Holiday Claims

Claiming against tour operators and travel agents

If your hotel turned out to be a noisy, cockroach-infested building site, contrary to what the holiday company told you, or if any other brochure promises were broken, then you have a legal right to seek compensation from the tour operator for your unsatisfactory experience.

Package Holiday Regulations

Holidaymakers are protected by the Package Travel Regulations, as long as their holiday is booked as a package. That means that the holiday must:

• Must cover a duration of 24 hours or more
• Must be sold at an inclusive price and be pre-arranged
• At least two out of the accommodation, travel and tourist services (tour guides, day trips, etc) must be included in the deal. These regulations do not cover those who book flights or accommodation separately.

Prior to the holiday the tour operator must, under these regulations, provide the following information to the customer:

• Passport and visa
• Health requirements
• Provisions for repatriation (getting back home) if the operator goes out of business during your holiday

Any judicious traveller embarking on a package holiday should also make sure they obtain adequate information about the trip beforehand in the form of a contact which should include details such as the itinerary, contact details of a representative and information about any transport provided for moving between locations

Under the Package Travel Regulations the tour operator is responsible for nearly every aspect of the holiday from children’s entertainment to flights and from air-conditioning to car hire. If anything goes wrong then you probably stand a good chance of winning compensation from the company who organized the holiday. Indeed, the tour operator is liable for any failure to carry out its contract, even if that part of the contract was performed by another body, e.g. an airline providing the flights.

Making a holiday claim

If any element of your holiday turns out not as you expected, the first step is to register a complaint with the tour operator, which can be done by a provided form or by writing a letter. Always try to collect evidence, which can be in the form of photographs or videos of substandard facilities or testaments from other dissatisfied customers.

Send your initial complaint as early as possible so that the tour operator has ample opportunity to fix the problem before you get home and salvage what remains of your holiday.

If the problem was not addressed and you return home, write a letter to the travel company stating that they are in breach of the Package Travel Regulations and send this along with the evidence that you have gathered. In this letter you should make it clear that you are expecting compensation to be paid to you for the loss of enjoyment of your holiday, and give a figure with clear evidence of how it was arrived at. A solicitor will be able to help you calculate a reasonable compensation fee. To find expert affordable legal advice in your area, use our free Find a Solicitor Service.

The company should respond in full within 28 days. If you find their reply unsatisfactory (they reject your compensation claim outright or offer a derisory sum) then you should write back informing them of this and threatening to take the issue to arbitration or the small claims court if they do not back down and meet your demands.

Most package holiday providers are members of ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents). They provide an arbitration service for handling disputes between package holiday companies. The AITO (Association of Independent Tour Operators) may also be able to settle the dispute for you.

Arbitration

Arbitration is a quick, low-cost way of avoiding court action. In arbitration a third party (the arbitrator) hears both sides of a dispute and comes to a decision to resolve the issue. All arbitrators are impartial and their decision is legally binding on both sides, so you will not be able to go to court if you don’t get the decision you were hoping for.

The process is entirely document based, which means you don’t have to go to any intimidating hearing hearings. You do however need to be sure that you can formulate a cogent argument in writing if you want to be guaranteed a decent chance of succeeding.

Making a strong case to the arbitrator

Arbitrators, being the meticulous operators that they are, will take into account several factors when weighing up a case.

The most fundamental thing you must do when making your case is prove that the contract of the holiday has been broken by the tour operator. A contract comprises implied terms and express terms. Express terms are those stated explicitly in the contract, whereas implied terms are things that should be expected although not present in the contract, such as the holiday being of reasonable quality in accordance with the price paid.

You need to prove that the holiday suffered as a direct result of a breach of these terms of contract. This claim can be based on the following three points:

• Loss of value
• Out-of-pocket expenses
• Loss of enjoyment

If you make a complaint which is related to the quality of the services provided then you will have done everything possible to minimise the damage to the holiday and to give the operator ample opportunity to rectify the problem, which usually means reporting it while you are still there.

Other Options

In order to gain compensation for an unsatisfactory holiday, you could alternatively take the case to the Small Claims Court or invoke Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act (provided you paid by credit card).