Opinions on EasyJet abta case and arbitration

KMacc

Hi,

I went on holiday in mid-end April 2026 with 4 other members of my family, for which we paid approx.£1200 each for 7 days in a 5 star hotel(with breakfast) in Cyprus. We had been to this hotel twice before over the past decade and loved it but it had however changed hands in 2023. There were many short comings, including very poor room service, pool bar shut for 6 of the 7 days, a pool restaurant being worked on(it never did open), one or two internal restaurants which were shut, and a ice cream stand and Patiserie, all of which where not available. The easyJet holiday advertised all these amenities but did not deliver any. When we asked a staff member why the pool was shut, they said it’s because they had many last minute cancellations due to the Middle East conflict.

On returning from the holiday, I complained to easyJet and they offered £250 compensation. I made it clear that it wasn’t going to cut it and they just re-iterated the offer, so I want to abta and submitted a claim. Again, easyJet just reiterated that offer.

It does say the below on the advert…

“All hotel and room facilities are subject to safety and wellbeing measures (including height and/or weight restrictions on slides and rides), board basis, seasonal availability, opening times, age, dress code, and may attract additional charges.”

…however, we holidayed ‘in season’, so I suspect this does not cover the hotel.

Is my case strong enough to go to stage 2 arbitration?

eskbanker

Assuming you feel that a higher compensation figure would be appropriate, how much do you have in mind and how are you calculating it?

Do you have logs of having registered concerns/complaints with the hotel and/or EasyJet Holidays while there?

In terms of seasonality, I don't think it's as binary as in or out of season, in that some facilities might only be available in the peak summer season rather than in the 'shoulders'?

Woodstok2000

Can you name the hotel? Did you complain during the holiday to both easyjet and the hotel to give them a chance to fix the issues? What did they say ar the time?

As sbove, how much are you looking to get?

KMacc

Probably £200 each, as opposed to £50 and would base that on the impact to the holiday I.e loss of enjoyment. We picked this hotel based on amenities which is reasonable but 3/4 of amenities were essentially unavailable.

Didn’t log any complaints with the hotel but did with easyJet later. We were trying to have a positive stay and thought, what can complaining really do apart from make staff uneasy. However I know understand that this stuff can be important. We only questioned a member of staff about the pool bar being shut which was super inconvenient, given holidays are partly about relaxing by the pool with a cool drink.

The seasonality thing, I understand, but surely they cannot close 3/4 of amenities without being more explicit about it to prospective holiday makers? I understand that not all restaurants can be open but a pool bar is pretty key to anyone’s holiday. They’re also only open April to October so that would suggest that holiday makers would expect more of those amenities to be available.

KMacc

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82091072#Comment_82091072

It’s Grand Resort Hotel and Spa, Limassol Cyprus. I questioned staff about the pool bar being shut and they said due to a number of cancellations they didn’t find it worth opening which is frustrating because that’s not an acceptable reason not to open the pool bar I wouldn’t say.

Woodstok2000

To answer our original question, there's no harm going to ABTA Stage 2, but I think the fact you didn't complain to Easyjet at the time is going to be an issue, as you've not given them any chance to rectify the situation.

The hotel is also covered by the 'seasonality' clause. Summer season runs May-September in Cyprus so you were definitely on the shoulder. The hotel website says that the pool bar and gelateria are only available in the Summer. Also it's hard to tell if you missed out on any promised services or if it was just limited facilities.

For example, the pool bar was closed but there would have been drinks available at other bars so you've missed out on the convenience of a pool bar but not the drinks that were part of the package. With the restaurant, could you get similar food elsewhere or was that service missing completely?

Depending on exactly what you've missed out on, £30 per person per day seems on the high end. No reason not to try it, but I think you're going to have a fight on your hands so the more you can justify that figure the better chance you will have.

Humphreyshalfmoon

If you made no complaint 'on the spot' as the law requires you to, I fear you will have an uphill struggle in getting more. As has already been said, April is certainly not high season in Cyprus and this year, after the attack on the UK base, bookings were down, I think the figure was 40% and most hotels reduced staff as a consequence. If you do proceed, there is a cost which if you do not get an award in excess of the offer, you will be required to also pay a similar amount to the operator. Having said all that, Hunt ADR who run the scheme have been more generous in many cases than was the case in the past, but it is not a risk free option, just much quicker and less hassle than going to the County Court

KMacc

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82091313#Comment_82091313

There was one bar but you’d have to walk into the lobby with your swimsuit in to get a drink. I don’t see any mention of the summer opening of the pool bar and Gelateria on the website? I see reference to daily opening hours.

Woodstok2000

Takes a bit of searching, but it's here: https://grandresort.reserve-online.net/about

Westin

EasyJet Holidays website and the booking terms and conditions would be worth reading.

As another Poster has pointed out, not telling EasyJet Holidays about the issue at the time may go against your claim. There is every chance they didn’t know the situation at the hotel given that it seems you stayed right at the start of the summer season.

Section 20 of their T+C’s covers this.

They also say “Our holiday descriptions are based on research of hotels by our teams and information we receive from our suppliers. We plan your holidays many months in advance and changes to hotel information, facilities, activities, services and board basis can happen for a variety of reasons. Hotels may also be affected by building work or renovations and advertised facilities and activities may be temporarily unavailable, especially during times when hotels have lower occupancy at the start and end of seasons. If we're made aware of changes, we try to include updates on our website. If after booking, we consider that a change is important, we'll try and tell you about it”

NoodleDoodleMan

As above, failure to take up the issue with EasyJet staff whilst in the hotel was a major error of judgement.

It obviously will have a negative effect on retrospective claims for compensation.