A British family has been awarded nearly $1,500 after telling a court their vacation was ruined when all of the activities turned out to be in German.
ADVERTISEMENT
David Barnish, 47, said the $8,000 vacation he took with his wife, Karen, and daughters Molly, 12, Gemma, 18, and Kim, 21, turned into a nightmare because tour operator Thomson did not warn him that all of the activities and entertainment at Grecotel Park Royal on Greece's Kos island were only available in German, The Daily Mail reported Friday.
A Stoke-on-Trent County Court judge ruled Thomson breached its contract by failing to inform the Barnish family of the language issue. The company was ordered to pay $1,486 in compensation to the family.
"The customer going to a hotel which features in an English brochure, doesn't expect to have to press the hotel and providers of activities for them to be accessible in their own language," Deputy District Judge Naish said. "The brochure is significantly misleading."
"If activities are only accessible to those knowing German they are not provided to a reasonable standard and there is a breach of contract," he said.