From BZ/dpa
Luckily it is rare, and yet holidaymakers should be protected against it: the tour operator becoming insolvent. It depends on a relatively inconspicuous document.
When booking a package tour, you should make sure that the travel confirmation is accompanied by a travel security certificate. Because this protects in the event of a possible insolvency of the tour operator. According to the Schleswig-Holstein Bar Association, this rarely happens.
Nevertheless: Without a security certificate, the money paid for the holiday may be gone in the event of the organizer going bankrupt.
The insurance of the package holiday
According to the Bar Association, you will find the travel insurance certificate on the back of your travel confirmation or separately with the travel documents. The contact details of the “guarantor” are given there, against whom the vacationer can assert their claims in the event of the organizer’s insolvency.
According to the information, this protection only applies to a package tour and not when booking individual services such as a flight or accommodation.
Good to know for those who book: According to the Bar Association, you only have to pay or pay the travel price once you have received the security certificate and the contact details of the insurer.
The handing over of a security certificate is required by law for package tours.
What applies in the event of bankruptcy
If the tour operator is already insolvent before the start of the trip, the insurer can decide whether the trip will still be carried out or cancelled. If you request reimbursement of the travel price, the insurer must pay immediately.
If the tour operator goes bankrupt during the holiday, then the following applies: contact the tour operator or the insurer and coordinate everything else. In such a case, according to the Bar Association, the insurer reimburses the costs for a possibly longer stay at the holiday destination and the return transport.
If the insurer decides to cut short the trip, the holidaymaker is obliged to make the return journey. However, if you decide to continue your holiday at your holiday destination contrary to these instructions, you cannot claim reimbursement for these additional costs.
Travel agency bankruptcy not covered
Good to know: The travel insurance certificate will not help you if the travel agency with which the trip was booked is insolvent. Here it depends on whether the travel price paid by the holidaymaker has already been passed on to the tour operator by the travel agency.
If it can be proven by travel documents that the money paid has reached the organizer, then the latter is still obliged to carry out the trip.
However, if the travel agency has not yet forwarded the money paid, those affected must request reimbursement directly from the travel agency or its insolvency administrator. Problem: According to the Bar Association, the chances of success are low.