Happy New Year!
2018 is going to be a year of change for the Travel Industry with new Travel regulation that will have a significant impact on the Travel trade business.
Surcharge Ban
From 13th January, Travel businesses will no longer be able to pass their card costs directly to the consumer in the form of a surcharge. It follows a directive from the European Union, which bans surcharges on Visa and Mastercard payments. However, the government has gone further than the directive, by also banning charges on American Express and Paypal too.
The change in the law is likely to mean some travel companies will simply put up their prices, to cover the extra costs they bear with card payments. They could also introduce a booking fee but this must apply across all payment methods.
GDPR
The enforcement date is 25th May. GDPR is going to replace the Data Protection Act. It is being brought in to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the EU regardless of Brexit. All organisations will have to keep the following records:
– Personal data
– Prove consent was given
– Show what it is being used for
– How it is being protected and
– How long it is kept for
It will also give customer greater privacy rights, including the choice to be forgotten.
Fines will be up to 4% of Global turnover should there be serious beaches.
New Package Travel Regulation – PTD 2
The new Package Travel Regulations are due to come into force from 1 July. This could, however, be postponed depending on the consultation process by the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial strategy.
The legislation has been revised because of the rise of low cost carriers along with the growth of the internet which has fundamentally changed the way consumers book holidays. In response to this change in booking habits, the definition of ‘Package’ has been extended.
The keys changes are:
- PTD 2 extends protection to holidaymakers to cover not only ‘pre- arranged’ combination of travel services but other forms of combined travel.
- Introduction of a new concept known as ‘Linked Travel arrangements’ (LTA). This involves a trader facilitating the purchase of a number of travel services from different providers. For example, if an airline sends the traveller an email confirming a flight booking, which also includes a link to the booking website of a hotel at the flight’s destination, and the traveller books that hotel within 24 hours, the combined arrangement amounts to an LTA.
To talk about this in more depth please do feel free to contact Yasin Khandwalla on 020 7600 5667 or at yasin.khandwalla@elmanwall.co.uk
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