For example, consumers might book transport and a hotel from the same operator, or rent a car via the website where they booked their flight. Today’s rules either simply do not cover such arrangements, or do so only in an ambiguous manner, leaving consumers unsure of their rights and traders unclear of their obligations. As a result, in a recent survey, 67% of EU citizens mistakenly thought that they were protected when buying such travel arrangements when they were not.
Therefore, update of the 1990 rules is essentially about bringing the Package Travel Directive into the digital age. It means that an additional 120 million consumers who buy these customised travel arrangements will also be protected by the directive.
For buyers of traditional and customised packages, proposal will bring:
- stricter controls on price surcharges (with a 10% cap on price increases) and a requirement to pass on price reductions in equivalent circumstances;
- improved cancellation rights: Consumers will enjoy more flexibility by being able to terminate the contract before leaving home and paying the organiser a reasonable compensation. They will also be able to cancel the contract, free of charge, before departure in the event of natural disasters, civil unrest, or similar serious situations at the destination that would affect the holiday, when, e.g. the embassies give negative travel advices;
- better information on liability: in a plain and intelligible language consumers will need to be informed that the organiser is responsible for the proper performance of all included services – whereas today diverging national rules concerning the responsible party (organiser, retailer or both) lead to a situation where organisers and retailers refer the consumer to the other party, neither of them taking responsibility;
- better redress: in addition to price reductions in case a travel service has not been performed as it should have been, consumers can also claim compensation for any 'immaterial damage’ suffered, in particular in case of a spoilt Holiday.
For buyers of other customised travel arrangements, today’s proposal entails:
- a right to get their money back and be repatriated, if needed, in case the seller, the carrier or any other relevant service provider goes bankrupt while they are on Holiday;
- better information about who is liable for the performance of each service.
For more information: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-663_en.htm
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