AHMEDABAD: A consumer court ordered a city-based tour operator to compensate a tourist, whose family was made to share an apartment in Switzerland with strangers, during a tour of Europe in 2017.
The case involves Brijesh Bhatt of Vadodara and Olive Tours Pack Pvt Ltd. In May 2017, Bhatt’s family went on a tour of Europe organised by Olive Tours and paid Rs 4.47 lakh towards the package. When the tourists reached Switzerland, they were supposed to stay in an apartment allotted to them. However, when they got to the apartment, they found it already occupied by a family of three.
The Bhatt family found it difficult to adjust but said that they could not afford the extra expense of 120 Swiss francs per day for a separate hotel room and had to accommodate the strangers.
When Bhatt expressed his displeasure to the tour manager, he was promised a 50% refund. This did not happen and Bhatt approached the Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, Ahmedabad (city) and urged it to direct the tour operator to refund half the cost of the package.
The commission issued notice to the tour operator but did not receive a response, leading it to hear the case ex parte.
After hearing the case, the commission said, “When tourists go on a foreign tour after spending such a big amount, they go with high expectations and when they have to share a room with strangers, it is natural that they get a shock.”
It took notice of the fact that the Bhatt family paid Rs 1.14 lakh towards rent for the apartment, but since they had to share it with other family, the tour operator was ordered to refund half of this amount – Rs 57,000 with 7% interest. It also ordered the tour operator to pay Rs 30,000 as compensation to the tourists for their legal expenditure and the harassment caused to them.
