A FATHER who paid £7,500 for a family break that turned into a “holiday from hell” is looking to donate the compensation he received to a good cause. 

Businessman Freddy Bourdais, and his wife Jo, booked a two-week family holiday to Cyprus with their daughters Lucy, 17, and Violette, ten.

They booked the Jet 2 holiday, which included a villa and pool, through their local Hays Travel store, in Northallerton, earlier this year and jetted off on July 25.

However, Mr Bourdais said the holiday soon turned into a nightmare when the villa they were staying in was infested with ants and rats while a faulty pump for the pool and leaking air con system made constant noise day and night.

“It was the holiday from hell and after a few days we wanted to fly back but we couldn’t get flights,” Mr Bourdais said. “There were ants even in the dishwasher and rats.”

The family said they spent most of their time away from the villa and despite several messages to their Jet 2 rep, the problems persisted throughout their stay.

After they arrived home, Mr Bourdais went back to the Hays store to complain but was told the company did not accept complaints as it was an agent for Jet 2.

Jet 2 agreed to pay £330 in compensation, which Mr Bourdais said he felt was “greedy”.

The 48-year-old complained directly to Hays CEO, John Hays, and later met with him.

A spokesperson for Jet 2 said: “We would like to apologise to Freddy and his family. We did resolve the issues he raised, promptly, during his holiday and as a gesture of goodwill we have offered an amount of compensation which we believe to be fair.”

Hays Travel said: “In line with all ABTA travel agents, Hays Travel acted as an agent on this booking with Jet2Holidays as the tour operator. We were sorry to learn that Mr Bourdais was unhappy with his holiday and helped him to liaise with Jet2Holidays with regards to his complaint.” 

Mr Bourdais said he will now look to donate the money to another family and is inviting nominations for young carers or those who have lost parents to get in touch before the family decide who to gift it to.

He said: “I have had a bad time on holiday and I want to turn it into a positive for someone else.”

Nominations should be emailed to jobourdais@gmail.com before December 21. A winner will be picked on December 22 and notified before Christmas.

  • Nominations should be emailed to jobourdais@gmail.com before December 21. A winner will be picked on December 22 and notified before Christmas.