White Hart Associates Head of Travel, Chris Photi, participated in last week’s Barclays Travel Forum in London to discuss key issues relating to the Travel Industry. The Forum, attended by over 350 people, is currently in its eighth year and is perceived by the Travel Industry as one of the key events of its’ type…
Last week the BBC Radio 4’s Money Box programme rapped the travel industry over “excessive” credit and debit card charges. The Department for Business Innovation & Skills (“BIS”) issued guidance on the Consumer Protection (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 in March 2013. This guidance quite clearly refers to the prohibition of excessive payment surcharges, but clearly…
Attached is a “Tombstone” that appeared in Acquisition International Magazine of a private equity corporate finance transaction, where we acted travel specialist advisors. Acquisition International Magazine
Enclosed is a link to an expert comment made by myself as the WHA travel specialist partner as published in the ABTA Magazine – June 2012. ABTA Magazine June 2012
Agents must sort out their ‘abysmal’ documentation, and the CAA must be clear who it is protecting, says Chris Photi The Air Travel Trust Fund’s notice yesterday advising travel companies to make sure their Atol documentation is in order was not unexpected. Bluntly, the sales documentation issued by many travel businesses is abysmal. This was…
“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”? Yesterday’s Atol reform announcement by the aviation minister was little more than a baby step albeit in the right direction. She has gone for a quick fix through secondary legislation with the promise of a review of primary legislation next year. What is proposed? All…
Using the analogy of Premiership football when it comes to the CAA and court hearings and appeals, the CAA would be Portsmouth! How many times can you go to court in less than five years and lose? How much tax payers money has been spent in fighting what from the outset always appeared losing causes?…
The court enforced administration order granted today against Eclear (UK) was widely expected. However what ultimately has to come out of the undoubted ensuing enquiry is how such an “aggregator” type company could function unregulated in the UK. The other questions that need to be answered is who is the “Acquirer of Record” (Eclear was…
ABTA’s recent decision to change its “constitution” so as to ensure “supplier members” protect consumers where other failed ABTA agents have received consumer funds but not paid them over to the supplier, seems to have only one inevitable conclusion. Unless ABTA agents commit to solely buy from other ABTA members then this will lead to…
A year into its implementation the ATOL Protection Contribution (“APC”) Scheme has, just as I predicted, proved to be seriously flawed thus the CAA will shortly go to industry consultation with a view to increasing the contribution on 1 October 2009. These consultations are nothing more than a sop to the industry under the guise…
