A consumer rights champion has explained the rules after one woman had to eat Greek food every day on her Greek holiday
A consumer rights expert has explained what you can do if your hotel on a foreign holiday refuses to serve you a full English breakfast, after a woman got £100 from TUI because she couldn’t get British food on her Greek break. Susan Edwards took a seven-night getaway to the Greek island of Corfu but was horrified to find there was no English food available – although she did get chips one night.
Susan, from Westerhope, described the holiday as “horrendous from the minute [they] got there.”
Susan said: “It was all-inclusive, £750 each we paid and there was no food we could eat and we couldn’t have anything to drink.”
Susan, who has ulcerative colitis, said: “On a morning you could have toast, a hard boiled egg, or something in sauce. There was no bacon. For breakfast there was mozzarella and sliced tomatoes. There was no hot bacon or sausage.
“We got chips one day. One day out of the whole lot. There was fish, sardines and rice – I was sick to death of looking at rice. There was pasta and salads, none of this was marked (labelled). One night there was a Greek night and they had kebabs, I couldn’t eat that. It’s the worst holiday I’ve ever been on.”
Susan was offered £100 in holiday vouchers from TUI but has turned down the offer.
Consumer rights expert Helen Dewdney, known as The Complaining Cow, said your package holiday rights are protected under the Package Holiday and Linked Travel Arrangements 2018.
She said: “A package holiday consists or two or more components, such as accommodation and flight or transfers, and must last longer than 24 hours or at the very least have an overnight element. The organiser (i.e. the travel company with which you booked) is liable for the failures of hoteliers, suppliers and services within the contract.”
Helen said: “The organiser must not provide misleading information. If the holiday does not match the description, you will be entitled to redress. The organiser must clearly state the details of the booking in a Standard Information Form, before you make any payment. The Form must include specifics of any arrangements: dates, times, costs, meals, excursions included/excluded, activities, transportation, cancellation fees, contact details for the package organiser, information on compulsory/voluntary insurance regarding repatriation in the event of illness/death/accident, and/or the cost of termination of the contract by the traveller.”
She added: “You are entitled to redress for the disappointment and distress caused by things going wrong. The amount will be dependent on what and for how much of the holiday.”
Helen said: “Make sure you take out travel insurance at the same time you book your holiday. You never know what might happen between now and then!”
She added: “Is it reasonable to claim for a lack of ‘English food’ on a continental holiday? Probably not. However, at least one TUI customer has succeeded in claiming limited compensation for this alleged breach, although she has got to buy another holiday to use it!”
A spokesperson for TUI UK and Ireland said: “Our priority is to ensure customers have the best possible holiday experience, so we are sorry to hear that Mrs Edwards felt dissatisfied with her holiday. We have been in touch directly with Mrs Edwards to come to a resolution.”