HolidayTravelWatch continues to hear from Travel Consumers suffering ’Holiday DIY’ detriment in their holiday contracts. A recent call for help came from a Mr N1, he stated:

“I booked a holiday on line on the 17th June: On completing the form with [MAJOR ONLINE TOUR OPERATOR] I submitted the form but an error message came up, advising that the holiday would be held for one week and to telephone a certain number. Later that day I booked a second holiday. In the meantime I received an email confirmation from the first holiday company saying that the holiday was booked and I was given a reference number. I replied to this email cancelling the first holiday straightaway, as I was not aware that I had booked it due to the error message. Even though I cancelled on the email with proof of timing etc., on the 18th June, the full amount of the package holiday was taken from my account £2,300.00. I have written to [MAJOR ONLINE TOUR OPERATOR] but they refuse to refund my money and say that an error message never comes up on their web site. I cancelled this holiday on the same day in writing on the email. I can’t afford to pay for two holidays and there seems to be no one to help me with this complaint regarding the tour operater and their “slick” way of operating. Please advise me as soon as possible please, what can I do? Also are you aware that ABTA Members are running their business like this, without giving anyone a grace period, Surely this can’t be right?”  (E.08.07)

Mr N1 has received advice and assistance from the team at HolidayTravelWatch.

Frank Brehany, the Senior Consumer Advocate of HolidayTravelWatch states;

“Poor systems, poor service, lack of confidence in trade bodies, and a helpless Consumer.  Is this what they mean by a contract of 2 equal parties?  The EU Commission and the UK Government must act to help the Travel Consumer, and inject sensible processes in the formation of a holiday contract for the benefit of all parties”.  (E.08.07)

All Holidaymakers affected by any of these issues should contact HolidayTravelWatch for further assistance.

Note to Editors:

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 has launched its petition, calling on Government and the EU Commission to protect the rights of Consumers in Holiday Contracts.

Tags: ABTA Code of Conduct, Free Holiday Complaints Letters, holiday complaints, Holiday DIY Claims

This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 9:56 am 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.