A £350 swimming pool fee ruined our easyJet holiday

A couple’s £2,150 easyJet holiday in Marrakech was marred by an unexpected £350 charge to use the hotel’s heated pool, a fee they say was not disclosed at the time of booking [1]. The travellers, identified only as DP from Cambridgeshire, booked a week’s all-inclusive stay at the Jaal Riad Resort Hotel, drawn by its pool and spa facilities [1]. Upon arrival, they were informed the heated pool cost £24 per person per hour, the Jacuzzi £24 for 20 minutes, and the hammam £16 for 20 minutes [1]. The couple calculated that using the pool once daily would add almost £350 to their holiday cost, an expense they could not afford [1]. EasyJet Holidays initially rejected their complaint, pointing to a line in the small print stating charges may apply [1]. Consumer lawyer Gary Rycroft argued the practice could be unlawful under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which requires businesses to disclose material information that would influence a consumer’s decision [1]. “The facilities were prominently marketed as part of the holiday experience, and extra charges were not clearly disclosed before purchase,” Rycroft said [1]. The hotel’s webpage featured a prominent pool photograph but no asterisk alerting customers to the fees [1]. EasyJet told the Guardian it was reviewing the description to “further highlight that the use of the spa facilities is chargeable” [1]. The company added: “We always strive to make it clear that use of hotel facilities may incur additional charges” [1]. Three weeks after that statement, the webpage remained unchanged [1]. EasyJet has since offered a £500 goodwill payment [1]. Resort fees and ancillary charges have become a growing source of consumer complaints in the travel industry. Some hotels levy up to £50 per person per day for facilities regardless of whether guests use them [1]. The practice mirrors wider trends in the low-cost carrier sector, where airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair have built business models around unbundling services and charging separately for add-ons [5]. easyJet operates hubs at airports including Glasgow, which handled 8.06 million passengers in 2024, and London Stansted, the fourth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom [4][5]. The airline’s holiday division faces similar scrutiny over transparency as its flight operations, where ancillary revenue from seat selection, baggage, and other fees forms a significant portion of income [5]. The Cambridgeshire couple’s experience highlights the gap between marketing imagery and contractual fine print. Rycroft noted that omitting mandatory charges from the upfront price could constitute a breach of consumer protection law, leaving holidaymakers with bills they had no reasonable way to anticipate [1].