The accommodation is not fit for occupation as it would not pass basic health standards much less provide the services and facilities that you paid for. In the first place any accommodation must have a functional toilet and pass fire safety rules. It is a wonder they allowed you in at all. I would be leaving for elsewhere and demanding a full refund immediately.
While this thread is about a temporary water outage, it is worth reading for background information:
and what it means for you if you decided to cancel.
Usually with natural disasters, they are called force majeure events. This basically means the liability associated with such events is reduced.
What is interesting to note is the government (State and Commonwealth) have been advising tourists not to cancel their travels as north Queensland is open for business, with some disruptions. This messaging, along with updates from utilities, is what many tourism providers may be listening to and relying on when passing on information to travellers.
I agree with @syncretic that you should discuss the loss of water with the accommodation provider. They might have temporary solutions to overcome the outage such as bottled water, alternative showering and more regular bathroom servicing. If they can’t or unwilling to provide alternatives, I would raise with them the option of them looking for accommodation for you in an area less impacted. I would be reluctant to cancel the booking as cancellation conditions attached to the booking would apply. If you cancel you might also be stuck without any accommodation, where the risks are substantially higher at the moment. If there is to be a cancellation, it should be instigated by the accommodation provider.
The other option is if you have domestic travel insurance is to contact them to see if the cover includes disruptions from natural disasters.
Oh yes, at 9am the maid knocks on the door carrying a bucket. “Good morning sir the water truck has arrived, would you like me to flush your toilet today? Tomorrow you may be lucky and get your own bucket to wash yourselves, be sure to make it last”.
How will they fight a fire with no water? I don’t know the law in QLD but I would guess hotels are not allowed to have guests unless they comply with fire regulations which would include functional fire hydrants and sprinklers.
Not all buildings are required to have sprinkler systems connected to a reticulated water supply.
In relation to fires, if buildings can’t be occupied in times of a water outage, then this would require mass evacuations. This doesn’t occur. There are alternatives water sources for fire brigades in the case of fire, such as onboard water, pools, dams etc. There are many businesses and residents in Australia which don’t have reticulated water and fire brigades use alternative supplies for fire fighting.
Perusing Qld legislation is complex. It is heavy on financial issues and responsibilities and all but devoid of what constitutes accommodation minimums - and what appears to be a relevant Act seems to exempt holiday lets.
Domestic buildings don’t I grant you, how about hotels?
Apart from this getting a bit speculative about the details does anybody seriously think that having paid for accommodation that has functional bathroom, laundry and kitchen the lack of all of these would not be sound grounds for immediate cancellation and refund under Oz consumer law?
Agree, and @A.Traveller should speak to the hotel management/operators to see what can be done and what resolution is possible. @A.Traveller should not cancel the booking as it is likely that the accommodation provider won’t pro-rata refund any remaining monies. They will point to their cancellation policy. It makes it more difficult to take the matter further when there is public information available that north Queensland is open for business (even though some large areas are still without all utilities/services).
On this, the Commonwealth and State governments are giving out messages that travellers/tourists should continue to travel to North Queensland as it is ‘open for business’. From what @A.Traveller has indicated, this appears to potentially conflict with the current situation that some areas may not be fully operational and ready for a guest’s return.
Well clearly there is a major defect with the accommodation and it is not fit for purpose, so there needs to be a remedy. Repair, replace or refund.
The first step is see what the provider proposes as a remedy.
Cancelling would drop you into the terms of the cancellation policy, as others have said.
Force majeure could be something an accomodation provider could try to use to weasel out of responsibility, but cyclones in FNQ are not an unexpected event. In fact a part of life up there.
Implications from damage from cyclones fall into a force majeure event - they are an unplanned and unexpected event. If they are an expected event, you would have the Bureau of Meteorology providing annual calendars of when a cyclone would be present. Such does not occur.
Where does it say when cyclones will occur, their tracks, impacted locations and their severity. It doesn’t because the BOM doesn’t know as the are unexpected and unplanned events.
The risks of cyclone occurrence increases due to climatic drivers and being in a ‘cyclone region’. Risks should not be confused with known planned or expected events.
Please read the link provided about force majeure. It clearly starts that cyclones are a forced majeure event.
Thank you @phb for taking on the thankless job of setting out the reality of the rules and regulations in the Hospitality Industry. You have an inside theory and practice in the area, being in that industry yourself.
Hope things don’t get too side tracked and that the core question doesn’t become diluted in superfluous debates.
Yes, the best advice would be the previously linked,
In Qld QCAT is the Govt Authority responsible for resolving issues relating to the ACL. They may be able to point to further advice or clarifying decisions. https://www.qcat.qld.gov.au/
