Jet2Holidays offering to change hotel, destination & even duration due to construction in our hotel

col1981

Jet 2 holidays have contacted me yesterday with the attached email offering to allow us to change our hotel, travel dates, duration and even  destination of travel due to maintenance / construction work ongoing in our hotel. the only caveat is that we pay the difference in cost, or will be refunded the difference. 
We cannot find a property in the same destination in the same class for the same or lesser value. we have found several properties in other countries however the the price is over £2,500 more, which we cant afford. With Jet2 Holidays offering us free of charge to change dates, destinations, durations of holiday we asked for a a full refund, which they have stated that that isn't on offer, when we have asked this to be salted they have stated that there is no-one to escalate this to. any advice would be appreciated.

elsien

I think the debate here is whether the building work will have a significant impact on your holiday. Given they are not offering you a refund but  a goodwill gesture of a change, that seems to indicate that they don’t think your holiday will be significant impacted. And though there are less pools open, pool facilities are still available So I suppose it’s more about the noise impact. 

When are you due to travel? And if the work has started is there anything on any of the review sites to show how much noise there is?

eskbanker

The Package Travel Regulations, and Jet2's own Ts & Cs reflecting these, recognise a key distinction between significant and insignificant changes, and if anything is deemed to be the former then this triggers an obligation for them to offer you a refund if you prefer not to proceed with the trip, whereas you're effectively expected to suck up any insignificant changes.

So, if they're not offering a refund, that implies that they don't see the change as significant, and are offering you the ability to change as a goodwill gesture, rather than accepting any legal or contractual obligation to do so - the apparent availability of alternative pools would suggest that they perceive the features not to be materially impacted, and so they don't consider it necessary to offer a refund.

bagand96

I think Jet2 are being crafty here.  From their T&Cs Terms & Conditions | Jet2holidays:

8. If we change your holiday

It is unlikely that we will have to make any changes to your booking, but we do plan the arrangements many months in advance. Occasionally, we may have to make changes and we reserve the right to do so at any time. We will contact you by email and/or phone to discuss. Please check your email account regularly for emails from us.  

Insignificant changes: Sometimes facilities described in our brochure/website may be withdrawn for reasons beyond our control. Where possible, we will tell you about the withdrawal of any facility as soon as possible. Insignificant changes include alteration of your outward/return flights by less than 12 hours, an additional airport stop en-route to your final destination, changes to aircraft type, change of accommodation to another of the same standard, change of embarkation/disembarkation point to another in the same city or region and changes of carriers. No compensation is payable for insignificant changes to your holiday. 

Significant changes: If we are constrained by circumstances beyond our control to alter significantly any of the main characteristics of the travel services that make up your package you will have the rights set out below. Examples of a significant change are: change of your UK departure airport to one in an area significantly more inconvenient to you; complete change of destination/resort; a change of more than 12 hours to the time you leave the UK or your destination; if we downgrade your accommodation by one full star rating (where applicable) or where we miss out the main advertised place or event on your itinerary. If we have to make a significant change to your holiday, we will inform you or your travel agent as soon as reasonably possible (provided there if there is time before your departure.) You will have the choice of either accepting the change of arrangements, accepting an offer of alternative travel arrangements of comparable standard from us if available (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value), or cancelling your booked holiday and receiving a full refund of all monies paid for the holiday, except for any amendment fees. We will tell you the procedure for making your choice at the time. We will pay compensation as detailed in clause 10 below for all significant changes except where the majora significant change is due to “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances”. 

So are they saying it's an Insignificant or Significant change to your holiday?  In their eyes it's Insignificant as they don't want to offer you a refund.  However they then go on to offer you all of the options they'd offer under a Significant change, apart from a cancellation and refund.

They seem to be hiding behind the fact this is a goodwill gesture which protects them from admitting it's a significant change.