In case you missed it….Couple miss entire Easter Holiday due to lift maintenance failure just 500m from Airport

A couple looking forward to a relaxing, all-inclusive, 11 day break in Antalya, Turkey missed out on their holiday after a lift failure in their hotel. All the more galling – this hotel was just 500 yards or so from the airport.

The ninety minute delay the Larsens were subjected to occurred at 4 o’clock in the morning, but even at that unsociable hour they weren’t alone. The whole experience was shared by another couple whom they said they got to know well.

The lift they were taking moved a few feet, clunked and then ground to a halt. Despite repeated assertions that an engineer was ‘on his way’, the couple had to resort to calling the fire brigade and, although eventually freed, their dash to the check-in desk was agonisingly in vain as the plane was already taxiing.

Their crisis compatriots, however, had more luck. With their flight booked later than the Larsons, their journey to Morocco was unobstructed – testament to the sense of getting up early and checking in with plenty of time to spare.

The Ibis hotel has now released in a statement that they will be ‘taking appropriate action’ about paying costs. In the meantime, the Larsens have returned to their home in Caernarfon, North Wales and plan to visit Barry Island instead to look at the sea and pretend it’s the Mediterranean. With temperatures a balmy 8ºC, no doubt this will more than suffice…

For landlords and property owners, lessons can be learnt from this scenario. Ibis will now face compensating the Larsons at a cost well beyond carrying out routine checks and maintenance to their lifts. Whilst we cannot confirm the precise details of Ibis’ lifts maintenance plan, in the long-term appropriately and rigidly observing your repair and maintenance obligations with appropriate risk assessments is the best course of action.

www.propertysurveying.co.uk

02/04/2013                                                                                                      SRJ/LCB

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