What should I do when my holidays don't turn out as planned?
If your confirmed sea-view room faces a wall, if your 5* hotel turns out to be a sham, when your de luxe holiday cottage is in fact a shack – short when the holidays seem to go downhill, then you need to consider following points:
- Contact immediately a competent person, that could be the resident guide of your tour operator, reception manager of the hotel or the provider of your holiday apartment. – You will find their address in your travel documents.
- Make an immediate notice of faults and ask to find a remedy. Allow some time to do something about it, so it might be possible that you can change the room only the following day.
- Have the faults confirmed locally and in an appropriate written form, you might as well make some documenting pictures.
- Please note that in many cases any refund is denied when no notice of faults has been made and time for remedy has not been granted.
- Upon your return, address your objective complaint to your booking point and ask for a statement and – when appropriate – a refund.
- Despite an understandable disappointment it is not a very decent way to include insults and slanders in the complaint. Do not threaten with media or legal steps! Very often that blocks a generous settlement.
Allow some time for a serious follow-up and a correct statement from your travel partner, have the patience for a while.
Our advice
A complaint brought to the attention of your chambermaid or the waiter will most certainly result in a friendly smile and a «Yes, Oui or Si». Very often your request is not fully understood and a successful remedy is not guaranteed. Therefore bring your complaint to the attention of the appropriate person!