ABTA Arbitration - do we have a chance?

hookguy

Hi all,

I'd appreciate your opinions on my ABTA case against Jet2 before I pay the £150 arbitration fee.

We took our baby on our first family holiday, a 'family-friendly' package that cost £2k but the hotel wasn't as advertised.

The main issues are that Jet2's website advertised "2 restaurants" and a "pool with a children's section". In reality, only one overcrowded, canteen-style restaurant was open for 600 rooms, and the pool was a single shared space with no safe area for infants, making it unusable for us. Buried in the website there is mention that the 2nd restaurant would only be open at certain times, but this information was not readily mentioned.

All the issues were raised first day of the holiday, we were left hanging for a response for 2-3 days until finally being told we would not be moved without paying in full for another hotel.

We complained again on coming home and have a final deadlock letter where Jet2 offers nothing. They claim it was a "difference of expectation" and, crucially, that only one restaurant was ever advertised for our dates. They also mention that the photos of the pool on the website show a 'shared space'.

Our key piece of evidence are multiple screenshots from their own website clearly showing "2 restaurants" were advertised on the main page of the hotel, plus photos of restaraunt queues and, other guest reviews backing us up re: the busy pools and restaurant. Our total claim is for just over £1000 to cover our out-of-pocket expenses as we left the resort to salvage our holiday, and for the loss of value.

So, the main question is: given they are provably wrong about a key facility, is our case strong enough to be worth paying the £150 fee to see it through with ABTA?

Thanks!

eskbanker

Difficult to guess how ABTA might view that - I'd say you have no chance of getting a 50% refund but perhaps worth sharing the key photos and screenshots that you feel illustrate your case, and those on the other side of the argument too?

"Buried in the website there is mention that the 2nd restaurant would only be open at certain times, but this information was not readily mentioned" isn't really a particularly strong argument to be honest, and if the hotel only opens the second restaurant at certain times, that would imply that they feel there's sufficient capacity in the open one to accommodate the occupancy at the other times, so the total number of rooms is likely to be less relevant than the number that were occupied.  What's the significance of mentioning the restaurant being "canteen-style"?

The existence or otherwise of a children's section in a pool should be more straightforward to judge with pictures though.

hookguy

Thanks for the reply. I have never been anywhere that thought it was acceptable to have this level of overcrowding throughout the resort. It does not make for a relaxing holiday. The resort really did need 2+ restaurants to make it acceptable. It should not be advertised as family friendly if infants and younger children are upset by how hectic it is. 

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the pool myself, but the images on the Jet2 website are just of a generic indoor pool with no mention or sign to show there being a children's section, and that was also the reality when we were there. You could argue this was information available on the website but you don't know how a pool will be cordoned off until you are there. 

swingaloo

I think you just have a general complaint maybe worth a gesture of goodwill. It was not the standard you expected but out of pocket expenses of £1000 is way excessive. Did other families feel the need to leave the resort?

Being honest, if I see  somewhere advertised as 'family friendly' I expect busy and noisy. How old is your child? you say baby but then mention younger children being upset by how busy it is.

I once went to Egypt with my sister in law and 3 children and despite the lovely photos online and the 5* rating the restaurant was a nightmare filled with children. I just put it down to the family friendly tag.

soolin

swingaloo said:

I think you just have a general complaint maybe worth a gesture of goodwill. It was not the standard you expected but out of pocket expenses of £1000 is way excessive. Did other families feel the need to leave the resort?

Being honest, if I see  somewhere advertised as 'family friendly' I expect busy and noisy. How old is your child? you say baby but then mention younger children being upset by how busy it is.

I once went to Egypt with my sister in law and 3 children and despite the lovely photos online and the 5* rating the restaurant was a nightmare filled with children. I just put it down to the family friendly tag.

I tend to agree about 'family friendly' meaning noisy and chaotic, I remember it well from when my own children were young, but they enjoyed having lots of other children to be around. As an older couple travelling now we tend to avoid any destination stating family friendly as we really don't like the noise and general chaos you often get. We've started going to much smaller resorts where they don't push the family side of things, and instead concentrate more on couples and the peace to 'unwind' .

eskbanker

hookguy said:

Thanks for the reply. I have never been anywhere that thought it was acceptable to have this level of overcrowding throughout the resort. It does not make for a relaxing holiday. The resort really did need 2+ restaurants to make it acceptable. It should not be advertised as family friendly if infants and younger children are upset by how hectic it is. 

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the pool myself, but the images on the Jet2 website are just of a generic indoor pool with no mention or sign to show there being a children's section, and that was also the reality when we were there. You could argue this was information available on the website but you don't know how a pool will be cordoned off until you are there. 

Are you saying that the photos on the website aren't of the actual pool, or just that you weren't impressed by the chosen method of cordoning off a children's section?

In the absence of the photos I have to say that it still doesn't sound a particularly convincing 'not as advertised' case so suspect that ABTA would probably agree with Jet2's characterisation as a "difference of expectation", or even if they do come down on your side might determine that a token gesture would be more appropriate than a 50% refund.

Alan_Bowen

I am sorry to say you are never going to get a 50% refund when you have made no complaint about the flights, accommodation or the food itself. A hotel with 600 rooms means 1200 adults plus children so it would be like feeding time at the zoo at meal times, hell on earth for many people. Did you travel out of season, where is this hotel so that perhaps we could have a look at the description? The only real issue appears to be the pool, was there no children's pool at all or just one you didn't like the look of? 

I fear your request for £1000 put you in the category of customer who expects far too much and therefore is offered nothing at all. Had you asked for £150 you might have got something, even if it was a voucher off another holiday. Because they have offered nothing, you only need to be awarded something by the arbitrator to get your fees back and the operator has to pay more than you to initiate arbitration which sometimes encourages them to offer something to save the hassle of arbitration. However jet2's owner is well known for not being particularly sympathetic to complainers, they are the only UK airline that refuses to go to arbitration over delayed flights, forcing people to sue, so you need strong evidence to show a misleading description before going to arbitration!

hookguy

Thank you all for your replies. Brutally honest just like I wanted!

It is definitely a learning point for me. I foolishly booked a family friendly resort assuming it would cater for infants as well but that apparently is shorthand for a particular type of hotel that I never want to step foot in again.

I'll also look at number of rooms/pools/restaurants a lot closer now. 

I do still feel the customer service was poor, they were misleadingly advertising the availability of 2 restaurants and children's section of a pool (which didn't exist). 

I thought £1000 was quite reasonable. Out of pocket expenses to salvage the holiday, plus 25% refund for loss of value/enjoyment. 

pattycake

I avoid any hotel billed as family friendly.  Been there done that but now I’m a grandparent it would be my idea of hell.  The two restaurants may well refer to a separate facility usually called a la carte which needs to be booked.  Often only opened certain nights of the week.  No doubt if you had trawled Trip Advisor reviews this would have been apparent.  Plus if other guests were as disappointed as you were, they would have been venting on review sites.

pattycake

To continue my post, I think you would be throwing your money away to chase this to arbitration.  Lesson learned to do tons of research before booking any package holiday.  We travel abroad at least 4 times a year and I’m scrupulous in checking everything out before parting with any money.

hookguy

pattycake said:

I avoid any hotel billed as family friendly.  Been there done that but now I’m a grandparent it would be my idea of hell.  The two restaurants may well refer to a separate facility usually called a la carte which needs to be booked.  Often only opened certain nights of the week.  No doubt if you had trawled Trip Advisor reviews this would have been apparent.  Plus if other guests were as disappointed as you were, they would have been venting on review sites.

I consider myself quite clued up with travel, I always check the reviews and this one had great reviews which was very surprising to me having been there

Chalk it up to lesson learned