Since 2005, HolidayTravelWatch has provided comment on the ever increasing threat to The Package Travel Regulations. This situation has developed partly through the changing style of purchasing holidays, but principally from the Court of Appeal decision as to what they considered constituted a ‘package’.

After considerable debate, the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) has produced a Guidance note, in an attempt to assist with the definition as to what constitutes a ‘package’. Why is this definition important? Simply, if an agent or operator can show that they are simply selling components, then they will escape the regulatory requirements of the Air Tour Operator licence (ATOL) scheme and, the provisions of The Package Travel Regulations. If that is the case, then the hard fought rights to protect the consumer will be lost. The consumer will be unprotected.

We have contributed to the continued debate, submitting our report examining consumer detriment, to the EU Commission and DBERR in October 2007. In that report we highlighted th very real risk that is now faced by the British Travel Consumer, through 160 case studies. We have also provided what we consider to be the solution to the diminution of Travel Consumer rights.

The EU Commission are currently reviewing the Package Travel Directive, but the result of their enquiries, along with their recommendations, is not expected for some time. The reaction to the recent Guidance produced by DBERR, produced a cautious welcome from the Travel Industry, but it does not deal with their principle concern, that being the market operations of the airline industry. They argue, if they are subject to a regulatory regime, then so should the airline industry when they sell holidays on their websites. We have argued that any regulatory regime should apply across the board, not just to one segment of the Travel Industry.

We have predicted, a notion rejected by DBERR, that their Guidance note and the Court of Appeal decision gives a green light to those who want to ‘deregulate’ the package holiday. HolidayTravelWatch continues to hear from Travel Consumers suffering detriment in their holiday contracts. A recent call for help came from a Ms O, she stated:

“In April I travelled to Egypt with [MAJOR TOUR OPEATOR], upon arrival I was told my hotel was overbooked and was moved to a hotel 20km away from the resort centre in the middle of an area of considerable building development. The hotel did not provide entertainment and the restaurant was more like a canteen. I have written to [MAJOR TOUR OPERATOR] who have not provided a satisfactory response, would i have a claim against them ? I asked for a move or a flight home and was refused both. The hotel had new management presumably because of the problems it was experiencing. I would be grateful for your advise”. (07.06)

Ms O is now receiving advice and assistance from the team at HolidayTravelWatch.

Frank Brehany, the MD of HolidayTravelWatch states;

“This is a classic example of major changes due to building work not being communicated to the holidaymaker before departure. We have received many calls detailing similar experiences. In any review of the Package Travel Directive, we specifically call upon the EU Commission to ‘outlaw’ this failure to assess and notify the consumer of building work, no matter how minor, which could affect the quality of their holiday product”.

If you have been affected by any Holiday Building Work complaints, please contact us at HolidayTravelWatch

Please see our Legal Notice for further information on our services.

Tags: Holiday Building Work, holiday claims, holiday complaints, The Package Travel Regulations

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 5:44 pm and is filed under HolidayTravelWatch PressCentre. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.