A holiday package is advertised and sold by travel agents or tour operators which include information about arrangements of transportation and accommodation of a holiday plan. A holiday brochure contains thorough details about the holiday package such as organised activities, hotel plans, rental vehicle facilities, and others. As per Kawashima (2010), the culture of holiday brochure has gained popularity in past few years since more and more people prefer to pre-book their holidays, and they like to know all the necessary details about their trip. It contains detailed information regarding the trip, and the travelling agent is required to ensure that the details given in the brochure are correct.
The company has to ensure that it complies with the regulations given by Australian legislation regarding contract and consumer protection law. The purpose of this report is to analyse the holiday brochure for ‘Qantas Holidays Thailand trip’. This report will evaluate the information given in the holiday brochure and analyse various factors such as terms and conditions, warranties, and details given by Qantas Holidays. This report will focus on identifying any detail in the brochure which can be constituted as misleading, deceptive, bait advertising or false representation. Furthermore, any exclusion or limitation clause given in the brochure will be evaluated to understand whether such clause is valid.
Identification of the key information given in the brochure
While issuing a holiday brochure, travel companies have to ensure that they comply with the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) which has issued guidelines for protecting consumer rights and governing trade policies in Australia. The main objective of the law is to ensure that the interest of customers is protected from unfair trade practices. It also ensures that appropriate remedies are available for customers in case a corporation breaches the policies of ACL (Consumer Law, 2018). Moreover, the ACL provides a standard of safety for customers and liability of manufacture towards their products. Qantas Holidays has over 40 years of experience in tours and travelling field (Qantas, 2018a).
The company is an expert in creating holiday packages which suit a wide variety of taste and budgets of customers. The ‘Thailand’ holiday brochure of the company offers an ‘essential holiday package’ for three nights and four days. Firstly, the brochure contains details regarding travel tips which include essential information about Thailand and various factors which are helpful for customers such as currency, language, how to get there, visas, passports, shopping and others (Qantas, 2018b).
Further, information about ten must-visit places in Thailand and information about most visited places are given such as Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, Krabi and others. Details regarding transfers and sightseeing are given in the brochure which includes information about city and temples tour, grand palace tour, floating market, Bai Pai cooking class and others. Details regarding accommodation are next in the brochure. The accommodation is a significant part of the trip; therefore, this section is given in details in the brochure (Qantas, 2018b).
Detailed information about popular hotels and services provided by them are given in the brochure. Furthermore, various other holiday packages, other than the essential package, are given in the brochure which is based on different locations in Thailand such as eight-night Phuket family fun and three-day jungle lake safari tour (Qantas, 2018c). Lastly, in the brochure, booking conditions are given which provide essential terms and conditions about the trip.
Analysis of details in the brochure based on principles of contract law
A contract is a legally binding agreement which binds its parties into its terms which are enforceable upon both parties. In case of a holiday package, the customers and the travel agent entered into a bilateral contract in which the agent assures that the details given in the brochure regarding the holiday trip are correct and both parties agreed to the terms and conditions given in the brochure. Following are different terms and conditions given in the brochure of Qantas Holidays which are binding upon customers and the company.
Package validity: It is referred to the duration of the holiday trip. The essential package is for three nights and four days whereas other packages are for more or fewer days.
Travel Insurance: The terms and conditions of the brochure clearly specify that the company recommend its customers to take travel insurance in order to cover their travel arrangements. Furthermore, various hotels also provide the facility of customer insurance, and such information is included in their details (Qantas, 2018b).
Health: At the beginning of the brochure, it is specified by the company that there is a risk of malaria in many rural areas of Thailand; therefore, it is recommended that the customers plan with their qualified doctor before going off the trip. Furthermore, not details regarding medical facilities available during the trip or in hotels are given in the brochure.
Taxes: It is included in the brochure that the trip is subject to GST and customers have to pay other factors as well such as fuel surcharges, flight taxes, exchange rate factors and others (Qantas, 2018b).
Refund policy: It is clearly specified in the brochure that if the customers cancel their trip after booking, then all these deposits will be forfeited. Furthermore, customers will have to pay 100 percent of the fees imposed by the suppliers. After the beginning of the travel, no refund or cancellation can be commenced.
Price exclusions: In the accommodation sections, the details regarding a number of hotels are given. In these hotels, details about facilities given by the hotel are excluded from the basic price of hotel booking. For example, the price of Wi-Fi is excluded from the base offer of hotels in which Wi-Fi sign is not available. Similarly, other signs such as 24×7, luxury and hut sign represented different service and their price and excluded from the base price.
Price inclusions: Various details regarding the services of the hotel are included in its base price. For example, many hotels offer facilities such as Wi-Fi, 24×7 check-in and luxury facilities. The costs of these services are included in the base price of hotels and the holiday package (Qantas, 2018b).
Identification of legal issues in the brochure
Based on the critical analysis of the brochure of Qantas Holidays Thailand trip, there are various legal issues in the brochure which can be constituted as misleading, deceptive, bait advertisement, false representation or offering of gift or prizes. The first key issue with the brochure is that it did not contain a schedule of the trip which includes places where customers will be visiting. In the essential tour package, details regarding each day of the customers are given, however, the information regarding timing and locations are missing (Qantas, 2018b). Furthermore, thorough information about tour packages other than Bangkok is not given for customers.
Only basic details about the trip and locations are given, however, proper schedule and timings are missing from the brochure. It is given in various places in small words than the terms and conditions imposed by the suppliers are excluded from the tour price. Additionally, in the terms and conditions section, it is given that the company will not be accountable for 100 percent of the charges imposed by suppliers (Qantas, 2018d). It shows that there are various hidden charges such as taxes, service charges, surcharges and others which are excluded from the brochure.
Section 29 of ACL provides that corporations should not issue advertisements which are misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive (ACL, 2018). The hidden and additional charges imposed by the suppliers come under the definition of misleading and deceptive advertisement since the company is promoting as all price include deal. In Ellul and Ellul v Oakes [1972] 3 SASR 377 case, it was held by the court that the parties to a contract must make its terms promissory in nature.
In this case, property was bought by Ellul which was situated in Oakes and in its listing term it was written that the land is severed. Ellul later found out that the property was not severed and Ellul claimed for damages. The court accepted the claim for damages made by Ellul by stating that parties must intend that the terms of the contract are promissory in nature (Barker, Grantham & Swain, 2015). Similarly, the claims made by Qantas Holidays in its brochure are promissory in nature based on which customers can claim for damages in case the company does not fulfil the terms.
Thus, it is necessary that all the information included by Qantas Holidays in its brochure is correct and it did not mislead or deceive customers. Qantas is required to maintain transparency when it comes to its pricing details based on which it will be easier for the customer to plan for their trip and avoid any hidden charges. Furthermore, at the beginning of the brochure, the company has included an advertisement about its airline in which it is offering gift and prizes to customers who fly to this trip in the airline of the company.
The company is using the gift and prizes to attract customers to its airline it is providing them 1 Qantas point for every $1 spent by customers on during the holiday (Qantas, 2018e). This can also be constituted as bait advertisement since Qantas airline. Thus, the company should be more open about its pricing strategy, and it should not use the brochure to attract customers for its airline.
Identification of exclusion or limited clauses in the brochure
In the terms and conditions section of the brochure, Qantas Holidays has provided that it acted as the agent for its Suppliers which include transportation, accommodation or tour provider. All the bookings made by the customers are subject to terms and condition, and the liability is imposed on each supplier. The company exempts itself from liability in respect to anything false, inaccurate, incomplete, and misleading and which cause disappointment, error, damage, inconvenience, injury, death or shock to the customers.
This exclusion clause eliminates the liability of the company towards its customers, and it terminates the right of customers to file a suit against the company. Furthermore, it is also included in the brochure that the company not in control of the manner in which details is included in the brochure. As per the principle of exclusion clause, the parties are required to bring the term into attention of the contracting party as given in the judgement of Olley v Marlborough Court [1949] 1 K.B. 532 (Stone, 2013).
Section 7 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 provides the liability of a party regarding description or sample of the quality of fitness for any particular purpose which cannot be excluded as long as the satisfaction of such requirement is reasonable (Legislation, 2018). Based on this provision, Qantas Holidays cannot protect itself from the liability based on the exclusion clause regarding the products displayed on its contract. Furthermore, in Baltic Shipping Company v Dillon [1993] 176 CLR 344 case, it was held by the court that the parties are liable for paying damages in case they failed to include complete and correct information in the brochure (Turner, 2013). Therefore, Qantas Holidays cannot protect itself from the liability of misleading or deceptive advertisement by adding an exclusion clause that its suppliers will face all the liability.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the brochure issued by Qantas Holidays regarding its Thailand trip includes all the necessary information for its customers to learn about whole trip. The company has provided thorough information about the places to visit and accommodation options available for customers based on which they can choose between different options. Various terms and conditions given in the brochure are evaluated in the report such as included and excluded prices, validity, insurance and others. Furthermore, various legal issues raised in the brochure based on the terms of the brochure are evaluated in the report as well. Although, the corporation has prepared a detailed brochure, however, it can be held liable for breaching section 29 of ACL and using gifts to attract customers and influencing their decisions. The exclusion clause given in the brochure did not eliminate the liabilities of the company based on it can be held liable by customers for providing misleading information in the brochure.
References
ACL. (2018). Australian Consumer Law (Cth).
Barker, K., Grantham, R., & Swain, W. (Eds.). (2015). Law of Misstatements: 50 Years on from Hedley Byrne v Heller. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Consumer Law. (2018). Terms of Reference.
Kawashima, K. (2010). Japanese working holiday makers in Australia and their relationship to the Japanese labour market: Before and after. Asian studies review, 34(3), 267-286.
Legislation. (2018). Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.
Qantas. (2018a). About Qantas Holidays.
Qantas. (2018b). Thailand.
Qantas. (2018c). Thailand Holidays.
Qantas. (2018d). Booking and Advisory Services – Terms and Conditions.
Qantas. (2018e). Qantas Points with Qantas Holidays.
Stone, R. (2013). Q&A Contract Law 2013-2014. Abingdon: Routledge.
Turner, C. (2013). Contract law. Abingdon: Routledge.
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