Plaintiffs booked a holiday in Egypt in August 2005 with Flyway Tours. Plaintiffs had advised Flyway Tours that they wanted to book their hotel with a hotel of the Sheraton chain of hotels as they had previously used such hotels and were pleased with the level of service and accommodation provided. In fact plaintiffs opted for the Sheraton hotel in Cairo as indicated on the Flyaway Brochure which clearly indicated the hotel as “Gezirah Sheraton 5 Star”.
When plaintiffs arrived in Egypt they realised that the hotel was not part of the Sheraton chain of hotels. When they arrived at the hotel, consumer discovered that it was once part of the chain but that this was no longer the case. Plaintiffs complained about the service provided by the hotel, particularly about the first room where they were accommodated, the food provided and the level of service in general. Plaintiffs said that they were in general very disappointed and their holiday ended up in a ‘disastrous’ fashion. Plaintiffs claimed the full costs for the air flight and for the hotel accommodation.
During the hearing of the case before the First Court (the Small Claims Tribunal) it resulted that the hotel was sold to Accor another chain of hotels but that defendant company had failed to inform plaintiffs of this change. Plaintiffs stated that on arriving at the hotel they immediately notified defendant’s representative in Cairo with their complaints.