Lumle Holidays Ltd. – Customer Complaints Procedure

At Lumle Holidays, we work hard to deliver safe, well-organised and inspiring holidays, supported by our financial protection and trusted local partners. If something does go wrong, we want to know about it and to put it right as quickly and fairly as possible. This page explains how to raise a concern, what you can expect from us, and the stages of our formal complaints process.

Our aims are to:

• Resolve issues as early as possible – ideally while you are travelling
• Treat every customer fairly, consistently and with respect
• Learn from feedback and improve our holidays, partners and processes

1. If something goes wrong while you are away

Most issues can be resolved quickest if they are raised at the time and in resort.

If you experience a problem during your holiday, please contact:

• Our local representative or local office (details are shown on your travel documents), or
• Your tour guide (where applicable), or
• The hotel or service provider directly for simple matters such as room maintenance, or
• Lumle’s 24/7 emergency contact number printed on your vouchers / travel documents

Please give our local team a reasonable opportunity to put things right. Wherever possible, they will:

• Investigate the issue
• Offer a practical solution or alternative
• Confirm what has been agreed, where appropriate

If you do not tell our local team or us at the time, it may limit our ability to help you and to assess any claim fairly once you return home.

2. Complaining after you return home

If your issue was not fully resolved while you were away, or you wish to make a formal written complaint, please contact us within 28 days of returning home.

Please send your complaint to:

Email
csfeedback@lumle.com

Post
Customer Relations
Lumle Holidays Ltd
268 Bath Road
Slough
Berkshire
SL1 4DX
United Kingdom

To help us investigate quickly and fairly, please include:

• Your Lumle booking reference
• Full names of all passengers on the booking
• Dates of travel and destination(s)
• A clear description of what went wrong and when
• Who you reported it to in resort and what was done at the time
• Any supporting evidence (photos, receipts, written confirmation from guides / hotels, etc.)
• How you feel the matter could reasonably be resolved

3. How we handle your complaint – stages and timescales

We handle complaints in three stages. All timescales below run from the date we receive your written complaint (for Stage 1) or your escalation request (for Stage 2).

Stage 1 – Customer Relations (up to 28 days)

Once we receive your written complaint:

• We will acknowledge it within 14 days.
• We will investigate with our UK team and overseas partners. This may involve contacting hotels, ground agents, guides, airlines and any other relevant suppliers.
• We aim to send you a full written response within 28 days of receiving your complaint.

In most cases we will be able to provide our full response within 28 days. In exceptionally complex cases, or where we are awaiting detailed reports from overseas partners, investigations may take longer. If this happens, we will let you know and give you a revised timescale for our response.

Our Stage 1 response will:

• Summarise your concerns
• Explain what we have found from our investigation
• Set out our decision and, where appropriate, any remedy (such as an apology, explanation, goodwill gesture or compensation)

Stage 2 – Director review (additional 14 days)

If you remain unhappy after our Stage 1 response, you may request a Director review.

To do this, please reply to our Stage 1 response within 28 days, explaining:

• Which parts of our response you disagree with, and
• Why you feel the matter has not been resolved

Your complaint will then be reviewed by a Director or senior management who was not the original handler. They will reconsider the case, the evidence and the outcome proposed at Stage 1.

We will:

• Acknowledge your request for a review, and
• Aim to provide a final internal decision within a further 14 days from the date we receive your Stage 2 request.

The Stage 2 response will normally be our final position on the matter.

Stage 3 – Independent arbitration via ABTOT

Lumle Holidays Ltd is a member of ABTOT.

After you have completed our internal complaints process (Stages 1 and 2) and if you are still dissatisfied, you may be able to use an independent arbitration service associated with ABTOT to try to resolve the dispute without going to court.

Key points:

• You must first complete Lumle’s own complaints procedure (Stages 1 and 2).
• ABTOT can then, where appropriate, offer access to an approved independent arbitration scheme administered by Dispute Settlement Services Ltd (DSS).
• Arbitration is not automatic; both you and Lumle must agree to use the scheme and there is a fee payable by the parties.
• The arbitrator’s decision is usually final and binding, but choosing arbitration does not remove your basic legal rights if you decide not to accept the outcome.

Details on how to make a complaint about an ABTOT member and how to access their approved arbitration service are available directly from ABTOT.

This Complaints Procedure and any use of ABTOT’s arbitration scheme do not affect your statutory rights under UK law.

4. Bookings where Lumle acts as agent

In some cases Lumle Holidays acts as an agent for other principals (for example, certain airlines, cruise lines or overseas suppliers), and your contract for those services may be directly with them.

Where this applies:

• We will make clear whether we are acting as principal (organiser) or agent in your documentation.
• If we are acting as agent, we will assist you in liaising with the relevant supplier where reasonable.
• Where we are the organiser of a Package under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations, we will handle your complaint in accordance with our responsibilities as organiser, regardless of whether services are provided by our suppliers.

5. Respectful communication

We understand that travel problems can be upsetting and frustrating, and our team will always do their best to help.

In return, we ask that customers:

• Treat our staff and partners courteously and with respect
• Avoid abusive, threatening or discriminatory language or behaviour

If behaviour becomes abusive or threatening, we may limit or end direct contact (by phone, email or social media), while still considering the substance of the complaint where appropriate.

6. Learning from complaints and feedback

All complaints and serious service issues are logged and reviewed.

This helps us to:

• Identify trends (for example, recurring issues with a particular hotel, route or supplier)
• Improve our itineraries, partners and staff training
• Make changes where we feel our usual standards have not been met

Where a supplier consistently fails to meet our expectations, we may reduce or discontinue our use of them.

7. Statutory rights

This Complaints Procedure is designed to give a clear and fair process for resolving issues. It does not replace or limit your statutory rights under UK law.