Package holiday hotel closed

[Guest]

Hi all,

Hope somebody can help. I booked a holiday with a travel company last year before the pandemic due to go at the end of July. Now the FCO have lifted the ban in international travel. It would appear that our flights will be going ahead although not confirmed yet. I have since found out that the hotel we booked for has closed for the remainder of the season.

I have contacted the holiday company who have not come back to me. I suspect that they will contact me to tell me that they have found an alternative hotel after we have paid our final instalment next week. giving us no time to make a decision on the the replacement hotel

A few questions. Do we have the right to refuse the alternative hotel? If we did refuse would we have the right to a refund for the hotel costs. I understand we probbaly would not get the cost of the flights back. We have no wish in going on holiday this year so I'm hoping to recoup as much as the costs as possible without losing too much money. Could we even get a full refund of the holiday due to the circumstances? I understand this is a tough time for travel companies but it's a tough time for the consumer too.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Taz

[efpom]

Where is the destination?

You might wish to read https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/...lation/11/made

You may also wish to read
https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...us-and-refunds

[signify]

Hiya,

Thanks for the reply I'm the OP indidnt realise I had already registered.

We are going to Spain Mallorca.

Thanks for posting the links above. Although it seems like a complex read, It seems like we could be protected and that a refund could be possible.

Seems like the holiday company needs to be more transparent and if things have changed with the package, then surely they need to be in constant contact reassuring customers offering options. Seems like they are waiting till last minute and not giving customers a chance to opt out after final payments are made.

Thanks
Taz

[efpom]

The facts:
You booked a package holiday.
The hotel you booked is closed and will remain closed at the time of your holiday.
The organiser has not responded to your request for clarification about whether it intends to provide an alternative hotel.
You are soon due to pay over further sums to the organiser, pursuant to the contract.
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Regulation 11 and 12 of The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 are both in play.
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Regulation 11
(2) The organiser must not unilaterally change the terms of a package travel contract before the start of the package, other than the price in accordance with regulation 10, unless—
(a)the contract allows the organiser to make such changes;
(b)the change is insignificant; and
(c)the organiser informs the traveller of the change in a clear, comprehensible and prominent manner on a durable medium.
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The substitution of your booked hotel is probably not “insignificant”
The organiser has not yet complied with it’s contractual obligation to inform you of the change.
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Turning to Regulation 12 (7) & (8)
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(7) Notwithstanding paragraphs (2) to (6), in the event of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occurring at the place of destination or its immediate vicinity and which significantly affect—
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(a)the performance of the package, or
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(b)the carriage of passengers to the destination,
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the traveller may terminate the package travel contract before the start of the package without paying any termination fee.
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(8) Where the package travel contract is terminated under paragraph (7), the traveller is entitled to a full refund of any payments made for the package but is not entitled to additional compensation.
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In the absence of another reason e.g. the hotel has burnt to the ground. It is reasonable to suppose that the true reason the hotel has closed and will not reopen by the time you are due to embark on the holiday is because of the effect of covid 19. That state of affairs is clearly *“unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occurring at the place of destination and which significantly affect— (a)the performance of the package”.
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You may wish to consider sending correspondence to the organiser along the following lines.
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You have not responded to our request for information about the closure of our chosen hotel. You have not proposed any alternative hotel – see Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 Regulation 11. One effect of that is that you have prevented us from making the transactional decision described at 11(5)
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Further, the closure of the booked hotel, provides strong evidence that the unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occurring at the place of destination have significantly affected the performance of the package.
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I therefore terminate the contract and require you pursuant to your duty un the Regulations, to refund all monies paid over to you pursuant to the contract no later than 14 days from the date of this letter.
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