Issue Date:  -  Friday, 9 August 2002

Holiday accommodation - students left out in the cold.

The Department of Consumer and Employment Protection is advising young people who intend to book hotel rooms, chalets or campsites, to take care when making their holiday reservations, or they may end up paying for accommodation where they are not welcome.

Each year Consumer Protection receives calls from distressed parents whose children have been refused accommodation that had been booked and paid for on the parent’s credit card.

Many parents consider their seventeen year old children to be adults as they may have left school and have a driver’s licence, however many hotels and other accommodation providers require adults to be over eighteen years of age.

“When accommodation providers accept bookings which later can not be honoured due to underage issues, this causes understandable distress and inconvenience for all concerned. Owners and managers of hotels and other accommodation have expressed concern about schoolies bringing alcohol onto their premises and generally being without adult supervision”, Consumer Protection Commissioner Patrick Walker said.

Year twelve students traditionally start looking at their holiday options, especially for the Southwest region of WA about this time of the year.

“If young people and their parents do not make careful enquiries before booking accommodation and making payments, they could find themselves looking for somewhere else to stay.

Avoiding the problem in the first place is always better than trying to negotiate refunds or other remedies, especially at peak holiday times when alternative accommodation may be limited”, Commissioner Walker said.

Call Consumer Protection for advice on 1300 30 40 54 or email online@docep.wa.gov.au <mailto:online@docep.wa.gov.au>