Eliana Willis

Some customers still have not received all their money back for cancelled holidays, despite the online travel agent committing lastminute.com to the regulator that all refunds would be paid by the end of January, Which? has revealed.
After months of breaking the law on holiday refunds, the company was investigated by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) in December and it agreed to pay all outstanding package holiday refunds that were cancelled on or before December 2nd by the end of January.
Despite this, Which? has seen reports from several customers through social media who still had not received a full refund after the deadline had passed.
At the time of the intervention, the seventh largest travel agent in the UK owed more than £7 million in refunds for holidays cancelled on or before December 2nd.
Although it seems to be paying back customers for the hotel portion of their trips, Which? found evidence that it had not returned the cost of cancelled flights to some of its customers by the deadline.
Some online travel agents have reported difficulties in securing refunds from airlines to pass on to their customers, meaning many people have reported only receiving partial refunds for their cancelled package holidays.

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However, under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Regulations 2018, if a package holiday is cancelled by the provider, the customer is legally entitled to a full refund within 14 days.
A package holiday is a combination of at least two types of travel or travel-related services made through the same source in a single booking, most commonly flights and accommodation.
The commitment made by lastminute.com to the CMA was to refund all money to customers for both accommodation and flights.
Only after Which? approached lastminute.com were both customers told they would receive their money back for the outstanding portions of their refunds.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “Despite being given ample time to return all outstanding refunds to customers – as well as clear instructions regarding its liability for refunding both accommodation and flight costs – lastminute.com has failed to meet this commitment to the regulator.
“This is perhaps unsurprising to its customers, given it was voted the UK’s worst accommodation booking site in our latest survey, faring little better when it was ranked for flight bookings.
“The CMA was right to intervene to demand action from the online travel agent, but after failing some of its customers once again, tougher measures need to be taken.
“The CMA should uncover how many customers were not refunded in time and take appropriate action against lastminute.com, sending a clear message that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable.”
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On the Beach Group has said consumer demand remains “very weak” following a series of disruptions owing to Covid-19.
Ahead of its annual general meeting today, the company said UK web traffic, bookings and spend on online marketing activity across the first four months of the financial year down 73 per cent, 83 per cent and 85 per cent respectively.

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As a result of the four-week lockdown in November and the subsequent UK-wide lockdown that commenced in early January 2021, combined with further reductions in winter flying programmes, consumer demand for forward holidays has remained very weak,” explained a statement.
The company said it was responding to the latest travel restrictions by taking holidays off-sale that depart prior to May.
Simon Cooper, chief executive of On the Beach Group, commented: “The first four months of our financial year have seen differing tiering levels across the UK, followed by the current nationwide lockdown and ban on international leisure travel.
“Clearly this has and continues to impact booking volumes and the Board believes that booking volumes will remain weak through half one and into half two.
“Following the prudent activities undertaken in the last financial year, the group remains in a strong and debt-free financial position.”
On the Beach said it had £93 million on hand at the end of last month.
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The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has launched its investigation into Teletext Holidays.
The probe, launched under consumer protection law, comes after the body received hundreds of complaints that people were not receiving refunds for package holidays cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In some instances, Teletext customers reported that they were promised refunds by a certain date, only to have that date pushed back.
The CMA will now engage with Teletext to gather further evidence on whether the company has broken consumer protection law.
Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: “We understand that the pandemic is presenting challenges for travel businesses, but it is important that the interests of consumers are properly protected and that businesses comply with the law.

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“We’ll be engaging with Teletext to establish whether the law has been broken and will take further action if necessary.”
The announcement follows significant action by the CMA in relation to holiday cancellations.
The government body has written to over 100 package holiday firms to remind them of their obligations to comply with consumer protection law, and has secured refund commitments from a number of holiday firms, including Love Holidays, Lastminute.com, Virgin Holidays, TUI UK, Sykes Cottages and Vacation Rentals.
The CMA is also investigating whether airlines have breached consumers’ legal rights by failing to offer cash refunds for flights they could not lawfully take due to the pandemic.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “Which? has received a steady stream of complaints from Teletext Holidays customers who have been left chasing refunds for cancelled holidays, so it is right that the CMA is investigating the company.
“Nearly a year on from the first wave of cancellations, it’s unacceptable for anyone to still be waiting for their money back.
“Customers have been understanding of the difficult circumstances travel companies faced in the past year, but it’s clear now that some operators feel empowered to act with impunity.
“The regulator should establish the scale of the problem and, if necessary, quickly take appropriate action against the company to send a clear message that it will not stand for this kind of behaviour.”
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World Travel & Tourism Council chief executive, Gloria Guevara, has praised the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in the UK, arguing the programme will support the recovery of the hospitality sector.
Latest government figures show more than ten million Brits have had at least one does of a vaccine, or around 15 per cent of the adult population.
Many are in the most vulnerable groups, including those over 70-years-of-age, employed in healthcare or by nursing homes.
In response, Guevara said: “The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) recognises the tremendous progress made by the UK government to lead the world with its comprehensive vaccine rollout across the country, together with a highly-targeted testing programme, to stop the spread of the virus.

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“We believe these two measures are critical to beating Covid-19 and getting the country back on its feet and on the move again.
“That is why we support the comments made by UK transport minister, Robert Courts, who warned borders would be harder to reopen under a blanket travel shutdown.
“WTTC has long opposed costly and ineffective blanket travel bans and quarantines, as they are stalling the country’s economic recovery and significantly slowing the revival of the global tourism sector.”
She added: “Shutdowns are also shown to be entirely counterproductive and simply don’t stop the spread of Covid-19, and its emerging variants.
“We fully support the points made by the minister and agree that a total shutdown is not the way forward to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and argue that a wider shutdown would be harder to lift, as has been the case in both Australia and New Zealand.
“WTTC believes that the only way to save tourism while protecting public health, is the introduction of an internationally recognised testing scheme on departure and arrival.
“A rapid and cost-effective testing regime would avoid exporting the virus and enable the free movement of travellers which would see the return of a sector, critical to powering the UK economy post Covid-19.”
Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire/PA Images
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Tucan Travel has ceased trading as the downturn in travel following the Covid-19 pandemic continues to take a toll on the hospitality sector.
The company operated group itineraries in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe as well as a tailor-made department, offering bespoke tours in Latin America and Asia.
Martyn Sumners, executive director of AITO, said: “Matt Gannan had been in business for 34 years – since 1987 – and joined AITO 11 years ago.
“He was on council from 2016 – coming up for five years – and was thus a director of AITO until today.
“Matt put a lot of effort into finding solutions for AITO members while he was on council, and we shall miss his input considerably.”

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Tucan Travel suspended its tour operations in March last year and tried throughout this difficult Covid-19 scenario to look after both staff and customers’ needs, but has now had to admit defeat.
Gannan added: “We’ve had to make many staff redundant over the past ten months in an effort to keep the company alive; most of them were loyal, long-serving staff with families to support.
“Unfortunately, this situation now extends to all staff, which is devastating.
“With clients wishing to receive immediate full refunds of money paid in advance to secure many services on their behalf, and smaller overseas hotels and service providers not having the resources to repay what is owed to tour operators until they are able to reopen their businesses and earn money again, the further tough lockdowns have forced us – with a heavy heart – to place the company into administration.
“I would like to thank all clients, suppliers and staff for their support over many years and hope that all of you get to enjoy travelling again in the future.”
Approximately 700 customers’ travel arrangements will be affected by the demise of Tucan Travel – holidays that were booked in the UK and in Australia. 
The value of these bookings is circa £850,000, and it will be covered by the company’s CAA ATOL and ABTOT bonds.
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Global tourism suffered its worst year on record in 2020, with international arrivals dropping by 74 per cent when compared to 2019 according to the latest data from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
Destinations worldwide welcomed one billion fewer international arrivals in 2020 than in the previous year, due to an unprecedented fall in demand and widespread travel restrictions.
This compares with the four per cent decline recorded during the 2009 global economic crisis.
According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, the collapse in international travel represents an estimated loss of US$1.3 trillion in export revenues – more than 11 times the loss recorded during the 2009 global economic crisis.
The crisis has put between 100 and 120 million direct tourism jobs at risk, many of them in small and medium-sized enterprises. 

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Due to the evolving nature of the pandemic, many countries are now reintroducing stricter travel restrictions.
These include mandatory testing, quarantines and in some cases a complete closure of borders, all weighing on the resumption of international travel.
At the same time, the gradual rollout of a Covid-19 vaccine is expected to help restore consumer confidence, contribute to the easing travel restrictions and slowly normalize travel during the year ahead.
UNWTO secretary general, Zurab Pololikashvili, said: “While much has been made in making safe international travel a possibility, we are aware that the crisis is far from over.
“The harmonisation, coordination and digitalization of Covid-19 travel-related risk reduction measures, including testing, tracing and vaccination certificates, are essential foundations to promote safe travel and prepare for the recovery of tourism once conditions allow.”
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