Step 3 Reading and translation customer relations in tourism

Holidays are to be enjoyed but enjoyment is an extremely personal concept. A noisy, sleepless night for one person is a lively evening in the hotel disco for someone else. Similarly, a pleasant, quiet hotel for some guests will seem deadly boring to others.

The same can be said of most of the facilities provided by a typical tour operator; it all depends on your personal tastes and, most important, your expectations.

But whenever we take our holidays and whatever their duration is, holidays are something we look forward to, and they often involve considerable outlay, so we do not want anything to spoil them.

When your booking is accepted by the hotel, tour operator or airline, a legally binding contract is made between you and the company providing the accommodation, holiday package, air transportation or any other travel arrangements. For most package holidays abroad, your contract is with the tour operator. The contract is not with the travel agent, although travel agents are under a legal obligation to do their job with reasonable skill and care, and you can have a claim if they do not.

However, things can and do go wrong. The descriptions in the holiday brochure may not be accurate, the accommodation may not be of the standard you expected, you may not get the room with the view you requested, the flight may be delayed or your luggage may not turn up.

You will find below answers to the questions most frequently asked by consumers (holiday-makers or travellers).

Question 1: What can I do to protect myself against problems arising when I book a holiday with a tour operator?

Answer: You cannot guarantee that problems won’t crop up, but to reduce the risks as far as possible, follow these tips:

make sure that any special requirements which you consider important (such as disabled access or en suite facilities) are noted on the confirmation invoice. If all it says is that these items are a ‘special request’ the tour operator may say you have no entitlement to such facilities;
always take out a good travel insurance policy at the time you book, so that if you or someone close to you becomes ill before the holiday, you are covered in the event of cancellation;
make sure the policy provides adequate medical cover, especially if you are visiting a country where medical bills can be very high, such as in the USA;
if something goes wrong on your holiday, complain to the tour operator’s rep as soon as possible. Ask to be moved if your accommodation is unacceptable;
when you get home, write to the company’s head office without delay, quoting your holiday reference number, and seek compensation;
be polite but firm in your dealings with the tour operator. Do not be deterred by its first letter, which is likely to refuse you compensation. If you have a good legal case, it is worth being persistent;
take legal advice if you feel unsure of your legal position.

Question 2: I recently booked a holiday, but the tour operator is now demanding another $100. Can he do this?

Answer: Check the tour operator’s booking conditions to see if they mention surcharges. Some brochures boast ‘no-surcharge guarantees’, which they must honour. Operators must explain what the surcharge is for (usually the reason is changes in exchange rates or increases in feel prices), and may not impose one less than 30 days before your departure.

The tour operator should absorb increases up to two per cent of your holiday cost, but may pass on you amounts above this.

Question 3: When a holiday company goes bust what sort of protection do its customers have?

Answer: The protection you get when a tour operator or airline goes bust depends on the type of travel arrangements you made and with which company you booked. Bonding schemes are financial guarantees intended to prevent you losing your money, or being stranded abroad, in the event of a travel agent, tour operator or airline going out of business.

Question 4: I asked for a hotel room with a sea view. When I arrived I found the room overlooked the car park. What can I do?

Answer: It is not generally enough to fill in the ‘special request’ box on the booking form because the tour operator will only be agreeing to try to provide you with a room with a view.

But if the operator knew of your requirement and guaranteed it before you booked, it will be part of the contract. So you must ensure that it was shown on your confirmation invoice. If it was guaranteed but was not provided, and things were not put right when you complained, claim compensation.

Question 5: We've just returned from a dreadful package holiday abroad. The first few days were a nightmare, but after complaining to the representative we enjoyed the rest. Our letter to the tour operator produced an offer of $50. But the holiday cost us $1,400. How do we assess the amount of compensation?

Answer: A tour operator is legally obliged to provide the type and quality of holiday booked, taking account of the price paid, the description in the brochure and any specific requirements. However, the booking conditions may allow for changes of hotel or resort. The amount of compensation you can expect to receive following holiday dissatisfaction depends largely on how much the problems affected your enjoyment. Assessing disappointment is not an exact science, however, and if your claim has to go to court you may not be able to recover what you consider a reasonable sum.

None the less, there are three basic components of holiday compensation:

loss of value - the difference between the value of the holiday you got and the one you paid for. If, for example, you were put into a cheaper hotel for the first week because the one you booked was full, work out what a week in the cheaper hotel would have cost: you must also take account of the cost of those parts of the holiday that were not affected by the problem, such as flights and sightseeing tours which were included in the price. If it was only the room that was unsatisfactory, and you were on the beach or out exploring most of the day, the effect will not have been so great. So, if three days out of a total of seven were totally ruined, or if there was a continuing problem which partially spoiled the whole of the holiday, the amount in this instance might be about two-thirds of the cost of the accommodation;
out-of-pocket expenses - the refund of any reasonable expenses you incurred as a result of the tour operator’s breach of contract, such as taxi fares incurred because the replacement hotel was farther away from the resort attractions;
loss of enjoyment - to compensate you for the disappointment and frustration of your holiday going wrong, and for the hassle involved in trying to sort it out.

You must ask yourself whether the holiday was a complete disaster as a result of the tour operator’s breach of contract, or OK apart from the unpleasantness of the room, plus the inconvenience of moving to the new hotel. This is the hardest part to assess in any claim as it is highly subjective. You must complain to the representative when the problems arise, and write as soon as you return. If you do not get a satisfactory result, you can take the lour operator to court.

Question 6: The food at our hotel in Spain was very disappointing - lukewarm, burnt or tasteless. After the first week, we decided to eat out every night. Can we claim this cost from the tour operator?

Answer: In a package tour which includes meals, there may be a specific promise about food standards in the tour operator’s brochure. If so, the tour operator wall be in breach of contract if this promise is not kept. And even if no specific promises are made, there is an implied term in your contract with the tour operator that food should be of a reasonable standard, in accordance with the type and price of the holiday.

Question 7: When I arrived at the hotel where I’d booked a weekend break, I was told that they had made a mistake and the hotel was full. The only other hotel in the area that had room for me was a more expensive one in the next town, so I’m out of pocket. What are my rights?

Answer: The hotel accepted your booking and was obliged to keep a room available for you. It is in breach of contract and liable to compensate you for the additional expenses arising out of that breach - the difference in cost between what you were expecting to pay and what you ended up having to pay in the more expensive hotel, plus any extra travelling costs. You should write first to the hotel manager explaining what happened, and enclosing copies of receipts for your additional expenditure.

Task 1. Find in the text answers to the questions.

Why is enjoyment a subjective concept?
What happens when your booking is accepted?
Why do things go wrong during holidays?
How can people protect themselves against problems arising during their holidays?
Who should they complain to about their dissatisfaction and when?
How can you avoid surcharges?
How are travellers protected against bankruptcy of a holiday company?
In what case are you entitled to compensation if your ‘special request’ was ignored?
How is amount of compensation assessed?
What are the three basic components of holiday compensation?
Are you likely to be compensated for food of poor quality? Why not?
How can you get compensation for the additional expenses arising out of the breach of the contract by the hotel?

Task 2. Say what you’ve learned from the text about different cases of travellers’ dissatisfaction.

Task 3. Comment on the following issues.

How often are holiday-makers dissatisfied with their holidays?
What are the most common complaints in Russia?
In what way are holiday-makers’ complaints settled?
Are there special laws and regulations to satisfy the claims of the travellers? What are they?
Are travel agents liable to compensate dissatisfied holiday makers if the breach of contract hasn’t been proved?
What evidence is necessary for proving that the contract was in breach?
What are your recommendations to travellers as to the best ways of ensuring compensation for a spoiled holiday?

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