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With the collapse of a number of travel companies, most recently Goldtrail and Kiss Flights, thousands of holidaymakers have found themself stranded without their much anticipated summer holidays.  Some tourists face the prospect of possibly losing money if their holiday was not protected, either by insurance or ATOL bonding.  So how can you protect yourself and safeguard your holiday should your holiday operator fail?  Follow our guide below for advice on what to do to ensure you’re protected when booking a holiday.

ATOL protection:

The Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (ATOL) is run by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and is a protection scheme for holidaymakers.  If the holiday you book includes a flight and is sold as a package holiday – so the accommodation and flight are on one bill – then the holiday should be protected by ATOL bonding.    So in this case if the tour operator goes bust you can carry on your holiday abroad or get a refund if you haven’t set off yet.

There were some instances recently publicised on the news where hotels abroad demanded guests pay the bill, even though they had already paid the tour operator for their holiday.   If this happens and you end up paying the hotel make sure you get a receipt and keep all the receipts as you’ll be able to claim them back via the ATOL scheme.  The hotel will be paid by the CAA for your holiday so they shouldn’t ask you to pay it, but when a travel company goes out of business it can take a while to get payment through, with many hotels struggling at the moment this can mean they have to wait and some are unwilling to do so. 

If your travel agent goes out of business, provided you’ve booked a package holiday as explained, then you will still be protected as the holiday is booked through the tour operator and protected by the ATOL scheme.

When is a Package Holiday NOT a Package Holiday? 

Unfortunately some holidaymakers have been caught out when booking their last minute holidays recently as they thought they had booked a package holiday protected by ATOL when in fact it wasn’t.  If you book the accommodation and flights separately yourself it’s not a package, it’s a DIY holiday.  Most people understand this, but where some holidaymakers have been caught out is where they’ve booked online and selected the flights and accommodation separately but on the same holiday website. These types of bookings are not always protected by ATOL.  If the accommodation and flights are sent to you on separate bills it’s unlikely that you are protected for the whole of the holiday.  You should check that there is an ATOL number on your confirmation and conditions of booking and it may be wise to check with the holiday provider before booking if you are unsure.

What protection do I have if I book a DIY Holiday?

Unfortunately, booking a DIY holiday means you are increasing the risk of not being financially protected as you have chosen to package up the holiday yourself.  If your holiday is cancelled or the tour operator goes bust it will depend on who you’ve booked with with regards to whether you’ll get your money back.  If your flight was with a tour operator or via a travel agent flying on a tour operator airline, it should be ATOL protected as before.  If the flight is a scheduled or no-frills flight booked directly with the airline it won’t be covered and you’ll have to rely on the individual company policy if the flight is cancelled. If the accommodation is booked separately and not covered by ATOL then you have no compensation rights and will have to rely on travel insurance or credit card protection.

Travel Insurance

Some travel insurance policies may cover you if the holiday company goes into liquidation, but you will need to check the small print of your policy to make sure.  There are now some new policies out in the wake of such travel firms going bust, such as scheduled airline failure insurance, which offer protection should this happen.  It is worth shopping around for the right insurance or asking your travel agent at the time of booking to ensure you are protected by travel insurance that covers you.  Make sure you read the small print and double check exactly what you are covered for.  It is strongly advised that you do take out travel insurance and that it covers you for your trip for each time you go on holiday.

Paying by Credit Card

If you pay for your holiday on a credit card it can help to protect you if you lose your holiday.  The credit card company under section 75 of the consumer credit act is jointly responsible if something goes wrong.  However, this may not cover all the aspects of your holiday, only parts of it.  Plus you must ensure that you have paid over £100 per person on the credit card in order to benefit from this protection.

ATOL and ABTA protection – holidayholiday.co.uk

HolidayHoliday.co.uk only advertises holidays from travel agents who are both ABTA and ATOL ptotected.  We have a strict advertising policy that means all agents have to be protected.  If you are unsure if your holiday is protected please double check with the travel agent before booking.

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Filed under: travel advice