Complaining about a package holiday

If your package holiday didn't meet the brochure description, or was spoilt by problems like building work or noise, you may be entitled to claim some money back and compensation. If you couldn't resolve the problem while you were on holiday you'll need to write a letter of complaint to your package organiser when you get home. Send your letter within 28 days of the end of your holiday. You'll need to explain how your holiday was different from the brochure description and the way the problems affected your holiday. When you're working out how much compensation to ask for think about three things:

• loss of enjoyment - for example you couldn't use the hotel pool because the building work made it noisy and dusty
• money you lost - the difference in cost between the promised holiday with a quiet pool and what you ended up with
• out of pocket expenses - because you couldn't use the pool you had to pay for a taxi to the beach everyday

For full information about complaining about package holidays, see.The holiday was not as expected.

It is advisable to read the instructions below though you can go straight to the letter.

Letter generator instructions

There is a link to the letter generator at the bottom of these notes on using the appliction.

The letter generator is suitable for most situations but may not suit your specific circumstances. If you require more detailed advice and guidance, please call Citizens Advice consumer service on 08454 04 05 06.

If you are happy that the letter is suitable, use the link at the bottom of this page and select "Write letter" on the next page. This will take you to a form where you can fill in your own details.

Using the downloaded file

You can then preview the letter and make any further changes online and then proceed to download the file. Your computer will offer either to download the file directly or open it in a suitable programme.

Whether you save the file first or open it directly you should check the letter before printing it. The file type of the letter is an 'rtf' file (Rich Text Format), which will open in most word processors or text editors.

Examples of compatible word processors are: Microsoft Word (Microsoft Windows/Apple Mac), Wordpad (Microsoft Windows), TextEdit (Apple Mac), OpenOffice/LibreOffice (Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac, Gnu/Linux). This is not a comprehensive list, but one of these is likely to be available on the machine you are using.

Alternatively, if you have an online account with Google Docs, Zoho writer or another online word processor, you should be able to import the letter into that if you download the letter first.

Keeping your records

We recommend sending letters by recorded delivery so you have proof that you have sent the letter.

It is advisable that you keep a copy of the letter for your own records.

Writing the letter

Start writing the letter.

Citizens Advice