Survey Finds 34% of UK Package Holiday Bookers Report Problems, Majority Experience None

More than four million people encountered issues with package holidays over the past year, according to a Citizens Advice survey. The charity said 76 per cent of adults have previously booked a package trip and 34 per cent of them experienced a problem. This amounts to an estimated four million travellers facing difficulties within the last 12 months.

Citizens Advice receives approximately 14 complaints about package holidays daily. The organisation logged 3,500 package holiday complaints with its Consumer Service in the past year. Forty-two per cent of those complaints concerned all-inclusive packages booked abroad.

Quality issues accounted for 33 per cent of complaints. These included hotels inaccurately described, poor food, or unavailable facilities. Customer service failures made up 19 per cent of complaints, covering lengthy phone waits, ignored complaints, and administrative errors.

Twenty-five per cent of those who experienced an issue said they suffered stress, anxiety or upset. Seventeen per cent had to pay extra for daily expenses. Citizens Advice encouraged holidaymakers to check what protections were included within their booking.

Zorana, a 66-year-old semi-retired NHS doctor from north-east England, spent £6,300 on an all-inclusive seven-night trip to Lanzarote with her daughter through a UK holiday operator. Torrential rain on the second day caused flooding that left the hotel without electricity, water, food or internet. She said she received no on-site support from the operator.

Zorana said: “We spent the morning on the beach and planned the sauna for later. But when we were eating lunch the rain started and didn’t stop. By the time we got to the spa, the hotel told us we couldn’t go in because it was flooded.