contract law

Nick Nice is an accountant in Melbourne. He has accrued a large amount of annual leave and is being encouraged by his employer to go on a holiday. Nick has wanted to travel to the Northern Territory for a number of years with his wife and two children (aged 4 and 6 years), and decides to investigate this holiday option. On 1 March, Nick attends the Happy Holidays Travel Expo in Burwood. The travel expo has a large number of companies advertising their products and services in a large hall, including airlines, tour operators, hotel chains and luggage companies. Nick wanders around the Expo for a while, looking at different stall holders. He then comes across the Dodgy Travel Pty Ltd stall. The Dodgy Travel stall has a sign which says that they are “Australia’s #1 Northern Territory Tour Operator”. Nick looks around the stall and is approached by Sally Samuels, a Dodgy Travel sales assistant. He explains that he is looking for a family holiday in the next couple of months and is very interested in travelling to the Northern Territory. Sally says “our Wonders of the North package would be perfect for you” and produces a sheet for Nick which describes the Wonders of the North holiday package as follows: Wonders of the North (6 days, 5 nights) Enjoy the trip of a lifetime to Northern Australia. This all-inclusive small group tour (of no more than approximately 12 people) will take you to some of the most exciting and exotic locations in the Northern Territory, including Darwin and Kakadu. Children over 2 years welcome. Itinerary Day One - Fly into Darwin and be met by a Dodgy Travel’s representative who will take you to your accommodation. Settle into your accommodation and meet your travelling companions at our first group meal that evening. Days Two to Five – We explore Darwin and its surrounds, including day trips to Kakadu and other important cultural and natural sites. Day Six – A final group breakfast and check out by 12 noon. Return flights back to your home location. Accommodation and Inclusions All of our tours stay in 5 star accommodation. Your tour price is all inclusive of all accommodation, meals, transport and activities. Price and Payment Pricing is dependent upon accommodation option: • Family Room (accommodates 2 adults and up to 3 children) - $1,500 per person Payment is to be made to Dodgy Travel Pty Ltd as follows: • half at the time of booking; • one quarter upon arrival at the accommodation; • balance upon departure from the accommodation. Nick takes the Information Sheet and, after reviewing it, says to Sally that he is interested in the Wonders of the North Package, but will need to discuss it with his wife. Sally says to Nick that “Dodgy Travel has some of the best Northern Territory tours and is really popular” and that “the only departure in the next few months is on 30 April and this particular departure is very popular and will probably book out today”. Upon hearing this Nick decides to lock in the holiday and pays the $3,000 deposit to secure places for him and his family for the 30 April package. He provides Sally with details of his family members and requests that they be booked in the Family Room. This accommodation option is confirmed by Sally. Once the payment is processed, Sally provides Nick with a receipt. The bottom of the receipt includes the following statement: “Dodgy Travel Pty Ltd takes no responsibility for any loss or damage suffered by customers travelling with Dodgy Travel Pty Ltd, whether by reason of breach of contract, negligence or otherwise” The Holiday Day One - Nick and his family fly to Darwin and are greeted by a representative of Dodgy Travel, who takes them to the Great Escape hotel. Upon arrival at the Great Escape hotel, Nick pays $1,500 to the Dodgy Travel representative and then heads to reception to check in. The smiling receptionist tells Nick that he and his family have been allocated rooms 1601 and 1802. Nick queries this immediately, explaining that he had booked a Family Room with Dodgy Travel. The receptionist responds that “no request for a Family Room was received from Dodgy Travel for this tour and we have no Family Rooms available”. This makes Nick very upset because he and his wife will need to stay in separate rooms – one parent with each child. He immediately raises this issue with the Dodgy Travel representative. The representative says they will be offered a discount of $500 for the inconvenience and will only need to pay $1,000 on departure. Although not happy with the situation, Nick accepts this offer. That night at dinner Nick and his family meet their travel companions. Nick is very surprised that there are a total of 20 people on the tour, making for a very loud table at dinner. At dinner Nick sits next to Martha, who is part of a group of eight friends on the trip. Nick says to Martha that this is his first holiday in a very long time and asks her whether she had been looking forward to the trip as much as he had. Martha replies that her entire group of friends had booked the trip last week as a last minute thing. She also mentions that she had been told by the sales representative that Dodgy Travel had been having trouble filling the tour and that her and her friends even got a discount. Nick and his wife go back to their separate rooms, beginning to feel very disappointed about their trip. Day Two – The next morning at breakfast, the tour guide announces that the group will be going on an eight hour day trip to Kakadu. The tour guide also notes that children under 12 are not allowed on the trip for safety reasons. Nick approaches the tour guide after breakfast and asks what he and his wife are supposed to do about the tour, given that both of their children are under 12 years of age. The tour guide replies that the hotel offers a babysitting service. Given how excited he and his wife were to see Kakadu, Nick decides to leave his children with the babysitters. Nick and his wife go on the tour, which is very interesting and enjoyable and the children have an excellent time at the hotel, playing in the swimming pool and games area. Day Three – The next morning, the tour guide announces that the group will be going on an optional trip to look around Darwin. Nick and his wife choose to stay at the hotel with the children for the day. They eat in the hotel’s poolside restaurant for lunch and order some snacks in the late afternoon for the children and a glass of wine each. They join the rest of the group for a dinner with a traditional indigenous performance. Days Four and Five – Days Four and Five of holiday involve more day trips to sights in and around Darwin, including a crocodile park, which the children really enjoyed. It is sometimes difficult to get around because of the large tour group. Day Six – On the final morning of the holiday, after breakfast Nick sees the Dodgy Travel representative and pays the outstanding $1,000 for the trip, based on the discount discussed on Day One. Just before 12 noon, Nick approaches reception to check out of the hotel. Nick is presented with an itemised bill for $1,000 worth of expenses. This bill is broken down as follows: • 1 May – Babysitting services (8 hours @ $100 per hour) $800 • 1 May – Food and Beverage (children’s meals) $ 55 • 2 May – Food and Beverage $145 Nick is shocked to receive this bill and queries it with the receptionist. The receptionist replies that “these expenses are not included in the package. Where you chose optional extras, these weren’t covered”. Aware that he needed to get to the airport to catch his flight home, Nick pays the bill. To make matters worse, Dodgy Travel had not organised transport back to the airport. Nick is forced to order a taxi and pay a further $50 for the taxi fare. After the Holiday Nick and his family arrive back in Melbourne very disappointed by their holiday, but decide to put the experience behind them. Nick throws himself back into his work. On 21 May, Nick receives a letter from Dodgy Travel Pty Ltd demanding payment of the final instalment of the holiday, being $500. Nick is shocked to receive this letter given the discount offered while on the trip and all of the additional expenses he had paid. After receiving this letter, Nick and his wife Google “Dodgy Travel Pty Ltd”. The search turns up a lot of customer complaints about the Dodgy Travel tours. Nick also couldn’t locate any awards that Dodgy Travel Pty Ltd had won. The Litigation Nick Nice consults you and seeks your advice as to his rights and obligations with respect to the situation that he finds himself in. • Prepare an advice for Nick Nice with respect to all the cause(s) of action he has against Dodgy Travel Pty Ltd; • Your advice MUST include a discussion of all the defences that might be raised by the defendant and whether the plaintiff will ultimately be successful in light of those defences the you raise; and • Your advice must be based on principles of law studied in Contract in Trimester 1, 2017. Prepare an advice for Nick Nice with respect to all the cause(s) of action he has against Dodgy Travel Pty Ltd;