European Commission aims to provide better protection when booking holidays online
The latest European Commission press release is out and strongly aims to enforce much better protections to over 120 million holiday goers over the summer of 2018. This had all been decided in Brussels on the 29th of June 2018. From the 1st of July, any travellers booking the popular package style holidays should be able to benefit from stronger consumer rights. As well as the more traditional holiday packages being covered, this new venture will also protect any consumers who book combined travel which stretches to include any self-customised packages.
Self-customised packages include any deals where a person has customised their travel stay. It may also mean that the consumer had picked and chosen particular elements of the travel package, this could be either on or offline. In their direct press release the commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality said the following “Booking your holidays online is easy, but if something goes wrong you want to be sure to be fully protected.
The new package travel rules are now adapted to the digital age and the new ways of booking holidays. Travellers will also benefit from new rights and be well protected in case the operator goes bankrupt. The new rules will also make it easier for travel businesses to offer their services cross-border.”.
These new rules and regulations will benefit the majority of people including giving clearer information to people who want to travel. They say that they will ensure businesses inform all travellers on their rights and allowances through particular standardized measures that will be in place for every company and small firm. They also aim to cover money-back schemes and repatriation in the more extreme case of bankruptcy.
They plan to do this by “Companies selling package holidays must take out insolvency protection. This guarantee covers refunds and repatriation in case organisers go bankrupt. This guarantee also applies to linked travel arrangements.”. The EU members truly hope it will bring about a new age for safer travel.
Within their latest press release on the subject, the EU hope to strengthen traveller’s cancellation rights by “With the new rules, travellers may cancel their package holiday for any reason by paying a reasonable fee. They may cancel their holiday, free of charge should their destination become dangerous for example because of war or natural disasters, or if the package price is raised over 8% of the original price.”
With this in place consumers can purchase holidays at ease and feel less pressured to be in constant fear of delays or cancellations. With holiday packages becoming more and more expensive year upon year, it is only fair that the customer is protected against things that they cannot control if they hope to spend large amounts for a holiday. This commission has been a long time coming and whilst the result is never too late to achieve, it is something that many people feel could have been done a lot sooner and faster than it has.
