Jamaica Prepares Legal Action against Thomas Cook

Jamaica Prepares Legal Action against Thomas Cook
by Daniel Pearce

Jamaican hoteliers are planning to press ahead with legal action over Thomas Cook’s refusal to pay the final 5 percent of its hotel bills this August and September. The Jamaican Hotel & Tourist Association said it had obtained a legal opinion which made it clear that Cook had no right to make the discount.

The move comes as Cook moves closer to reaching an agreement over the saga with hoteliers in Spain, who also reacted with the fury to Cook’s actions last month.

Wayne Cummings, president of the Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association, told TTG: “We have a legal opinion that says Thomas Cook can’t do this, and we are trying to find out how hotels are affected at the moment. We are prepared to launch a class action to get what we want.

“It’s not that we don’t love Thomas Cook – we love them to death – but this is a business decision. I believe good sense will prevail, that they will refund the money.”

Cummings’ comments were backed up Josef Forstmayr, the president of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association, who described the saga as “appalling”.  “Thomas Cook is such an important and valued partner of ours, and we’re saddened by what they have done,” he declared.

“As far as I know our hotels have not agreed to it, they have been totally caught by surprise and find it totally unacceptable. I’m not saying one can’t renegotiate on a bilateral basis, but unilaterally it can’t be expected for our hotels to just take it lying down.”

A spokesman for Thomas Cook said its discussions with the Caribbean bodies were at an earlier stage than they were with the Spanish authorities – and that it was standing by the move, which had been made after a wider strategy to maintain capacity had failed to bear fruit.