Family's £3,500 Lapland holiday dream shattered

A family who spent their life savings on a holiday to Lapland were left "stressed and disappointed" after the tour operator failed to cancel their trip due to a lack of snow.

Lisa O'Neil, her husband Wayne and son Finn booked a £3,482 four-day trip to the Finnish resort through operator Tui.

They raised concerns about the weather forecast before leaving and were expecting Tui to cancel or reschedule the trip under its "no snow you don't have to go" policy.

Tui said it apologised to customers affected by the "unseasonal weather conditions", adding that although snow was forecast, it "did not happen".

On its website, the travel company says: "If we think there's not enough snow to run the itinerary... you'll have the opportunity to amend to something else or choose not to travel."

While the O'Neils, from Gosforth, Cumbria, raised concerns based on weather forecasts they had seen, Tui remained confident conditions would allow activities to go ahead.

But the husky ride, snowmobile trip and a reindeer encounter the family booked were all cancelled due to a lack of snow.

Mrs O'Neil, 39, said: "It was just very disappointing that the whole thing was foreseen by so many people."

Mrs O'Neil said she raised concerns with Tui about the forecast before setting off on 1 December, but was told "staff on the ground were confident the holiday could go ahead".

She was informed she would not be entitled to any refunds if she cancelled the holiday herself.

When they arrived the resort "looked lovely", Mrs O'Neil said, and the family enjoyed their first afternoon there doing some sledging, snowball fights and snow angels.

But the weather forecast "was always in the back of our minds" and, as they had expected, temperatures rose above freezing, rain started to fall and the snow the family had enjoyed playing in the day before melted.

All activities scheduled for Monday were cancelled and Mrs O'Neil said the holiday rep told them anything they did outside the paid-for activities would be at their "leisure and expense".

Mrs O'Neil said this impacted other families staying at the resort who had paid for a similar package.

"Everybody was obviously very upset, very angry that this situation had been foreseen by so many of us who had already phoned and raised concerns ahead of time."

The family were able to recoup €15 for meal costs, which were due to be provided with the activities, and were told the snow experiences would be rescheduled for the following day.

But once again the activities were cancelled, this time when they were on the way to the husky experience.

"We got on [the bus] with all these hopes and crossing our fingers, and then half way there the rep said unfortunately there was going to be no husky rides today because there is no snow," said Mrs O'Neil.

The dogs were available to be stroked and cuddled and those handling the dogs were "very knowledgeable", but it was far from the experience Finn and his parents had dreamed of and no alternative activities were offered.

"[Finn] picked up on it a lot," said Mrs O'Neil. "He's seven and he's quite sensitive, so he knew that something wasn't right.

"But we just spent a lot of energy trying to keep him happy and not upset."

Mrs O'Neil said she has submitted a complaint to the travel firm.

"Tui took all of our money and had that policy in place that gives you the peace of mind that Tui's got your back, that they've got you covered and your life savings are in safe hands and your children can have the holiday that they deserve."

The family were offered a 50% refund on their holiday, but they have requested a full refund instead as they believe that Tui should have rescheduled their trip.

"I want them to do the right thing," said Mrs O'Neil

"I'm not asking for anything unreasonable, I'm asking for them to follow their own self-imposed policy."

A spokesman for the company said: "Our teams have been in direct contact with all impacted guests to offer a resolution."