To expect compensation from holiday company

[Ihaveausername]

Changing a few details and being vague to remain unidentifiable. My partner and I recently had a 2 week holiday somewhere warm to celebrate a birthday and anniversary. On day 2 of the holiday my husband was injured as a result of something breaking (that shouldn't have). He grazed his forearm from fingertip to elbow, slight grazing to the leg and suffered a bump to the head. He received first aid from a hotel employee including an ice pack for his head. The next few days were a write off until his wounds healed and he didn't feel so sore. I have pictures of it all and the bruises He still had 6 days later. It was reported at the time and the travel company representatives checked in on him.
On our return I submitted the photos and a report of the incident to the travel company for some kind of apology / compensation, but they have told us that is not possible as we did not get a medical report.
This seems so unfair and we are wondering if we should take it further. What are our chances? Anyone have any experience of this.

Don't bother.
You'd be wasting your time.
Move on or it will spoil your holiday memories.

I'm not sure compensation for injury is the best way to approach this. I would have focused on a refund for sub standard accommodation, perhaps with TailLikeaMonkey's suggestion about review websites added in. He fell through the floor! A reasonable expectation when booking and paying for holiday accommodation is that the floor can take the weight of an adult walking on it. If you approach it like this then whether a doctor was called or whether someone on MN would have jumped straight out of the hole and into the pool is irrelevant. I would include something like the following in any further correspondence:

We chose your company for our holiday because of your good reputation. Therefore, we have been surprised by your lack of concern about the floor giving way in X Hotel. This suggests that poor maintenance is the norm in the 3/4/5* hotels that you use and that you expect your clients to put up with this. The offer of a refund of N% on the cost of the hotel would reassure us that the hotel fell below the standards you usually expect. Without this reassurance we would be very reluctant to use your company again and would encourage others not to.

The above is unlikely to make you a millionaire but seems fair and might get you the small amount you say you want. Talking about compensation for injury could make them reluctant to admit any liability in case of later consequences of a head injury of unknown severity. Like many posters here I get irritated by compensation culture, but I also can't stand large corporations making profits from selling substandard holidays. This could have been a maintenance oversight on an otherwise good holiday. However a reputable holiday company or hotel should want to protect their brand by making it very clear that you can usually expect to holiday with them without falling through the floor!

agree @Ramblethroughthebrambles - if I had photos of the floor and photos of the injury, I would be tempted to send them to the general manager of the hotel via email and copy the travel agent or tour operator you booked through - giving a detailed itinerary of events. Describe the incident and provide photos. Stress your own husband is vulnerable after two strokes, so the fall caused a lot of distress and discomfort (send photos of injury). Both of you suffered loss of enjoyment in the days following (I would put in about this being a long look forward to trip after a very difficult year). You felt the incident was dismissed by the hotel and with the opportunity of reflection makes you worry that the hotel may be in a poor state of repair generally - which would explain the lack of surprise by the hotel staff this had happened (is this a regular occurrence)?

You want their reassurance that this incident and other incidents of this nature are taken seriously by the hotel. You felt it your duty to write as you could not live with yourself if someone else suffered far worse injuries due to this type of negligence in the future. You wanted to give them the opportunity to apologise and provide adequate reassurance around the safety of the hotel before taking any further steps (such as warning the public on Trip Advisor and other such review forums).

Exactly this. If you were genuinely concerned about these ‘ wounds’ you would have sought medical attention. Scratches that do not need stitches and can be cleaned up easily are a minor inconvenience- not compensation worthy!

And again, children are extremely resilient . Minor injuries when playing sports, learning to ride a bike etc a whole lot different to a 70 year old.

My daughter slipped on a wet floor on holiday - broke her arm, her jaw was swollen like a golf ball. Making a claim never even entered my head and it didn't ruin our holiday for 6 days she just got on with it and I claimed the hospital costs back from my travel insurance when home. That is scratches, you are being ridiculous.

I would think if you were injured, you'd need to see a doctor. If he didn't feel the need to see a doctor, I'd say he was hurt but not injured, and it doesn't look severe enough to have written off the rest of the holiday, even though it should not have happened. It just looks like a graze and I think most people would have got on with the holiday.

OP's strongly worded letter ...

No - if OP bought a package holiday from, say, TUI (or similar), her contract is with TUI and her claim primarily against TUI

Honestly you guys are the gift that keep on giving.

Comedic geniuses.

The giggles are so appreciated ! 🙏🏼🤣😘

You need a real man

well the picture explains why the travel insurance company aren't bothered

It was an accident lmao, drama llama couple much.

My then 8yr old got worse when a huge wave bowled him over and dragged him over rocks a short way in Portugal. Guess what happened? He cried, I washed blood off, told him he'd scab up soon, asked if he wanted to leave for some plasters or to go play. He chose to play. Don't baby the poor bloke or make him look like a baby crying over spilled milk. A grown man I would of said omg are you ok, washed and cleaned cuts and then laughed at the ridiculous accident. If he said he couldn't go out like that I would of laughed til I cried and walked out continuing my holiday fun. No wonder they're not giving you any compensation.

@Ihaveausername Sorry OP, but in the same way that the Ts&Cs of your insurance contract specified that your DH had to consult a doctor to make an insurance claim, I have no doubt that the Ts&Cs of your contract with the holiday company specify that he had to get a medical report to claim against them - they wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise, but you can always check if you still have the documentation. Unfortunately, this is a lesson in "checking the small print". You could try suing them in the small claims court if you feel that strongly about it, but do you really want to with no guarantee of success?
Hope your DH is feeling a bit better now, but I think you'll just have to chalk this up to experience.

To be fair to the Op, having strokes can really affect a person's confidence and you can see emotional/personality changes. A family member of mine had a stroke and it really did affect his confidence and emotional vulnerability. Someone who I had never seen cry in my life, would openly weep at relatively minor things. Someone who would previously be out and about, full of confidence (driving the lengths of the country) would then struggle with plans to take a bus into town alone. I think it is cruel to laugh and compare someone to a child in these circumstances.

They provided the facilities you booked, and it was your choice not to use them.

I really don't see how you can claim in these circumstances.

People have been really unkind on this thread. Yes perhaps the Op was unwise to post in AIBU. Her husband (an older gentlemen in fairness) with some health issues, had a fall, a bit of a nasty tumble, the sort of tumble that no doubt shook him up and made him sore.

Did it ruin the whole holiday, probably not. But even a hard faced ex travel customer services person like me would agree it did affect their enjoyment - to an extent.

Op, if you're still reading, I hope that your next holiday away is stress free.

sorry people have been so unkind. My gran fell on holiday a few years ago and while like your husband it was a few bumps, bruises and grazes it really affected her holiday. She was so over cautious about things.

You were looking for compensation over grazes and a bruise???? Are you mad?

I haven’t RTWT, but I’ve read all your posts OP. It’s not clear to me who you actually believe owes you the apology/compensation. You mention the hotel and the travel company and your insurer. In any case, whatever entitlements you have (if any) will be set out in the terms and conditions governing your contract/agreement with them, whoever they are.

Edited for coherency!

Coming back to this thread with very mixed responses. I hope the unsympathetic of you never experience anything similar.
I would like to add that at the time we were not interested in compensation, we were just interested in enjoying the break, which we did the second week. It was after we got home and having a conversation with a colleague who suggested that it should have been offered, or at least a meal or a bottle of wine.

I want to know what broke. I’m guessing it was the bed!

Please. Stop.

I think he should grow a pair if he let that ruin your holiday