Online giant Booking.com is not selling package holidays under its own Atol despite becoming the fourth-largest Atol holder in the September licence renewals and being tipped to become the number one.
Booking has revealed it only sells packages under the Atols of partner online agencies (OTAs) such as lastminute.com, saying its own Atol covers flight-only sales.
A Booking spokesperson told Travel Weekly: “Booking.com’s forecast Atol figures are for flight-only bookings, while the majority of Atol holders sell flight-inclusive packages.
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“We also work with partners, for example lastminute.com, to provide travellers with flights and hotel package holidays. In these instances, Atol protection is arranged via the partner as the Atol holder.”
The spokesperson added: “Booking.com is compliant with the Atol regulations and we are in constant discussion with the CAA to ensure we’re meeting all of our obligations as our business needs evolve.”
However, the CAA confirmed it only requires Atol cover for seat-only bookings in limited circumstances.
A CAA spokesperson said: “Atol applies in the main to flight-inclusive packages. But some flight seat only sales fall within the scope of the scheme when somebody books a flight but doesn’t receive their ticket – some OTAs work this way – or if someone pays a deposit, pays in instalments and receives the ticket when the balance is paid. There are some exemptions for sellers when it comes to flight-only sales – most commonly as an airline ticket agent.”
Leading industry accountant Chris Photi, White Hart Associates head of travel, predicted Booking.com “will be the number-one [Atol holder] by some distance in two or three years” when he spoke at last month’s Travel Weekly Future of Travel Conference.
Booking is currently the fourthlargest Atol holder with a licence for 2,387,509, which it increased by 331,000 in September. But as recently as two years ago, Booking barely made the Atol top-20.
Partner lastminute.com trades under the Atol of parent Bravonext, the eighth-largest Atol holder with a licence for 742,922 bookings, up 135,000 year on year.
Booking’s ambition to sell more holidays, or what it terms ‘connected trips’, suffered a blow last month when the European Commission blocked its €1.63 billion acquisition of flight platform eTraveli.
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