British tourists could be hit with holiday cancellations in July following the collapse earlier this month of one of Europe’s largest tour operators, FTI.
It’s based in Germany, but Brits could be affected by the knock-on impact of it failing – because it owns a subsidiary called youtravel.com, a middleman accommodation supplier, known as a ‘bed bank’, that UK online travel agents (OTAs), including Loveholidays, use to secure hotel rooms for customers.
These OTAs match hotels booked through youtravel.com with flights, creating a package deal for their customers.
Youtravel.com announced initially that bookings up until June 11 were cancelled, leading to some UK travellers forced to pay twice for their rooms by hoteliers worried they wouldn’t receive the funds from the bed bank.
Now, Youtravel.com has announced that all bookings up until July 26 will be cancelled, potentially leading to yet more disruption.
British tourists could be hit with holiday cancellations in July following the collapse earlier this month of one of Europe’s largest tour operators
Those affected by the FTI collapse include Annie Cox, 24, who told Birmingham Live that she was forced to pay an extra £900 to keep her room at Labranda Targa Club Aqua Parc in Morocco, which she booked through Loveholidays.
How likely is disruption for Brits in July?
Loveholidays told MailOnline Travel that it is working hard to ensure its customers’ holidays run smoothly.
It said: ‘Earlier this month the FTI Group, the parent company of one of our many suppliers, Youtravel, filed for insolvency. Only a very small portion of our customers are affected by this and we are working hard to minimise disruption to their holidays.
‘This is a fast-moving situation, so we will remain in touch with affected customers as the situation progresses and are very sorry for the inconvenience.’
What’s more, customers who’ve booked through Loveholidays will be Atol-protected, which means that they will get a refund if they’ve been asked to pay extra for their holiday.
The collapse of FTI has led to some holidaymakers having to pay twice for their hotel rooms
Currently, holidays booked for after July 26 are set to go ahead and customers will face cancellation fees if they try to pull out.
In a statement, Youtravel.com said: ‘The insolvency of FTI Touristik GmbH has had a significant impact on Youtravel.com. Over the past three weeks, our management has been actively engaging with the appointed administrator of the FTI group and undergoing the M&A process to secure our future.
‘Whilst we are hopeful for a positive conclusion to these talks soon, we have made the difficult decision to cancel all bookings until and including the 26th July, 2024. We understand the inconvenience this may cause and sincerely apologise for any disruption. Any active bookings in the Youtravel system for arrivals up to and including July 26th will be automatically cancelled without any charges by Monday, 1st July 2024.’