Skiing Holiday lost to Coronavirus - please help!

Hobgoblin63

Myself, my wife and my daughter were due to go skiing this week, with Crystal Ski in La Thuile, in northern Italy.  We booked the holiday in mid-January.

The flight was due to depart from Gatwick (to Turin) at 06:30 on Sunday morning (8th March).  We travelled to Gatwick the night before, and checked into a hotel.  At that stage, the Foreign Office was advising only against travelling to 10 towns in northern Italy: a bit concerning, but we were still intending to travel.  The ski resort of La Thuile (and the Aosta Valley, in which it is situated) were reporting no cases of Coronavirus at that time, so we figured once we’d got there we would be relatively safe.

When we awoke at 03:00, I checked the BBC news website to find that the Italian government had extended the quarantine to include most of northern Italy.  Not Turin, admittedly, but still too close for comfort.  My wife and I have jobs that would make a period of self-isolation difficult, and my daughter is a health worker and had been told to avoid travelling to areas affected by Coronavirus that might then compromise her ability to work.  The advice on the Foreign Office website had not yet changed.

At that stage, we decided not to fly to Turin, but returned home.  Our intention was to book an EasyJet flight to Geneva for the following day (Monday) and book a transfer from there to La Thuile with a private transfer company.  We would lose a day of our holiday, but avoid Turin Airport which we thought was the riskiest part of the trip.  La Thuile is very close to the French and Swiss borders, and the transfer time from Geneva is comparable to that from Turin.  I tried to inform Crystal of this at the time, bit their phone line was not answered.

Just when I was about to book the flights/transfers (at 12:35 on Sunday) a friend sent me a text which alerted me to the fact that the local authorities in La Thuile had closed the resort for skiing, for the remainder of the season, due to the Coronavirus outbreak.  There was now no point in attempting to travel, via Geneva, or otherwise!  I emailed Crystal to let them know our situation.

Crystal have since informed me that I am not entitled to any refund from them since I chose not to travel before their ‘operational changes’ took place.

The cost of my holiday was £2756 in total.  Of this, £1389 was paid for lift passes, equipment hire and skiing lessons.  The remainder was for accommodation, flights and transfers, though the costs of these were not itemised.  My contention is that Crystal should give me a partial refund at least, on the lift passes, equipment hire and skiing lessons (and maybe even the accommodation).  I don’t know what has happened to those holidaymakers that did travel; whether or not they have been repatriated yet, or are due to receive any compensation or refund.

I’m pretty sure my insurance won’t cover us because we chose not to go, despite the Foreign Office was saying it was (at that time) safe to do so (the policy terms this ‘disinclination to travel’).

I’m not sure on the best way to proceed from here.  Any advice you have for me would be greatly appreciated! 

 

mattyprice4004

I'd lay out your complaint in a concise but relatively detailed manner, and explain that you're happy with a partial refund given the circumstances.

The waters are rather muddy with the disinclination to travel, but it's clear that you would have had little to no benefit if you had gone so they can't possibly expect full payment with no refund. 

Send the complaint to them giving them 14 days to act accordingly, and note that you'll proceed via Small Claims if they don't play ball. Stick to your guns and put together a sensible but fair claim with Small Claims if they don't agree to the partial refund.   

Hobgoblin63

Thanks Matty - that sounds like a good idea.  Do you think I should suggest a value I'm prepared to accept?  The lift pass + equipment hire + school fees are 50% anyway.  Had I been in resort I'm pretty sure I could have claimed that back!  Because I was attempting to make alternative travel plans, I am willing to forego the cost of the flights and transfer (although I'm not sure what the cost of those where individually).
We actually did Crystal a favour by not travelling, as it was three fewer people for them to repatriate. 
With the Small Claims court, am I meant to have an idea of what law I feel they have transgressed?  Is it the Sale of Goods Act?

Westin

I’d agree with the above but I would personally, for now at  least, leave out the threat of court action and even be prepared that the time scale of 14 days is perhaps unrealistic at the moment. Airlines and travel companies will be at breaking point. I think you have a very good defence for a refund or partial refund but I do think patience may be required for them to deal with this.  I suspect they need to contact their ground suppliers and negotiate refunds, rebates or concessions. If you fire the big gun now there is a possibility that they will just cast the matter to the side with a view that they will deal with it once it gets to the court papers being received.

Good luck though. What a horrid start to your holiday trip.

Hobgoblin63

Thanks Westin!  Your post makes good sense too!
I think in normal times, Matty's advice would be the right course of action, but these are not normal times.
I need to respond to Crystal soon though, if only to keep the dialogue going and show that I'm not going to meekly just give up.  I have been to La Thuile with Crystal the last 4 years, so maybe I should remind them of that in the first instance.