HOTREC supports the European Commission’s efforts to simplify the Package Travel Directive (PTD). However, the current proposal lacks fairness between consumer protection and hotel viability.
We must ensure economic sustainability for hotels while safeguarding consumer rights. Otherwise, this could undermine competitiveness and disproportionately impact small businesses.
We urge EU co-legislators to address liability and enforcement concerns as well as minimise the administrative burden on SMEs, especially insolvency protection requirements.
This paper highlights HOTREC’s main concerns on the revised PTD proposal, as follows:
• The proposed 3-hour package rule fails to bring clarity.
• Downpayment regulations should remain under B2B contracts to avoid cash flow constraints.
• Requiring hoteliers to refund cancelled services within 7 days is impractical. We advocate to reconsider this B2B obligation.
• Vouchers can be a viable alternative to refunds, yet it is unreasonable to demand automatic reimbursement after the validity period expires.
Read our position on the Package Travel Directive by clicking on the link below. Enjoy!
