Disatrous Holiday

[MissHavisham1984]

A party of 6 of us went away last year. Unfinished hotel, only 2 restaurants instead of 5, 1 pool instead of 3, definitely not as advertised in brochure. We booked through a well-known travel agent who have refused compensation. We have a choice now, do we use ABTA or small claims court? Has anyone had any experience in getting redress and how successful were you?

Travel agent is your intermediary to the principal - the tour operator. Have they refused to take your complaint forward?

We went through all the proper channels only to receive a letter saying that our complaint had been investigated, found to be unreasonable and told not to contact them again. The said we could go through a third party, i.e. ABTA or the legal route.

Did you get photographic evidence? Complain at the time of your trip?

Oh yes, lots of photos and we complained to the rep....when we managed to find her. The company knew they were at fault and pushed a letter under the bedroom door halfway through the holiday, offering us £50 each. We refused.

Sounds like the travel agent has forwarded your complaint and tour operator has rejected.

Overtiredbackagain is right - it's important that you complained at the time and obtained a record from a rep in resort. Otherwise they didn't get a chance to put things right.

Small claims has an upper limit. Would you be doing this individually or as a group?

Cross-posted.

Did you keep the letter offering compensation? It's an admission of liability.

We've had to do this as couples. And I've kept everything, letters, photos, reviews from Trip Advisor. We weren't the only people in the hotel who were furious at the way we were treated and the cavalier attitude of the tour company.

I'd go to ABTA in that case.