ABTA Arbitration Advice Please/Chance of Success

DisneyTheresa

Looking for help on whether anyone with experience in ABTA Arbitration thinks we would have chance of getting at least £3000 refund for our holiday. This is long post: there were also customer service issues (we were treated diffierently after we raised issues, ignored etc) and 1 resturant was closed (I have WhatsApp evidence). All issues raised with the hotel while on holiday and with the Jet2 Rep. Hotel Operations Manager refused to provide us with an email detailing all the issues we raised (we have names, dates, times and photos).

Overview

Booked through Jet2, Grecotel Luxme White, Crete from 30th April 2025 to 7th May 2025 as part of the Luxe Collection. Cost £5,153.49 for 1 week mainly due to the upgraded accommodation with private heated pool. This is supposed to be a 5 start hotel. Checked TripAdvisor before and it had very positive reviews (all our negative reviews onTripAdvisor post holiday were removed – so we no longer trust that site) The issues were:-

Frozen Food

Marketed as “fantastic culinary fare” and “fine dining restaurants.” However, a significant amount of the food is “frozen”, including at the “fine dining” restaurant. It was up to us to spot the small * next to each item and then look for what this meant at the bottom of the menu where it can be easily missed (and only in English). The statement reads “dishes marked with * have been frozen”. Implying that the entire DISH is frozen, not just the proteins. How can we confirm the quality of this? How is this not the same as any ready meal I could heat at home? What is actually being cooked and what is being reheated?! We have copies of all the menus. We would never have booked this hotel if we had known they used frozen food. We also checked the Hotel website before booking which listed food as fresh and other marketing hyperbole. We rasied this with the operations manager who said they would tell the resturants to serve us fresh food (how can we believe this happened) we had already eaten in the buffett for 2 days before this, where they also serve frozen food, but don't tell anyone).

Flooding, Room Temperature & Misleading Claims Around “Heated” Private Pool

• We booked a very expensive room; the Villa Luxe Yali Seafront, which had a private pool. I acknowledge that it stated the pool could be heated to 25 degrees on the booking information.
• The pool heating system in our first villa was broken. Took unitl 4pm the next day to be moved to another room and we had to wait for the water to heat up. So that was 2 days that we lost the use of the pool. The weather the first 3 days was horrendous and there was no way you could use the pool unheated. Even when the weather imrpoved the water was never warm just aired.
• Operations manager told us when “working,” the pool only reaches a maximum of 25°C at best, the hotel often sets this at 22/23 degrees. Even 25°C the water is not warm to swim in and would still feel cold and that the Hotel relies on the sun heating the pool! We were astounded at this revelation.

Do we have any claim that 25°C is not ‘heated’ as described, as heated means warm and the pool was not warm?

Safety and Security Concerns

One of the most alarming issues was the complete lack of guest security, particularly at the hotel entrance and reception:

• People could walk in and out freely without checks, ID, or keycard access.
• No tagging or identification system for luggage, guests could remove any bags from reception with no verification. There was no ticket system like in every other hotel we have stayed in, where you produce the matching ticket attached to your case. The staff have no idea whose cases are whose. We witnessed this with our own luggage.
• The absence of security personnel at entrances or common areas is a major breach of basic safety protocols.
• People can easily enter the hotel, use the sunbeds, and eat at the buffet without detection (they do not ask for your room number at the Buffet). This is deeply concerning.
• The Yali accommodation supposedly had a private walkway for Yali guests to access the beach. This could not have been further from private. There was a sign that stated the walkway was private on the gates at either end; which every single person ignored. The lock didn’t work and even if it did, you could reach over and unlock it. There was a constant stream of people walking past. We had children run up our steps while we were sunbathing and people staring. One woman even climbed the corner of the fence and peered round into our private space (we were on the end) to see how she could get to her room! Another example of a premium feature that was a factor in our selection of the room; which was a complete failure.

Substandard Room Control and Poor Climate Options

The room temperature was centrally controlled by the Hotel. We could not adjust it ourselves, but it gave the illusion you could! This was set to heating and not air conditioning. The Hotel control the heat and air conditioning centrally for the whole hotel! The temperature was about 24°C outside yet the Hotel still had the climate control on heat and that it had to be changed for the whole Hotel, not just for our room. I was astounded, this is supposed to be a 5 star hotel and I cannot decide on the temperature of my room. I can set the room temperature in the Premier Inn, a budget Hotel! They changed to air conditiomning after I called again on about the 5th day of our 7 day stay, after I told them I had medical need for cool air.

Jet2 have refused my refund request three times despite strong evidence. Their reasons are:

• They claim the holiday was delivered “in line with the package booked” and that my issues come down to “personal standards” or “expectations.”
  
  
• They say they only act if “a wider pattern of complaints” emerges, even telling me on a recorded call (that I have) that “no matter how much evidence you submit, we'd have to have hundreds of complaints before we would refund you as the hotel is operating correctly.”
  
  
• They argue frozen food is acceptable because it’s “safe” and “consistent,” ignoring that they marketed the holiday as fine dining, gourment food. 

• They ignore the 2 days loss of use of the pool, justify the unusable pool by saying heating to 25°C meets the description, even though they’ve now admitted they are reviewing how it’s marketed because it misleads customers.
  
  
• They have completely ignored the lack of security around of luggage, entrances etc but stated that we deserve privacy. Ignored the air conditioning.
  

• They admit they are reviewing three things I raised (pool description, food representation, and guest privacy/security) but still insist these are not “failings” — just feedback.

• They point to gestures from the hotel (e.g. a cooking class (it was cold food prep), or room move) and treat this as if it resolves the matter, even though none of these addressed the actual problems.

In short: Jet2 admit our complaints have triggered internal reviews, yet dismiss them in our case by saying the hotel is “operating normally” and that token gestures were sufficient.

It's been so emotionally draning, it was meant to be a luxury relaxing holiday in a 5 star hotel, with privacy. I just don't know if it's worth more stress and upset to continue or would small claims court be better.

Thanks for reading 

eskbanker

DisneyTheresa said:

Looking for help on whether anyone with experience in ABTA Arbitration thinks we would have chance of getting at least £3000 refund for our holiday.

I can't speak from experience of ABTA arbitration but would be astounded if you managed to achieve a £3K refund from a £5K holiday like that, and would set expectations more in £300 territory, if that, but how have you calculated £3K?

Isthisforreal99

You mention 'markerting hyperbole' but all your complaints are hyperbole. As an example 

• The absence of security personnel at entrances or common areas is a major breach of basic safety protocols

I mean is that really your expectation?

Getting a refund of £3,000. Chances zero.

twopenny

My experience with ABTA is that it looks at both sides but is taking only facts, not expectations or disappointment.
They certainly won't be siding with you to the tune of that amount or even sorting it all out for you.

Reviews on TripAdvisor of the negative sort are too easy to fall foul of the guidelines. 
If you want to follow through with that then write your review in a word document and copy it to a post on the Support Forum for experienced criticism. They can help spot where you are going against the guidelines. 

Was security of luggage a feature mentioned on the hotel site?
The hotel marked where food was from frozen so that was clear. Some of the top restaurants freeze some parts of dishes.
The privacy? We're there outside people using what was designated a private beach? Or just the walkway?
I know in Egypt they have a security guy to stop people moving between hotel beaches. I got caught out not realising it was private.

NoodleDoodleMan

Some unusual comments on safety and security.

"People could walk in and out freely without checks, ID, or keycard access."

Hotels are open to the public in my long experience, only need for a key/keycard is for your room or any dedicated lounge/area which has restricted access.

I wouldn't expect a guardroom or sentry posted in a hotel.

People can easily enter the hotel, use the sunbeds, and eat at the buffet without detection (they do not ask for your room number at the Buffet). This is deeply concerning.
The buffet observation is contradictory.I have no experience of ABTA mediation, however your case won't be helped by including claims which are well outside normal expectations - these just detract from genuine complaints.

DisneyTheresa

The frozen food is not mentioned at the time of booking and only when you are sat down in the resturant and handed a menu. It's not just one or two things it's practically every protein. The hotel listed the food as fresh which I know doesn't count beacuse Jet2 did not use the words 'fresh' but described it as Gourment Food and Fine Dining, which frozen food is not. This is a 5 star hotel. So bascially unless it says fresh in the description when booking they can do whatever they like.

People were using what was a stated as a private walkway for the villas we were staying in and then coming in to our private space. Each villa had their own sunbeds and pool.

Can anyone with experience comment on the others issues, like not being able to use the pool for 2 days, the descption said air conditioning, which was only on when the hotel switched it over and not for us to control. Would this be taken in to consideration bearing in mind that the upgrading of the room was very expensive?

eskbanker

Appreciate that you may not be receptive to more 'devil's advocate' posts but I'd add that many of your grievances may be genuine, but aren't necessarily particularly significant, in terms of warranting any compensation, never mind the bulk of your holiday cost.

You point out that the weather was horrendous at the start of your holiday (making the pool too cold) but then are simultaneously unhappy that air conditioning hadn't been switched on - not saying that these cancel each other out or aren't worth a bit of a complaint, but personally I wouldn't see either as justifying a massive compensation claim.

ABTA arbitration costs £150 and they say "Be realistic and fair about the amount you’re claiming", so how have you come up with the 60% refund figure?

Isthisforreal99

You could have used the pool, you chose not to because it was 'too cold'. Been in pools below 22 degrees and survived using words like 'astonished' doesn't help your case.

DisneyTheresa

eskbanker said:

Appreciate that you may not be receptive to more 'devil's advocate' posts but I'd add that many of your grievances may be genuine, but aren't necessarily particularly significant, in terms of warranting any compensation, never mind the bulk of your holiday cost.

You point out that the weather was horrendous at the start of your holiday (making the pool too cold) but then are simultaneously unhappy that air conditioning hadn't been switched on - not saying that these cancel each other out or aren't worth a bit of a complaint, but personally I wouldn't see either as justifying a massive compensation claim.

ABTA arbitration costs £150 and they say "Be realistic and fair about the amount you’re claiming", so how have you come up with the 60% refund figure?

Thanks for your helpful comments. Bad weather was for 2 days, after that the weather improved and the hotel still had it set to heating. I called reception and was dismissed and maintenance said it was working but you couldn't feel that air coming out. It wasn't until 5 days in that I looked up the control panel (I thought it was faulty like the pool heater in the first villa) and saw that it was not on the snowflake. I am living with cancer so was very uncomfortable during those days especially at night. It was only when I called again and got to speak to the manager that I found out it was centrally controlled - they could have told me this when I called before as they must have known. It was only the last 2 nights when they changed it over that we had air conditioning,

Regarding the amount I was aiming high due to everything combined, given the negativity of the comments I have received there seems no chance of getting that much, or anything............ I thought that the arbitration costs were paid by the holiday company.

This was a huge amount of money to pay for 1 week. Lesson learned I won't be paying that much to upgrade and take what is said by holiday companies with a pinch of salt. The point of paying for a "heated" pool as advertised was for it to be warm as that is exactly what heated means. It's not a question of 'surving in pools under 22 degress'. There need another term used to market a pool when max 25 degrees doesn't make the water warm. 

Thank you again for being polite

Isthisforreal99

How many of there were you? Let's say 2 and assume the flight element was £1200 for 2 ( prob more knowing Jet2), that leaves around £4k (less if more than 2) for the hotel side of which you want 75% re-imbursed. 

You have got to be realistic.

NoodleDoodleMan

I was curious and had a quick look at TripAdvisor reviews - Excellent 1539 / Good 423 / Average 169 / Poor 57 / Terrible 41.

These stats don't nullify bad experiences of course.

There is another negative comment about the Asian restaurant.