Jet2 cancelled my holiday!

KK14 · 26 October 2019 at 12:52PM

So late last Monday evening, I received an email from Jet2 saying that the hotel I had specifically booked for Rhodes Town was closing down early for the season & would no longer accommodate my booking. I was meant to go on holiday tomorrow. The holiday had been booked longer than a few months in advance as my boyfriend works in a school & can only have his holidays when the school does!

I have been to Rhodes before so I’m familiar with the island & specifically wanted to stay in Rhodes Town as the rest of the island is shutting down for the season. They offered to put us up in a hotel in Kalithea which is 20/30 mins out of Rhodes Town & there is nothing really there apart from hotels.

We were absolutely gutted but had no choice but to accept a full refund which is ok but then trying to book anything else for half term was impossible. Hotel availability was there but nothing for flights.

I do have travel insurance but couldn’t make a claim
as the cancellation reasons don’t match with the tour operator cancelled as there is no option for this. I’m not sure after Thomas Cook going under that any insurance company would still have this option under cancellation or did I just choose the wrong policy ?

Jet2 also have a policy not to just refund the money for the hotel but for everything as we could have kept the flights & then booked a hotel only the return flights had got that ridiculously expensive that we would have ended up paying more for the holiday than in the first place.

Should Jet2 offer me more compensation for this? I looked on their website & it seems they should since they cancelled 0 to 7 days of the holiday taking place.
We have obviously spent money on new clothes & it isn’t just that, we are gutted that we aren’t going to enjoy a week in the sun!

photome · 26 October 2019 at 1:02PM

If you have had a full refund why would insurance come in to the equation.

I would be surprised if Jet 2 t and c allow for a full refund plus compo

heatherw_01 · 26 October 2019 at 1:17PM

Their website states:

We aim to provide your holiday as booked but reserve the right to cancel your travel arrangements, if for example, the minimum number of customers required for a particular travel arrangement is not reached. However, we will not cancel your travel arrangements less than 2 weeks before your departure date, except for (i) unavoidable and extraordinary circumstance; or (ii) in the event that we reasonably believe that there has been a fraudulent payment or a booking has been made for fraudulent or illegitimate purposes; or (iii) if the lead name or a member of the booking party has been banned from travelling with Jet2holidays or Jet2.com. Save in the scenarios described in (ii) or (iii) above, if we are unable to provide the booked travel arrangements, you can either have a refund of all monies paid or accept an offer of an alternative holiday of comparable standard from us, if available (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value).

If we cancel your holiday other than for the reasons set out above, we will pay you compensation as set out in clause 10 below.

So as the hotel is closing down then I would assume that falls under "unavoidable and extraordinary circumstance" and therefore no compensation.
They did offer you a different hotel albeit in a different area but as you didn't want that you got a full refund.

Westin · 26 October 2019 at 1:52PM

Booking end of season holidays to the Greek Islands has always been a gamble. Greek hoteliers seem to decide at short notice that they have had enough for the season and just close up. I expect they had low arrivals in the last week of the season, perhaps the weather was poor, and decided to cut their losses. I understand your frustration and annoyance but just one of those things. Jet2 have offered an alternative which you did not like, so the full refund is the next best thing. IMO no additional compensation but you might possibly (politely) request a discount voucher off rebooking an alternative at another time. They sometimes give discretionary £50-£100 (per booking) vouchers.

TELLIT01 · 26 October 2019 at 3:31PM

Unfortunately you have probably been caught up in the fall out from the failure of Thomas Cook. Hotels which had a large proportion of TC rooms are finding it's simply not viable to stay open for the small numbers from other tour operators and direct bookings. One FB group for a location in Rhodes have said that accommodation and restaurants there are closing early because of this.
No consolation to you, but I'd be inclined to contact Jet2 to see if they will give a discount against a future holiday.

KK14 · 26 October 2019 at 4:19PM

Yes - the operations guy I spoke to did also blame the fall out from Thomas Cook for this & I don’t blame the hotel for having to close early. I would have thought Jet2 might try to secure some accommodation in the area.
The weather has been great in Rhodes so that would be a positive. It would be great if they offered a bit more discount for a future holiday.

jonesMUFCforever · 26 October 2019 at 4:25PM

Westin wrote: »

Booking end of season holidays to the Greek Islands has always been a gamble. Greek hoteliers seem to decide at short notice that they have had enough for the season and just close up. I expect they had low arrivals in the last week of the season, perhaps the weather was poor, and decided to cut their losses. I understand your frustration and annoyance but just one of those things. Jet2 have offered an alternative which you did not like, so the full refund is the next best thing. IMO no additional compensation but you might possibly (politely) request a discount voucher off rebooking an alternative at another time. They sometimes give discretionary £50-£100 (per booking) vouchers.

I think everybody gets £60 off - they give you vouchers on the plane or in your hotel pack so perhaps go for a slightly higher figure.

leylandsunaddict · 26 October 2019 at 8:47PM

Jet2 also have a policy not to just refund the money for the hotel but for everything

It's not Jet2 policy. You bought a single contract package. You can't keep just one of the elements. It's all or nothing.

getmore4less · 26 October 2019 at 10:54PM

You could have taken the offer and just booked a different hotel paying for that.

Package regulations you should be covered for extra costs if you had any but not for the increased cost of an alternative holiday.

TELLIT01 · 27 October 2019 at 11:10AM

Any amount refunded for the hotel would have been minimal. Tour operators will typically pay about a quarter of the price somebody would have to pay for booking direct. Too late now, but it would probably have worked out better for the OP if they accepted the alternative hotel, but book separately for an available one in Rhodes Town.

Jet2 cancelled my holiday!

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