I saw an article titled “A £350 swimming pool fee ruined our EasyJet holiday” in the Guardian on 15 June 2026. I assumed it was one of many common missteps when planning for holiday. It happens to the best of us. I did wonder which holiday destination charges such a high fee (AUD 660) for their swimming pool.
A UK couple had taken a week’s holiday to highly attractive Marrakech in Morocco. It was an all inclusive package offered by the airline EasyJet which included flights, accommodation, all meals as well as drinks. All they had to do was pick the hotel or resort among the list offered.
I was floored when I read the article which is here. The couple paid £2,150 (AUD 4,070) for a week’s stay at the Jaal Riad Resort at the outskirts of Marrakech but it not did cover the pool and few other amenities.
At the resort the couple was asked to pay £24 per hour per person for the use of the heated pool, £24 for 20 minutes to use the Jacuzzi and £16 for Hammam for 20 minutes. It was not the part of the package. The hamman is often out of the any package unless explicitly stated. The jacuzzi is debatable. So I am going to leave these out for this post. It was going to be about the pool.
Reading the article twice
After the second read, it was clear what the article wanted to convey. The UK Guardian is their well known for their trait of fact checking. EasyJet Holidays which offered the package as well as a UK consumer lawyer provided their views to the Guardian.
EasyJet responded by stating that “We always strive to make it clear that use of hotel facilities may incur additional charges,” and I did see the caveat at the bottom in small print. But these types of caveat typically refer to services and facilities that are not mainstream amenities but not for a hotel pool. EasyJet did offer £500 to the couple to resolve the matter.
The UK lawyer went as far as to state that it was potentially unlawful in The UK as material information was omitted.
Checking the EasyJet Holidays website
Next I headed to EasyJet’s website to find what was on offer and to do it quickly just in case the offer was amended. When I came across the listing for the Jaal Riad Resort, the first thing that caught my eye was the large pool that was front and centre of the resort main photo on the web. The pool was also mentioned a few times including poolside drinks which was part of the all inclusive package.
Checking accommodation platforms
In Booking.com, the accomodation platform which I have used many times for many years, the resort scored a high of 8.5 out of 852 reviews, which places them in the upper tier. Not a single comment in the poor reviews mentioned the high charges for the pool. It also scored a high of 8. 6 on the Wotif platform.
Not once did I come across a hotel no matter the star rating charging for the use of the pool. This was a first.
The revealing video and photos
As I could not work out why an established hotel and EasyJet ended up in such a situation, I decided to check the photos on the Booking.com platform as well as the video on the EasyJet site.
I then realised the charges must have been for the much smaller indoor heated pool (photo above). With that size and 220 guest rooms, it made sense to restrict the number of patrons with fees.
Now the jacuzzi and hammam charges made sense. The indoor heated pool, the jacuzzi were all indoors and the hammam service was likely part of the hotel’s spa or wellness facilities. These are never part of the any “all inclusive” package. At most one would get a complimentary session as a teaser. The main pool therefore could not be the issue.
So what went wrong?
The couple did literally take “all inclusive” to be that. Even what the all-inclusive covered was well described in the EasyJet website. I am sure if they knew that the spa and wellness facilities are never part of the all-inclusive holiday package, they would still have booked as the price is attractive.
Where did the article go wrong? The Guardian wrote the article based on a letter from the couple. The couple in their letter did state it was the “heated” pool. But the Guardian as well as the lawyer they consulted I suspect assumed they were referring to the main pool. You could tell that by the article write-up. So looks like the Guardian uncharacteristically slipped up.
Holiday planning tips for packages
Frequent travellers would know what these packages usually mean. If you are new to travel especially overseas, best to read up on such offers and find out what else the hotel or resort offers.
A google search on the term “all-inclusive holiday package exclusions” throws out spa and wellness, excursions and tours, golf fees etc. Sometime meal and drinks package do not include alcoholic drinks.
Worldwide practices covering terms such as “breakfast included”, “half board “and “full board” are quite consistent across the World. Also do read up on reviews in accommodation platforms. They are quite telling.
Holiday tips on overcoming an unexpected challenge
One thing I learnt during my travels is to overcome an accommodation missteps, poor service and things that cannot be fixed by focusing on a main agenda of the holiday.
Second approach is to find an alternative accommodation and write-off some of the cost of the first booking. I have done that before when a room has a structural issue such as air conditioning or plumbing. And the hotel is not able to provide another room.
I have also left a country the day after arrival despite a 4-day long weekend booking. It was due to a city wide strike followed by expected rolling protest marches. My hotel was in the middle of it. It was pointless. I left before the authorities completed their barricades and all traffic was stopped. I did however did see the some the sights on the first day as much as I could and had some great local snacks.
When I was in New York in the 1990s and heard the weather forecast I did something similar. Immediately checked out one day ahead and straight to JFK Airport. Within hours the airport was closed for the next 40 hours as it became snow bound.