A woman whose insurance company rejected a claim after she re-booked a hotel during the Greek wildfires should have a “cut and dry claim”, Eoghan Corry has said. 

Lunchtime Live listener Nikki phoned up to ask the travel expert how she could go about getting compensation following a disastrous holiday in Greece.

Wildfires on the island of Rhodes broke out and Nikki knew she had to make alternative arrangements.

“The area we were in, we could see them and could see where we were due to move to was in big trouble,” she said.

“So, we booked other accommodation and then our village was evacuated.”

Afterwards, she put in a claim but was surprised to find it had been rejected.

“When I tried to claim for the accommodation, the insurance company are saying we’re not covered because our holiday wasn’t curtailed because we got new accommodation,” she said.

“We were medically told to leave  - the hotel we were going to burnt to the ground.”

Overall, she feels “hard done by”, despite considering it a “first-world problem”.

Rhodes wildfire this summer.

Mr Corry said it was “very hard to comment on an individual case” but said on the surface the case seems “strong”.

“It looks very cut and dry; if your accommodation is under threat, you certainly have all these grounds under insurance,” he said.

“The big question is, if you make the decision yourself sometimes the insurance companies say, ‘Oh well, you should have waited for official guidance.’

He suggested Nikki lodge an appeal with her insurance company on the grounds that, “Consumer rights legislation is very much on your side on this.”

False advertising

Another traveller called in with a slightly more complex case; Ursula booked a three bedroom apartment on Airbnb for five people.

When they arrived at the property, they realised the advertisement was not strictly accurate.

“Three of us turned up and found only two bedrooms were open and we were told by the host that they would not open the third bedroom - leaving one of our party to sleep on the sofa,” she said.

“We’ve appealed to Airbnb immediately and we got no satisfaction despite numerous communications to them.”

Airbnb. Picture by: Jens Kalaene/DPA/PA Images

Mr Corry cautioned the company is harder to deal with than a standard hotel or hotel chain.

“Airbnb is a franchise to the individual host,” he said.

“Airbnb are quite powerful; what they can do is take a host off their books.

“They don’t really have that much power elsewhere but I would continue to pursue it with Airbnb that under advertising standards acts what was described and sold to you was not what was delivered.

“The European Consumer Centre operates throughout the European Union.

“[That’s] not as satisfying as dealing with a hotel or a hotel group or a tour operator - but there certainly is a case to be pursued there and that’s your next step.”

You can listen back to the rest of the questions here:

Main image: A man's hand holding an Irish passport. Picture by: Barry Mason / Alamy Stock Photo