www.tradingstandards.uk
CTSI incorporated by Royal Charter
Key points
CTSI’s call to action
•
Consumers are currently confused about the protection they receive when booking a holiday
•
Most consumers questioned in a public poll don’t know what a linked travel arrangement is, let alone what protection it
provides them
•
Sometimes consumers may think they are booking a package holiday when they are booking a linked travel
arrangement (LTA)
•
Package holidays and linked travel arrangements have different levels of protection, which consumers do not appreciate
•
Most stakeholders questioned in a poll think that regulators don’t understand LTAs
•
ThereisalmostuniversalagreementfromstakeholdersthatLTAsprovidelessnancialprotectiontoUKconsumersthan
packageholidaysandthevastmajoritythinkthedenitionofLTAsisproblematic
•
Most consumers questioned support a Government review of linked travel arrangements
•
Simplifying the wording and information provided to consumers from travel
organisers (e.g. travel agents and tour operators)
•
Reform of the 2018 Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements
Regulations (PTR)
•
Creationofasector-specicoffenceofprovidingincorrect/false/misleading
information to consumers (as it was in the 1992 regulations), rather than just
relyingontheConsumerProtectionfromUnfairTradingRegulations2008
•
Anyholidayserviceswherethereisnonancialprotectionmustprovidea
clear warning so that consumers can make an informed choice
1
Wish
You Were
Clear!
Giving clearer information and
greater protection to consumers
when they book holidays
Background and summary
According to the Ofce for National Statistics, UK tourists
are going on more holidays than they did 20 years ago,
with two-week holidays largely being jettisoned in favour
of one-week or 10-night breaks. Reports are that UK
residents made 24.9 million visits abroad in the third
quarter of 2022, more than three times during the same
quarter of 2021. This large increase could be because of
the easing of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic travel
restrictions. Market intelligence analysts Mintel report
that 59% of UK consumers booked their holidays in 2022
online via a laptop or desktop computer.
Linked travel arrangements (LTAs) were introduced as
part of the revised 2018 Package Travel and Linked
Travel Arrangements Regulations in a bid to provide
consumers with more protection when booking holidays
independently. A linked travel arrangement (LTA) is either
sold online or in a travel agency and covers the purchase
of individual ‘travel services’ which are then combined
by a seller for the same trip or holiday. It’s the separate
selection and purchase of ‘travel services’ made
during a single visit to a shop or a trader’s website,
where the traveller selects and pays for, e.g. a hotel and
then, without leaving the agent or the website, pays
separately for a ight.
If the consumer goes online and purchases a ‘travel
service’ from one business and through a targeted link
on this website they purchase a second ‘travel service’
from the linked website, then this also would be an LTA,
as long as the second ‘travel service’ is purchased within
24 hours of the rst. ‘Travel services’ include transport,
accommodation, vehicle rental and other tourist services
not inherently already included.
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2
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What is a package holiday?
What is a linked travel
arrangement?
An operator, agent or online travel agent (OTA) can sell a
package holiday by combining at least two different types
of ‘travel service’ for the purpose of the same trip or holiday.
The business will also be responsible for insolvency
protection and all elements of the package holiday.
Thereisnodenitionofanonlinetravelagentbutonline
is effectively digital, irrespective of the methodology of
contact or sale. So, if a company uses an app on a phone
to advertise and sell package holidays, they should
comply with the Package Travel Regulations.
A linked travel arrangement (LTA) is created in two
different ways.
Firstly, if a consumer visits a travel agent or OTA, for
example,andpurchasesaightorother‘travelservice’,
then without leaving the agency or website, decides
to select and buy another ‘travel service’ such as
accommodation in a separate transaction, then this will be
an LTA. There is no time limit on this second ‘travel service’
booking so long as the consumer doesn’t leave the
travel agent’s premises or the online travel agent website
in between.
The second way is slightly different and involves a
consumer visiting, for example, an airline’s website to buy
aight.Theairline’sbookingconrmationappearsafter
payingfortheight,andthereisanofferinthebooking
conrmationdetailstoclickthroughtoanotherwebsite
to book another service the consumer may need for their
holiday, for example - accommodation.
If the consumer decides to purchase the accommodation
and makes a separate purchase within 24 hours, the
combination becomes an LTA. Basically, there are two
separate but linked purchases of a ‘travel service’. The
airlinewebsite,wheretherstpurchasewasmade,is
called the, ‘facilitator’, and only the ‘facilitator’ has to
provide insolvency protection.
Ifatransportprovider(saytheairline)providestherst
element, then repatriation is only provided if the transport
provider (the ‘facilitator’) collapses while the consumer
is on holiday. The problem for consumers is that if they
purchaseaight,thenahotelseparatelyandthehotel
shuts (or goes into administration) the consumer will not be
able to recover any of the money they paid for the hotel.
But it can be even more confusing, for example when a
consumergoesontoanairlinewebsitetobookaight.
Aightischosenandpaidforbytheconsumer.Inthe
conrmationdetails,thereisalinktoanotherwebsite
selling a selection of hotels and the consumer clicks on
the link. There are now two scenarios a consumer has in
deciding whether to purchase, one leading to a package,
and another to an LTA;
•
when a customer clicks on the link and accesses the
other website, their name, payment details and email
address are automatically pre-populated and, as long
as the consumer purchases the hotel within 24 hours,
it will be a package with the airline providing all the
protections required (insolvency protection and full
responsibility for the package)
•
when the consumer clicks on the link and accesses the
other website, they decide to purchase a hotel within
24 hours, but because their name, payment details and
email address don’t automatically appear, it becomes an
LTA, with the airline becoming the ‘facilitator’, providing
only insolvency protection for itself. In this scenario, they
do not provide full responsibility for the whole package,
but only provide repatriation if the airline collapses whilst
the consumer is abroad. No refund will be made if the
hotel becomes unavailable.
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Package or LTA?
3
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4
Package: Scenario 1 Package: Scenario 2
Buy at least two different types of ‘travel
service’, combined and sold by an operator,
agent or online travel agent (OTA). The
business will be responsible for full
protection (for insolvency and all elements
of the package holiday).
Buyaightonline,alinkisprovidedto
another travel service website (e.g. a hotel)
with name, e-mail and payment details
pre-populated. The second service must
be bought within 24 hours. Still a package
with full protection.
LTA: Scenario 1
Buy a ‘travel service’ in a travel agency
or online. Without leaving the agency or
website, decide to select and buy another
‘travel service’ in a separate transaction. No
time limit, so long as the customer doesn’t
leave the website or travel agent. Only the
original travel service provider has to
provide insolvency protection and is
NOT responsible for all the elements
of the holiday.
LTA: Scenario 2
Buyan‘onlinetravelservice’(e.g.aight).
A link is provided to another website. You
buy another ‘travel service’ in a separate
transaction within 24 hours but name,
e-mail address and payment details NOT
pre-populated. The airline website, where
therstpurchasewasmade,iscalled
the ‘facilitator’.
Only repatriation protection for transport
collapse when abroad, only the facilitator
has to provide insolvency protection.
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CTSI incorporated by Royal Charter
What’s the latest?
CTSI suspects that consumers could be losing out by
booking LTAs, which provide less protection than package
holidays. But more importantly, our public polling evidence
suggests that the vast majority of the public don’t know
what a linked travel arrangement is, with older people
being less likely to understand and the number growing as
the age of the respondents increase.
Our polling also suggests that legislators need to make
the law as simple as possible for consumers to understand
so that they are protected from being misled or losing
money.Thetopvereasonsgiveninourpublicpollfor
either not reading the terms and conditions, or only skim
reading them when booking a holiday, are: too much
information is provided and it puts consumers off, they
are too complicated, consumers don’t have time, all terms
andconditionsaremoreorlessthesameandnally
that consumers have been on plenty of holidays without
needing to read them.
Given the above reasons, CTSI is calling for a review of
the 2018 Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements
Regulations (PTR), with LTAs either being reformed or
scrapped. CTSI’s public poll showed that almost 88% of
respondents either supported a Government review of
linked travel arrangements or didn’t express an opinion
either way.
There is widespread belief within the travel industry, trade
associations and amongst consumers that the system is
broken; it isn’t working. CTSI’s stakeholder poll reports
that even travel organisers may not realise that they have
created an LTA nor understand the obligations that fall
on them to make the customer aware of what is (and is
not) protected.
In short, customers are confused, businesses are
confused and even regulators have concerns. Despite the
good intention behind the revised 2018 Package Travel
and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations (PTR) to
provide more protection to consumers, CTSI believes that
this has not happened.
This is because:
•
The language of the legislation (particularly in relation to
the required ‘Essential Information’) is too complex
•
There is a requirement for too much information
to be provided so that consumers are
deterred from reading them
•
ThedenitionofLTAsistoocomplex
•
The legislation covers only package holidays and LTAs,
whichmeanstherearenospecicrequirementsfor
other holiday service providers
The recent public poll conducted on behalf of CTSI found
thatevenafterbeinggivenadenitionofalinkedtravel
arrangement, just over 73% of respondents said that
they still found the difference between a linked travel
arrangement and a package holiday a bit confusing or that
they didn’t understand at all.
In CTSI’s recent stakeholder poll amongst consumer
organisations, trade associations, independent travel
experts, journalists, the travel industry and an enforcer,
the vast majority of stakeholders either agreed or strongly
agreedthatLTAsprovidelessnancialprotectiontoUK
consumers than package holidays.
The stakeholder poll also found that the vast majority
of stakeholders:
•
Either aren’t sure, or think that regulators don’t
understand LTAs
•
Are not aware (or are not sure) of a regulator ever
having challenged an operator over the selling of a
linked travel arrangement
•
BelievethatthedenitionofLTAsisproblematic
•
No stakeholder thinks that travel organisers realise when
they have created an LTA or understand the obligations
that fall on them to make the customer aware of what is
(and is not) protected
Another of the issues relating to travel and holiday
bookings is that the law requires that too much information
is given to consumers, who then don’t read it. Currently
the Package Travel Regulations require a lot of information
to be given to consumers, with the information required
being itemised in 10 schedules. That immediately
introduces complexity and confusion for organisers,
retailers (high street and online) and consumers, and
the wording is unnecessarily complex, even if all of this
‘Essential Information’ is actually provided to consumers
(which CTSI believes is questionable). CTSI believes that
‘Essential information’ which is required for the protection
of consumers should appear in a ‘bold, precise and
compelling manner’.
CTSI’s stakeholder poll show a majority of stakeholders
agree with most of CTSI’s recommendations of what
should be included in ‘Essential Information’ when booking
holidays. However, there were some reservations about:
•
whether compensation in the event of problems
should be included in ‘Essential Information’ which the
consumer may need prior to, or during, the holiday; and
•
whether information with regard to unaccompanied
minors should be included in ‘Essential Information’
which the consumer may need prior to, or during,
the holiday:
Almost 1 in 5 (18%) of the public
also felt they were more protected when booking
a linked travel arrangement than when booking
a package holiday, which isn’t correct.
5
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Why is this important now?
Consumers can unwittingly fall into gaps in the legislation
without realising it. CTSI suspects that consumers are
losing out because they may think they are getting a lot
more protection than they are (because they may think
they’ve already effectively bought a package).
TheUKGovernmenthasindicatedthattheywillbe
launching a consultation on changes to the Package Travel
Regulations sometime in 2023.This is a rare opportunity
tobeabletoinuencelegislationforthebenetof
consumers. CTSI wants to take that opportunity.
CTSI believes that changes are needed to:
•
Effectively give more protection to consumers, by
making it absolutely crystal-clear whether they are
booking a package holiday or not
•
Spell it out to consumers that with the legislation as it
is, if they are not booking a package holiday, but an
LTA, then the protection they get will be different. But
in any potential landscape without LTAs, consumers
would need to know what their protection is so that
they could make an make an informed choice about
buying independently or a package. Consumers could
then choose to buy a non-protected holiday (just as
they choose to travel without travel insurance), but that
choice must be made very clear to them; organisers
such as travel agents and tour operators shouldn’t
pretend that consumers are covered when they are not
What is CTSI calling for
Information provided during the booking process
needs to be clearer along with details of the protection
consumers have when things go wrong. Holidays are the
most expensive purchase a consumer is likely to make,
after a property and a vehicle; so, especially in the midst
of a cost-of-living crisis, it is particularly important that
consumers are protected from making what could be a
costly mistake.
Currently, consumers are confused about the protection
they receive when booking a holiday; they may think
they are booking a package holiday but they may in fact
be booking a linked travel arrangement (which offers
less protection), or even booking separate elements,
which are totally out of the scope of the PTRs. In most
cases, consumers don’t even know what a linked travel
arrangement is, let alone know what protection it
provides them.
CTSI believes that LTAs, which offer less
protection for consumers booking holidays
than traditional package holidays, are not
tforpurpose.
We are asking for:
The Government to review Package Travel
Regulation legislation to ensure optimum protection
for consumers. This would include:
Either reforming or scrapping linked travel
arrangements
It is clear from both CTSI’s public and stakeholder
pollsthatLTAscurrentlyarenottforpurpose.CTSI
believes they should be either reformed or scrapped,
so long as what it is put in their place means that
consumers are not detrimentally affected
Simplifying the wording and information provided to
consumers from travel organisers (e.g. travel agents
and tour operators)
This is particularly important regarding the ‘Essential
Information’ to be provided, removal of repetition,
and use of simple headings to make information
given to consumers far more user (and business)
friendly. Links to more detail can be provided, but the
initial information needs to be short, clear and easy
for the consumer to read and understand.
Such information must be provided before a
contract is entered into.
Currently ‘Essential Information’ which the 2018
regulations prescribe is set out in 10 legal schedules,
which CTSI believe is way too complicated and
lengthy for consumers. We also believe it is unlikely
that all of this information is actually provided to
consumers when booking a holiday, particularly if a
holiday is booked over the phone. We have proposed
(see diagram on page 8) what we believe ‘Essential
Information’ should be included to help consumers.
Anyholidayserviceswherethereisnonancial
protection must give a bold warning as to the
implications of this, so that the consumer can make
an informed choice. The principal requirements will
continue to relate only to packages, but there would
be the warning requirement for all non-packages.
The ‘Essential Information’ provided could be
preceded by a clear and simple warning, such as:
“You are entering into a package holiday agreement
and,assuchyourightsand/oraccommodationare
protected in the event of insolvency. Please be aware
that,ifyouarenotbookingapackage,yourights
and/oraccommodationarenotnecessarilyprotected
in the event of insolvency.” The consumer could
beaskedtoconrmthattheyunderstandbefore
proceeding with the booking.
Claricationup-frontwhensomethingceasestobea
package because extra services have been agreed
after the contract has been entered into.
6
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Creation of a sector-specic offence of providing
incorrect/false/misleading information to consumers
Introducingasector-specicoffenceofproviding
incorrect/false/misleadinginformationtoconsumers
needs to be created (as in the 1992 regulations),
rather than just relying on the Consumer Protection
fromUnfairTradingRegulations2008.Thiscould
be included in the forthcoming Digital Markets,
Competition and Consumer Bill. CTSI’s recent
stakeholder poll found that 72% of stakeholders
agreethatasector-specicoffenceofproviding
incorrect or misleading information to consumers
when booking holidays should be created.
Increased enforcement and penalties for trading
standards for breaches of the Package Travel and
Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations
Currently Trading Standards and the Civil Aviation
Authority (CAA) are joint enforcers of the 2018 PTRs.
TheCAAfocusesonight-inclusivepackagesonly
(the ATOL regime) and Trading Standards enforces
the rules on both packages and LTAs.
The Government is currently considering enhancing
powers of the Competition and Markets Authority
(CMA) to rule on breaches of general consumer law
anddirectlyimposeneswithouttheneedtogo
through the courts; this can be used if in relation to
issues concerning the holiday industry. CTSI believes
that the same powers – of enforcing consumer law
without having to go to court - should be given to
trading standards for the breach of PTRs. Trading
standards would then have the power to:
•
Decide whether a business has breached
consumer law (such as the Package Travel
Regulations);
•
Direct the business to stop the infringement and
to provide redress to consumers (such as
compensation); and
•
Orderthebusinesstopayanancialpenalty
7
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CTSI believes that the following ‘Essential
Information’ should be provided in the
following simplified format to ensure that
it is read and understood by consumers:
Information relating to
the holiday itself
Full details of the holiday
Full details of the organiser
and retailer, including
address, telephone number
and email address
Total price (itemised as
applicable) and how and
when payment is required
If there is a minimum
number of people required
for the trip, that number
and when the consumer
willbenotied
Passport and visa
requirements
Information about
insurance, and the costs of
cancellation/termination
Information which you
may need prior to, or
during the holiday
Emergency contact details
Transfer of the package
(with costs)
Termination of the
contract by the consumer
(with costs)
Your rights if details of the
package change after it
has started
Compensation in the event
of problems
What will happen in the
event of insolvency
Information with
regard to liability and
protection of your
money
Details of any special
requirements
Details of the protection if
the travel service provider
goes bust and who
provides the protection.
For example, will the
consumer be brought
home free of charge?
Who to contact in
the event of problems
while away
Information with regard to
unaccompanied minors
Details of complaints
procedures
Responsibility for additional
services provided during
the holiday
8