03/01/2025
Here is an article from Money Saving Expert
Loveholidays has followed fellow package travel firm On the Beach in resigning from the trade body ABTA, in a move to avoid paying full refunds to some customers hit by coronavirus cancellations.
The move could make it harder for some who are chasing a refund
In many cases, the decision by Loveholidays and On the Beach to leave ABTA will have no impact on your ability to get a refund for a cancelled holiday. Your rights to a refund for a cancelled holiday are determined by the Package Travel Regulations, which apply whether or not you bought the holiday from an ABTA member. For full details, see our step-by-step help below.
However, there is one specific situation where the firms leaving ABTA may have an impact โ if you are chasing a refund for a package holiday which you cancelled because the Foreign Office had advised against non-essential travel to your destination, eg, Spain, yet the firm itself had not cancelled the holiday. Here's what you need to know if you're in that position:
Usually in this situation, you should expect a full refund from travel firms. The Package Travel Regulations state that if "unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances" occur which "significantly affect the performance of the package", you're due a full refund even if you cancel. Yet there's a lack of clarity here, as the regulations don't specifically say a Foreign Office warning would count as one of these circumstances โ and Loveholidays and On the Beach say that if flights are still operating, they WON'T necessarily refund the flight part of the package.
ABTA has explicitly said it expects its members to fully refund customers in this situation. For example, if the Foreign Office warned against travel and they couldn't be given a holiday without "significant change". However, now Loveholidays and On the Beach have left the trade body, ABTA says it cannot enforce this and you can no longer complain to it.
If you are in this situation, don't give up. You may still be able to get a full refund, though you may have to fight for it. In our view, if you booked when they were ABTA members those rules should still apply, so you may be able to argue your case, or else try your card firm or insurer. See full details of what to try below.
Step-by-step help on getting a refund from Loveholidays or On the Beach
Future holiday booked? You'll still have ATOL or ABTA protection
We've heard from several MoneySavers who have bought or are in the process of paying for future holidays with Loveholidays or On the Beach, and are concerned that the firms leaving ABTA means they no longer have financial protection. Here are the key need-to-knows:
If your package holiday is ATOL-protected, you get the same financial protection you would with ABTA anyway. For example, if the firm were to collapse you'd be able to complete your holiday if it had started or, if it hadn't, get a full refund. If your package includes a flight, it'll be ATOL-protected and you should have received an ATOL certificate โ see more on ATOL protection.
However, ABTA financial protection is key if your holiday doesn't involve a flight. If you're in this situation, the good news is ABTA says if you booked with On the Beach or Loveholidays before they quit the body, your booking WILL continue to be protected financially โ so you'll be covered if either firm were to collapse. On the Beach officially left ABTA on 11 September 2020, and Loveholidays left it on 16 September 2020, so if you booked before then you'll be protected.
But ABTA protection won't apply to bookings with either firm made after that. Though under the Package Travel Regulations, you should still have some form of financial protection even if it isn't with ABTA โ check when you book.
Booking with an ABTA member offers some extra support
ABTA โ formerly the Association of British Travel Agents โ is a trade body with a membership of more than 4,000 businesses. UK travel firms don't have to be members, but those that are offer their customers some additional support.
ABTA members must abide by its rules, and commitments to customers. This is governed by the ABTA Code of Conduct, which covers areas such as accurate advertising, fair terms of trading, changes to bookings and managing customer complaints.
What do On the Beach and Love Holidays say?
An On the Beach spokesperson said: "Following an extended period of discussion, we were unable to align with ABTA's position on blanket full refunds in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, we disagreed with ABTA's stance on refund credit notes. On the Beach has been providing customers with cash refunds, not refund credit notes, since March.
"Our resignation does not leave customers unprotected if they cancel their holiday, nor does it mean that our customers are never entitled to a full refund. All package holidays are protected by ATOL and the Package Travel Regulations, and we have a process in place to assess all cancellation requests on a case-by-case basis to establish to what extent their holiday is impacted by Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advice, with refunds processed accordingly.
"We've been very vocal about the challenge we have in refunding our customers with the flight portion of their holiday. While airlines continue to fly to holiday destinations despite FCDO advice, they do not provide us, other travel companies like us, and direct customers with refunds. We are often therefore not in a position to pass flight refunds on to customers."
A Loveholidays spokesperson said: "The Covid-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges for holidaymakers, which have been exacerbated by frequent changes in travel guidance issued by the UK Government. The current package travel legislation was never designed to deal with disruption on the scale we have seen since March 2020.
