'd move us to another apartment. Our holiday rep said she'd make sure that none of the holiday company's clients would be put in that apartment again.

When the day came to be moved back to an apartment, our hearts sank when it turned out to be the one next door. We couldn't believe what we saw.

It was twice the size of the previous one, with sofas, antique furniture, and a palatial bathroom. The kitchen was also very big and there was plenty of wardrobe space.

When we pulled the shutters up, we saw a couple being ushered in to the apartment next door. There was a momentary pang of guilt and the realisation that our apartment was probably meant for them. It was then we realised that it really does pay to complain.