I was astonished to read in the Travel Section of Saturday’s ‘Independent’ newspaper‘, an advertisment by a major tour operator, offering an ‘unbelievable value’ holiday to Sri Lanka!  In the same paper (page 2) I could see the headline ‘UN brokers exit strategy for children trapped in war zone’!  Pictures showed Tamil children queuing for food and a shocking picture of a malnourished child, showing ’scenes of utter misery and hardship, a government health official in the region claimed that at least five children were dying every day from diarrhoea and malnutrition and that many mothers are too emaciated to nurse their babies’.  This is a purely personal observation (I respect those who differ from me and I am sure that there will be those who state that their visit will help the very people in question etc etc), even if I decided to take the risk of travelling to such a country, I could not in all conscience travel to a country with such misery and ‘enjoy myself ‘ in a five star all-inclusive hotel with all that going on up the road so to speak! Read More

I have been following the woeful tale of Simon Calder’s visit to the ski resort of Morzine in the French Alps!  For those who don’t know Simon, he is a highly respected travel journalist, who produces ‘acres’ of comment on the state of travel and the experience of the traveller.  Simon was holidaying at a hotel in this resort, when he met with an unfortunate slipping accident in the restaurant area of the hotel.  Fortunately Simon does not appear to have suffered injury, but did suggest that ‘a judiciously placed sign warning of the slippery floor’ should be placed by restaurant staff to warn other guests!  Regrettably, Simon’s experience is one that is shared by many holidaymakers, albeit in different countries and resorts (I note that Simon refers to his ‘lack of care’ - given the circumstances I doubt that this was the case but this is a salutary tale of being careful what you say where a potential litigation situation arises!).  In addition, Simon then advises that he witnessed many chipped mugs, floors that often resembled the stickiness of a ‘Students Union bar’ and he valiantly acknowledges that guests can be messy but he could often tell tell at dinner what had been eaten by other guests at breakfast!  He tells of a French hotel that is ‘unable’ to provide cheese at dinner and by reference to travel review websites less than satisfactory room management. Read More

I have recently read a very interesting article on how a major Travel Industry brand is changing the face of holiday complaints resolution!  We are told that no longer will the customer “have to go through the process of putting all their complaints in writing as they can return to the agent through which they booked the holiday to resolve any issues that may have occurred”!  We are told that managers will be ‘”empowered” to resolve any complaints made to them!  In addition, they will be able to make “on the spot decisions on compensation!  This has got to be good, hasn’t it?  Well let’s not get too dizzy about this new automony because the travel agency managers are going to be backed up by a team back at HQ (I presume that these will be solicitors or paralegals), so will it be they or the travel agency that will be making the decisions? Read More

We are frequently contacted by holidaymaker’s who have confirmed Legionnaires Disease, which they received from their holiday destinations.  It was of concern and sadness to read of a recent outbreak in Cyprus, which affected 11 babies, several of whom had died.  There were no hotels or tourists involved within that outbreak.  What was of concern however, was to read that whilst Cyprus is a member of the European Union, it is not listed as a collaborator of The European Working Group for Legionella Infections.  Because they are not listed as ‘collaborators’, they are not signed up to the European Guidelines on how to deal with this terrible infection.  Now, it may be that Cyprus does have good systems for prevention and detection control (note this one only covering British Bases), but surely as a major holiday destination, they would want to promote real confidence within its health structures for intending holidaymakers whatever about its own population?  So come on Cyprus, collaborate with EWGLI and sign up to the European Guidelines! Read More

We recently heard from a holidaymaker who had suffered with serious illness on his holiday.  He remains seriously ill.  He was not the only one and he also became aware that other holidaymakers before him had also become ill.  When he returned home he did what most holidaymakers do, he wrote his letter of complaint to the tour operator.  This tour operator has been established for many years and is a member of a trade professional body.  The response the holidaymaker received from the tour operator was less than satisfactory, but not deterred, he continued to pursue a resolution to his holiday complaints through contact with the tour operator and seeking advice from a local law firm.  When this failed, he contacted this organisation and as he had clearly utilised a complaint process, he was offered and accepted a referral for free initial legal advices. Read More

Over the Christmas and New Year period we have been dealing with several group actions of very unhappy holidaymakers.  One such group had been to a hotel in Turkey several weeks previously.  When they arrived at their hotel they found that the conditions did not meet the standards that had been promised in the brochure.  Such complaints included, dimly lit hallways, light switches hanging off the walls, dirty rooms, foul smells, angry staff, the non-delivery of all-inclusive facilities, birds, flies and cockroaches landing/walking/eating the food on the ‘buffet’ and plates, and little in the way of inedible food.  Many people became ill. Read More

Apologies for not having written for sometime, we have been busy with group actions, producing the latest edition of our Travel-Zine and preparing a major report on the Consumer Perspective of Regulation under The Package Travel Regulations! Read More