n Any brochure term seeking to limit or exclude liability for death or personal injury such as telling holidaymakers they have to claim within a certain period – that’s void and unenforceable under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.
n Terms which tell holidaymakers that if they don’t complain quickly enough, they lose the right to get a redress for the problem on their holiday – the OFT thinks they can operate as exclusion clauses or unfair formality requirements because it is not always possible for complaints to be registered immediately or followed up within given time limits.
n Sweeping disclaimers like ‘all facilities may not be available at certain periods’ buried in the small print of the Terms and Conditions. If the swimming pool photographed in glorious technicolor is not open all year round, that term should be beside it so holidaymakers are aware that it might not be open.
n Cancellation charges which look too high. The OFT is not against sliding-scale charges as they give some certainty but they hate the idea that operators give no refund for last-minute cancellations especially as the operator is often able to re-sell the holiday. Their view is that some cancellation charges operate more like penalty charges and they are unenforceable at law.
n Stopping holidaymakers from fielding an alternative if, for some reason, they can’t travel. Again, if you say ‘no’ even though the consumer is prepared to pay the additional administration costs – that looks like a penalty.
n Use plain English – it is a breach if terms are written so that consumers can’t actually work out what they mean. Cross out the legal jargon and don’t put in onerous terms that you know you have no intention of enforcing as a scare tactic.