Aito is calling for Facebook’s parent company to set up a more effective customer support service on the back of several members being locked out of their accounts, with one tour operator estimating to have missed out on “six figures” of booking revenue.
Christina Brazier, head of industry affairs at Aito, revealed that a number of operators had lost access to their Facebook pages in the past year – following a hacking incident or otherwise – but they were left frustrated by Meta’s lack of action.
A senior figure at one operator said their business had been without access to its Facebook page for nearly a year, despite “more than 100” emails being sent to Meta.
The source, who wanted to remain anonymous, described the situation as an “absolute nightmare”, adding: “Tens of thousands of people would have seen our offers – we’ve lost that. Facebook was one of our core platforms.”
Outlining the impact on the business and the scale of potential lost earnings, which they estimated as “six figures”, they said: “This puts us at a massive disadvantage.”
The issue began almost a year ago – as a “sizeable amount” was being spent on an advertising campaign – when the company discovered it no longer had access to the Facebook page it had been using for a decade.
The page had a following of about 20,000 people, with the channel used heavily as a marketing platform for offers and holidays.
The source said Facebook claimed to have started an investigation and asked for information including the managing director’s passport details, but it eventually declared the case closed without any resolution.
“I’ve written email after email after email saying, ‘What more do you need?’ This has gone on and on. I’ve sent well in excess of 100 emails,” said the source, who described receiving “generic” responses.
They added: “There’s no way to speak to anybody – that’s the really frustrating thing. In any other business, you wouldn’t get away with it. It’s basic customer care when it comes down to it.”
Brazier said: “Many Aito members depend on platforms such as Facebook for marketing and customer engagement, so account disruptions can significantly damage their business and cause concerns for customers.
“While we understand that issues can occur, we urge Facebook and other major tech companies to prioritise more accessible and effective customer support for small businesses to enable them to get back on track quickly.”
Travel Weekly contacted Meta for a comment.