HolidayTravelWatch has been engaged in researching and drafting their latest report to the EU Commission on the future of The Package Travel Directive.  This review is the latest in a long line of Consultations either commissioned by the UK Government or The EU Commission.  The Directive has been incorporated into UK Law in 1992 as The Package Travel Regulations.  Many thousands of holidaymakers have in recent years suffered with a variety of holiday complaints, such as holiday illness (Salmonella, Cryptosporidum, Shigella, Campylobacter, Legionnaires etc), building work, significant changes to holidays, holiday price changes, name change charges, poor hygiene standards, exposure to toxins, aerotoxic syndrome, failures in kids clubs, poor safety standards, poor representation, poor responses to complaints, financial failures of airlines and travel companies and many more.  This Organisation has collated many examples of how holidaymakers have suffered and provided the Commission and Parliament with those first hand accounts of how Consumer Protection legislation is failing them.  Our report, along with the completed EU Commission questionnaire, illustrates that at the heart of this Consumer Protection debate, we remain resolute in our determination that ordinary holidaymakers view will be heard!  The challenge now rests with the EU Commission and the EU Parliament! Read More

2008 and 2009 has proven to many British holidaymakers that the ‘holiday from hell’, or a less than satisfactory holiday experience exists, many with serious or catatrophic consequences? So if you have a holiday complaint – what can you do about it? Do you put it down to ‘just another experience’? You may have a holiday food poisoning claim, the facilities in the hotel or cruise ship were not up to standard, or your suffered at the hands of an airline! Did you suffer from a holiday accident? Read More

This is a critical moment for the future of EU holidaymakers and in particular, British holidaymakers! In 1990, the EU created the Package Travel Directive which was then adopted into various National Laws; the UK adopted this Directive as The Package Travel Regulations in 1992. Many millions of EU holidaymakers have enjoyed the benefit of Protection under this Directive – those Protections are now seriously threatened. Since 2003, there has been an attempt by the Travel Industry to reinterpret these Regulations, by reinventing themselves as ‘travel agents’, through internet sales. Whilst we are to be rightly concerned with the Financial Protection of holidaymakers, we must also be aware of the many other detriments or problems suffered by holidaymakers, which, according to online terms and conditions, are not the responsibility of these new ‘travel agents’! It is now imperative that the Consumer position is presented to the EU Commission following the announcement of their latest Consultation on Holiday Rights. It is simple; if the Commission is persuaded to keep the ‘internet’ players outside the remit of any new Directive, Consumers will be returned to the so-called pre-1992 ‘Golden Age’ of Travel when there was little or no Consumer Protection. The answers to this survey will be used to back up previous HolidayTravelWatch surveys and its findings will be presented to the EU Commission in February 2010. Your contribution is both valuable and timely – we would like to thank you for your kind assistance on this survey! Read More

The news last week revealed that the CAA’s action against the Travel Republic now lies in tatters.  Once again, the issue of Financial Protection remains smouldering on its own funeral pyre.  Once again, the Travel Industry has split right down the middle between those that support the ‘Agency’ position and those that ‘support’ the CAA position! Read More

If this summer holiday season has taught nothing else, it is that there are many holidaymakers returning with complaints of illness and are simply not getting themselves checked out by their GP or local Environmental Health Officer.  Why is this important? Quite simple really – QED – Quick and Early Diagnosis!  Consider this: at a recent conference I attended, one speaker advised that of all holiday sickness or illness reports, some 40% go on to suffer a permanent condition or disability!  So much for the ‘Spanish Tummy’, ‘Turkey Trots’ or Pharoahs Revenge’ Brigade! Read More

Just when you thought that it could not get any worse, we hear that within one hotel in Turkey, the staff have a unique way to announce faecal accidents within swimming pools!  We are told by holidaymakers that pools are closed on a daily basis, due to the fact that holidaymakers suffer an ‘accident’ whilst they are in the pool.  When the ‘accident’ is discovered, the ‘entertainment crew’ make an announcement over the tannoy of ‘Code Brown, Code Brown’ – the pool in question is then temporarily closed (there are varying reports as to how long the pool is usually closed and as to what kind of treatment of the water is provided) whilst the offending article is removed!  Read More

So, we can now see the result of the swine flu pandemic – the BBC have reported that reports of this illness have jumped by 50%!  Do you remember our first blog on this issue, how the holidaymaker we reported on was dealt with by the HPA and Health Authorities?  Do you remember all those holidaymakers caught in the first outbreak in Mexico and how they were repatriated?  At the time some reports estimated that there were some 10,000 British holidaymakers in Mexico at the time!  What then happened to the holidaymakers when they returned to the UK: Read More