A WICKED DEED’S CURSE was a service falling within the scope of the holiday arrangements which Kuoni contracted to provide under the contract at issue, and that the rape committed by N constituted improper performance of that contract. However, the CJEU did not question this premise and did not make any considerations of its own as to whether the accompaniment of a hotel guest by an electrician really was to be attributed to the contractual services on the basis of the package travel contract. 6) THE FINAL JUDGEMENT OF THE UK SUPREME COURT Based on the above interpretation provided by the CJEU, the UK Supreme Court, on 30 July 2021, delivered its final judgement unanimously allowing Mrs X’s appeal11. In this judgement, the Supreme Court returns at length to the question of whether the rape and assault of Mrs X constitutes improper performance of the obligations of Kuoni under the package travel contract – the question that the Supreme Court had set as a premise for the ECJ to answer in the affirmative. No surprise therefore, that legal assessment of the Supreme Court comes to exactly that conclusion. The Court starts with quoting Jarvis v Swans Tours12 and the approach that a holiday is intended to be a pleasant and enjoyable experience – an approach which encourages a broad, not a narrow, interpretation of the holiday services contracted for. In a package holiday contract, the provider of the holiday necessarily would undertake to provide not merely transport, accommodation and meals but also to provide other services ancillary thereto. Consistent with the purpose of providing the holidaymaker with an enjoyable experience, a common sense interpretation necessarily required that the services include much more than the actual mechanics of travel or the provision of a mattress and overhead cover for the night. While the precise content of the ancillary services could vary from one contract to another, the service of looking after and serving holidaymakers courteously in matters relating to their holiday experience would be inherent in every package holiday contract. Kuoni had undertaken to provide a holiday of a reasonable standard which itself had to be judged against the description of the hotel as a four-star hotel 11 X v Kuoni Travel Ltd [2021] UKSC 34. 12 Jarvis v Swan Tours Ltd [1973] QB 233
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==