Legal advice - Hotel health and safety failure. Hotels.com

nearlyrich

I would rather see a rat trap box than a rat to be fair and like someone said you don't need to shout or cause a scene to get what you want with hotels...

wealdroam

esteban123 wrote: »

hi all.

I'm from England. Here you would not dream of finding something like that. I didnt realise the extent of this until after the holiday. I go on holiday to try and relax from work and not get into confrontation. I am also of the experience where action is best achieved usually through formal complaint.

The issue I have is that surely in the Netherlands this is a breach of health and safety? You DO NOT expect to have poison in your room, let alone in a hotel. It IS a failure in health and safety.

Furthermore, using an excuse of "Amsterdam has a rat problem" (which is part of the reply i received from hotels.com) is laughable. London has a rat problem, never came across a rat box in stays there.

However I am inexperienced in legal rights and was looking for someone with perhaps experience in this / someone who perhaps has had a remotely similar case.

OR

experience of dutch / hotel law

But, but, but, you have missed the point.

You have suffered no loss, have you?

Even if the hotel has broken some law, you are entitled to nothing... other than the satifaction of knowing that you have done the right thing and reported them.

If you found a hotel with the fire escape blocked and the door locked, then yes they have broken the law.

However, that doesn't mean you are entitled to a refund... unless you sufferred a loss.

I am also from England.

GwylimT

I wouldn't want to stay in a hotel that didn't take measures such as rentokil, some of us don't want to dine or sleep with rodents. All food shops in the UK will have several rodent trap throughout the premises, as will anywhere with a kitchen serving the public, ever noticed that hotels have kitchens? Schools have rodent traps and bait, the horror!

mountainofdebt

Surely the best people to discuss the rights and wrongs of this is with the Dutch / Amsterdam Tourist Board? Wouldn't they be in a better position to know the legal position in the Netherlands rather than people who visit a British website.

I'm from Wales btw

Bantex_2

esteban123 wrote: »

hi all.

I'm from England. Here you would not dream of finding something like that. I didnt realise the extent of this until after the holiday. I go on holiday to try and relax from work and not get into confrontation. I am also of the experience where action is best achieved usually through formal complaint.

The issue I have is that surely in the Netherlands this is a breach of health and safety? You DO NOT expect to have poison in your room, let alone in a hotel. It IS a failure in health and safety.

Furthermore, using an excuse of "Amsterdam has a rat problem" (which is part of the reply i received from hotels.com) is laughable. London has a rat problem, never came across a rat box in stays there.

However I am inexperienced in legal rights and was looking for someone with perhaps experience in this / someone who perhaps has had a remotely similar case.

OR

experience of dutch / hotel law

Why would it be a breach in H and S? What is the danger?

mynameisdave

15 previously replies and it still hasn't been posted.

A child could have eaten it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh2sWSVRrmo


edit: Or, I suppose, an adult that has been experiencing Amsterdam for its cafe culture....

lucy03

esteban123 wrote: »

hi all.

I'm from England. Here you would not dream of finding something like that. I didnt realise the extent of this until after the holiday. I go on holiday to try and relax from work and not get into confrontation. I am also of the experience where action is best achieved usually through formal complaint.

The issue I have is that surely in the Netherlands this is a breach of health and safety? You DO NOT expect to have poison in your room, let alone in a hotel. It IS a failure in health and safety.

Furthermore, using an excuse of "Amsterdam has a rat problem" (which is part of the reply i received from hotels.com) is laughable. London has a rat problem, never came across a rat box in stays there.

However I am inexperienced in legal rights and was looking for someone with perhaps experience in this / someone who perhaps has had a remotely similar case.

OR

experience of dutch / hotel law

Going back a little you would have to take legal action against either hotels.com or the hotel. In this case it seems you've paid the hotel directly, although this probably makes little difference as I understand from previous posters that legal action against hotels.com has to be taken in Dallas. So, as you suggest Dutch law would prevail, which would already IMO be a substantial headache to progress for the sums involved. Taking legal action in another country is rarely something to be undertaken lightly.

I'm not sure if it is a breach of health and safety, but if it is, then you should absolutely contact the Amsterdam authorities regarding it.

As for compensation, you could have discovered at the end of your stay that the window was about to fall out onto the street below. But unless you fell out of it then you've suffered no apparent financial loss to pursue the hotel for. In your case, unless there's some medical issue with your stay which you have a paper trail for from doctors and the like, then I don't see what loss you've suffered to make a claim for.

If you can quantify what your losses are, then that would be the base of your claim. If you have no losses then IMO you best option is to leave a review on TripAdvisor and leave it at that.

Poppie68

What are you moaning at? You stayed there the entire weekend without noticing the poison and nothing happened...Amsterdam do have a mouse and rat problem due to the canals and old buildings...did you not realise this before you went? They help to solve the problem by setting these traps otherwise it could be a case of 3 or more in the bed!!!
It does happen in the UK as well i stayed in a very old wiltshire hotel and they had these little boxes around the hotel and in the room.

If you are intent on legal action you better have alot of money and be prepared to fight the law in another country for something that in no way effected your trip or your life...Save your strength for real problems that will come your way in your lifetime.

George_Michael

esteban123 wrote: »

Furthermore, using an excuse of "Amsterdam has a rat problem" (which is part of the reply i received from hotels.com) is laughable

But according to your first post, the reply you received did not state this did it?

However, considering that Amsterdam has always had a mouse problem

There are many differences both in physical size and the possible health implications between mice and rats so just because the city has a mouse problem doesn't mean that there is also a rat problem.

esteban123 wrote: »

I do want a refund

And I want a night time visit from Cameron Diaz but that's not going to happen either.

stevemLS

Surely you would prefer a visit from her boyfriend, George?