Holiday not as described? Any recourse?

We took our son to Corfu because he wanted go to Aqualand water park. The travel agent suggested a flight and hotel package and we booked a weeks stay. When we got there arrival the thomson rep says Aqualand is closed because its end of season.

Any suggestions?

[gizmo111]

I assume this was a day trip to here you had planned as part of you holiday and was not pre booked as part of your holiday. If this is the case then the travel agent cannot be held responsible in any way for external activities/attractions.
If however you booked it as part of the holiday then it is different.

Thats the place. We were advised to buy tickets at the gate. We booked the travel agent suggested package to get there but found it closed when we arrived in resort. You say thats our fault?

[almond]

did you check on the internet to see if the park was open on the dates of your holiday?
the site shows open till today
Aqualand: Visitor Information | Aqualand, Corfu, Greece | Whatsonwhen
its not the travel agents fault it closed early.

[PGH7447]

If the water park was not part of the trip then yes I am afraid it is your fault

Originally Posted by almond

did you check on the internet to see if the park was open on the dates of your holiday?
the site shows open till today
Aqualand: Visitor Information | Aqualand, Corfu, Greece | Whatsonwhen
its not the travel agents fault it closed early.

I didnt check on the Internet. My son asked to go to Aqualand Waterpark as our treat because he excelled at school. We werent fussy about dates and flight times. I just went to a travel agent asking about Aqualand and they sold us a holiday. When we got there Aqualand was closed. Simple as that.

Thomson reps were apologetic but said contact the travel agent in the UK.

I want to know other peoples experiences and see what the legal position is before I start shelling out on paid advice.

Originally Posted by PGH7447

If the water park was not part of the trip then yes I am afraid it is your fault

You mean caveat emptor - right?

Surely? We ask a travel agent to take us to Aqualand and we are sold a holiday package that doesn't do the job, then isn't that failing to provide a product according to contract?

[PGH7447]

Only if the product included the water park within the package, if they sold you a holiday that was near the water park then they have fulfilled their obligation

[Loubychew]

Here in Limassol we have an excellent waterpark that closes today 31st October.

I would not expect a travel agent in UK to know this unless they looked it up on the website. Travel agents should be knowledgeable yes but they can't know everything about everywhere.

I live in Cyprus and work for a travel company but I couldn't tell you the closing date of any of the local attractions without looking them up and even then, the owners of these places are quite at liberty to close early if they see fit due to low attendance or whatever.

I think you would have a hard time if it came to court. You would have to prove that the lack of waterpark totally ruined your stay and that you were willing to part with however much £ on the basis that you wanted to visit one attraction.
How about the rest of your holiday?

I wouldn't say it ruined a holiday. We had our family holiday during the summer as we always do. This was a treat for our son who wanted to see Aqualand and we asked a travel agent to fix it for us. After finding our mission was a failure we debated to return to the UK on Easyjets daily to LGW but we opted to stay. We wouldn't have booked if we knew the attraction was closed on the date the travel agent selected for us.

I see you are from Limassol. When I was at university I worked at the Hawaii Grand playing the piano in the lobby several nights a week. It was enough to clear student debts and provide free sunshine.

[Loubychew]

LOL, its called The Grand Resort now and is one of my favourite hotels. Beautiful!