Protection when booking package through hotel

CKhalvashi

Westin said:

That’s interesting.  The Flight + Hotel packages it seems are offered by Tor Global Travel S.L.U. trading as Onlinetravel.  They are based in Madrid.  No mention of any ATOL cover despite presumably selling UK originating air inclusive packages.

That would in this case be protected under the Spanish scheme.

As the PTD is originating from EU law there will be the same protections except some forms may have to be filled in Spanish instead of English in the unlikely event of their collapse.

ATOL is a legal requirement for UK companies, the O/D of the trip or residency of the consumer doesn't matter, the nationality of the operator does. An EU consumer could purchase an EU-originating package from a UK agent and be covered by ATOL, OP could book through a Spanish operator and be covered under the Spanish scheme.

The illegal trading comes when there is a British company linked to the sale of packages that are operating under the certificate of an EU operator with no UK protection. I don't believe Iberostar are doing this, but it should be protected under both the certificate of the operator via a trade scheme and also via the retail scheme (presumably Iberostar UK or similar) under the UK ATOL if they are.

We don't really deal with the UK at the moment as a market (and even more rarely direct) but this is on the basis of legal advice received prior to Brexit and checked again in early 2021.