Holiday Hassles – this isn’t what it looked like in the brochure!

Through your comments here on Which? Convo, and those collected via our Stop the Holiday Hassles campaign, we’re using your feedback to uncover and tackle shoddy practice in the holiday industry.

For Gerri the prospect of travelling abroad is just too much like hard work:

‘I have no desire to travel abroad as I resent the time and hassle with the whole procedure. I stay in UK for my holidays now.’

And it’s a sentiment Wavechange echoed too:

‘Am I supposed to be whinging about problems with airports, misfortunes with luggage going to a different destination, lost wallets, trying to make myself understood by people who don’t speak the language. Been there and done that. I want to go on holiday to enjoy every minute of it.’

It’s great to see the good old ‘Staycation’ playing a part in your holiday plans. But whether you holiday abroad or in the UK, these first few weeks of campaigning have highlighted  that your accommodation should be as described and travel companies should deliver what they promise.

Accommodation should be as described

Mike told us he was fed up with what he believed were ‘brochures full of untruths and misrepresentations’.

And Christine had first-hand experience of this when travelling to India with her boyfriend:

‘The picture of the hotel looked gorgeous in the catalogue but when we got there we found that the pool was never cleaned – it had green slime all around it.’

Hints and tips: Your holiday supplier has to supply the accommodation promised so if you were told it offered a heated pool and air-conditioning, for example, you’re entitled to get these. And if you’ve special requirements, don’t rely on the ‘special request’ section on your booking form as the company’s terms and conditions may say these requests won’t be guaranteed.

Travel Companies should deliver what they promise

Stephen would have been happy to just get the hotel he’d booked for:

‘Overbooked hotel and moved to alternative hotel with inferior facilities. Rubbish accommodation, the surrounding area was a building site and the apartment was filthy, very poor.’

Hints and tips: Dealing with the issue of overbooking varies according to how you booked your holiday. If your holiday contract is governed by the laws of England and Wales or Scotland or Northern Ireland, then you can claim for breach of contract. And if you have to go to a different hotel as a result, then you can claim reasonable expenses from the accommodation provider as damages for the breach of contract.

Have you shared your experiences of holiday hassles with us or used our tips and advice to make a claim? We want to help take the hassles out of your holidays.