When you purchase a package holiday from a travel agency, the latter is legally obliged to provide you with all the services agreed with in the contract of sale. If this does not happen, then the agency must provide suitable alternative arrangements or adequate compensation.
A booked holiday may be changed before the date of departure or while you are on holiday. When a holiday is significantly changed before departure and the change significantly affects it, then the travel agency you purchased the holiday from must offer you one of these solutions:
• to take a substitute package of equivalent or superior quality if such possibility is offered; or
• to take a substitute package of lower quality and be refunded from the holiday organiser the difference in price; or
• to cancel the holiday and be refunded all the money paid for the package holiday.
These options should be offered to you when your holiday is significantly changed. The Package Travel Regulations do not provide a definition of what is considered a major change. If, for instance, the tour organiser just changes the hotel to another one of the same standard and in the same location, this is not considered to be major. If, however, the travel agency changes the dates of the holiday or one of its destinations, then you may opt to cancel the booked holiday or purchase a different one.
If your holiday is changed after departure, the agency is obliged to offer you alternative arrangements or compensate you for the discrepancies with the original agreement. You may also seek compensation of any additional costs incurred as a direct result of the changed holiday. Financial compensation may also be claimed for moral damages, i.e. for the inconvenience or stress caused due to shortcomings you encountered during your holiday.
If, while on holiday, the travel agency informs you that your holiday has been changed and offers you alternative arrangements, you should immediately complain with the agency if this is unsatisfactory. When a problem crops up during the holiday, it is important that you complain while you are still on holiday. If you do not give the organiser a chance to provide a solution, it might affect any claims you make for compensation.
Once the holiday is over and no adequate compensation is offered by the agency for the shortcomings encountered, as a consumer you should send a registered letter to the travel agency about the problems faced during the holiday and subsequently lodge a complaint with the Office for Consumer Affairs within the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority.
The right for compensation does not apply if the reason why your holiday was changed was beyond the travel agency’s control. For instance, the agency cannot be held responsible for any change in plans or cancellations due to bad weather, natural disasters, strikes or unavoidable breakdowns.
odette.vella@mccaa.org.mt
Odette Vella is director, Information, Education and Research Directorate, Office for Consumer Affairs, Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority.