Accommodation-only firms could take on the legal responsibility of principals following the deaths of two children in Corfu. But this will increase prices, they say.
Holiday Brokers, Hotels4U, MedHotels and Youtravel are reviewing their arrangements under which they act as brokers or agents avoiding health and safety responsibilities under the Package Travel Directive.
The move would also mean the bed banks will have to comply with the European Union-wide VAT payment system, the Tour Operators’ Margin Scheme, which will significantly increase costs.
It comes after agency groups including Triton and the Co-operative Travel Trading Group said they could stop using accommodation-only suppliers that do not act as a principal to protect agents from claims in similar circumstances as the Corfu tragedies.
Holiday Brokers chief executive Steve Endacott said he was looking at offering agents the choice of dealing with the company as either a principal or a broker but warned this would increase the cost of accommodation.
“Agents will have to accept that it costs more if we are to be the principal,” he said.
Youtravel sales and marketing director Paul Riches said the firm has been looking at acting as a principal since it launched last month. “There will be an additional cost and we will have to decide how much of that we absorb and how much is passed on to the agent.”
Hotels4U sales and marketing director John Harding said the firm is considering its options. “It’s more than just changing our booking terms and conditions; it’s completely changing our business model.”
Somewhere2stay.com acts as the principal in all its transactions using parent company Cosmos’s ATOL.