The Travel Trust Association (TAA) has announced that Teletext Holidays parent Truly Travel Ltd, and Alpha Holidays Ltd (trading as Alpharooms.com) have left the group having had their membership closed.
The TTA, part of The Travel Network Group, will look after and fulfil the firms’ Atol-protected bookings through TTA Travel. Truly Travel no longer holds an Atol licence, the Civil Aviation Authority confirmed.
The move comes after the September 2021 Atol renewal process, which enabled Truly Travel’s bookings to be re-contracted.
Truly Travel’s Teletext Holidays brand is subject to legal action from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over parent company Truly Holdings’ failure to pay refunds on cancelled package holidays. The company, which as of October 19 owed £1.2 million in refunds and had paid back £10.8 million since Covid struck, says it is ‘disappointed’ in the regulator’s legal action.
Truly Travel Ltd (trading as Teletext Holidays) no longer holds an ATOL licence.
Consumers impacted by this news should seek support from the Travel Trust Association: https://t.co/maY1xMsIcH
— UK Civil Aviation Authority (@UK_CAA) October 29, 2021
Gary Lewis, chief executive of the Travel Network Group, said: “We can confirm that Truly Travel and Alpha Holidays are no longer members of Travel Trust Association. We are currently working with the company to support all their existing customers.”
He added: “For the past 19 months, like many other travel businesses, Truly Travel has been severely impacted financially by the ongoing challenges of the pandemic including: large amounts of refunds processed for customers, redundancies, and more recently the CMA investigation and court action against the company.”
TTNG said the closure of Truly Travel’s membership with TTA does not impact customers who have a flight-inclusive holiday booked with Truly Travel; and confirmed their holidays remain in place, being financially protected by the Atol scheme and the trust account model of the Travel Trust Association.
Customers of Alpha Holidays with accommodation-only bookings are invited to submit a claim, in line with the process outlined on Alpha Holidays’ website.
Lewis added: “A communication was sent to all consumers and Truly Travel suppliers, reassuring them that holidays will go ahead as planned and that bookings are now financially protected through TTA Travel.
“We understand that many Truly Travel consumers will be worried by this news, however we would like to reassure them that the Atol protection of these bookings and the trust account model that we operate at TTA enables consumers to continue with their holidays as planned.”
A dedicated administrative team has been put into operation to respond to any queries or concerns from Truly Travel customers.