Dds travel company went bust - 2 weeks till her holiday

[hellenbackagen]

Can anyone help?

Dd booked a 2'week stay at a place in Barbados due to go in 2 weeks

She booked through THE HOLIDAY PLACE and received an email yesterday saying they ceased trading at the end of May.

The flights are paid for so she has them
The hotel was not .

She didn't have insurance as was waiting to get that just before they went

It is atol protected.

She's determined to go as she paid for train to airport and airport hotel.
Flights paid for but she's had to pay for the hotel again

Anyone any experience of a holiday company going bust right before travel? She's so upset but really wants to still go due to difficulty getting time off with her partner

Any advice or help much appreciated!

There is some information on what she can do here: www.caa.co.uk/ATOL-Failures/The-Holiday-Place-PLC/

I know its too late for your DD now but this is one reason why you should always get insurance as soon as you book and not the day before you travel.

Insurance wouldn't have helped anyway, that only gets you home if you've already travelled.

The advice by moneysavingexpert will be useful

www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/holiday-rights/

Insurance can help.

Check ATOL but also let this be a lesson, always get insurance as soon as you books trip.

She is 21 and did not know to get insurance at time of booking .

She lives independently of me so I don't supervise her .

I have yearly world wide travel insurance but she is no longer covered as she is over 19.

Really I was looking for some advice if anyone has ever been in her position rather than retrospective advice on insurance- I've told her this and she has learned the hard way.
She is very upset and me lecturing isn't going to help right now .

They are ATOL protected so she should get her money refunded or if she's paid "again" for the hotel, she'll get that back. There's lot of info here: www.caa.co.uk/ATOL-Failures/The-Holiday-Place-PLC/

Did she pay by credit or debit card? You probably know this already but if it's credit, she may have some method of reclaim

If she paid by credit card or a loan she can get her money back via the bank. Any other way and she has to go through ATOL.

Even if she paid by debit card it's worth talking to the bank as my friend got our money back when monarch went bust. Depending on how the holiday was made up she may never see the hotel costs being refunded and must be prepared for this.

Has she talked to the hotel? According to Twitter, a fair few hotels have offered very reduced rates to people travelling with The Holiday Place.

If she didn't have insurance its unlikely she will get her money back. If she booked online did she pay by PayPal? They may recoup some of her losses.

We had a holiday booked through lowcost holidays a few years ago, and a week after we had paid, they went bust.
Our flights were ok, but they hadnt paid the hotel. We had to contact the hotel and they said the room was still booked but we had to pay them in cash when we got there.

We had paid lowcost holidays with a debit card, so it took about 8 months to get our hotel money refunded through chargeback.

We now use a credit card for any big purchases like a holiday as if this situation occurs again, chargeback is much easier to go through.