Exclusive ski operator goes into administration.

A snowHead

rob@rar, Descent were ATOL bonded - so if you booked their chalet WITH flights then you were protected. If you booked your chalet without flights then you weren't, hence Prince Andrew lost £30k. Now airlines carry no financial bonding - they do not hold ATOL licences - this is the madness. So people who book direcly with the airlines have no protection but if you book your airline seat through an agency then usually you will be covered. Credit cards can protect but often that is if your flight cost more than £100.00 plus taxes. Some credit cards carry no protection or limited levels. Now the protection only covers the cost of that element of the holiday and not of other elements that are directly linked, so if your airline goes it wont cover the hotel, car hire, transfers, lift passes etc. Also it will only cover the price you paid for your flight and not for the increase in alternative travel arrangements. True, it is small in the grand scheme of things but not if you are one of those caught out - imagine your one and only family ski trip going up in smoke at the last minute for half term? This year plenty of private owners and smaller concerns will be disapering so the need for bonding is even greater. what if you hotelier does pop? It's worth checking out and keeping your eye on these things.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

More info regardinf ATOL if any wants it
http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1080&pagetype=90

It's worth noting that in most cases you're not covered by this scheme unless your trip includes flights within the cost of the trip.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Worth flagging up that it's not just flight inclusive packages that ought to be protected - the press seems to have got the wrong end of the stick on this a lot recently. Without wanting to bore fellow snowHead

s into a coma the Package Travel Regs (1992) are the bit of relevant legislation:

"Within Regulation 2 a ‘Package’ means a pre-arranged combination of at least two components. When they are sold or offered for sale they must be done so at an all-inclusive price, and when the contract is for more than 24 hours or has overnight accommodation, has either:

* Transport;
* Accommodation;
* A ‘tourist service’ not ‘ancillary to transport or accommodation’ and accounting for a significant proportion of the package’"

Transport can include an airport transfer or a ferry crossing. A "tourist service" is a bit more tricky to pin down....

Effectively if you think someone is offering you a "package" you ought to be looking for some kind of financial protection. This might be ABTA, ABTOT or AITO bonding but it could equally be a (properly run) trust account. From an entirely personal perspective I can't quite see how the likes of Descent can legitimately body swerve this requirement - but I may be missing something!

Now I'll get back in my box!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

ctskifam, Descent didn't offer flights or transfers, as far as I know.

You'll need to Register first of course.

I'm pretty sure they didn't offer inclusive transfers as a matter of course, but they were able to arrange them for guests. Add in ski guides, catering, drink and hot and cold running resort drivers and wouldn't you think it would constitute a package? I'm not going to get into the whole "What is a package, what isn't a package?" debate as it will give me horrific flashbacks to one of my previous incarnations in the travel industry; it has also taxed brighter legal minds than mine for many years. However, I reckon the majority of consumers would see the kind of holiday offered as a package and would anticpate a level of financial protection.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

ATOL only covers tours that include a flight as part of the package.

Note (just found out) that one of the major TO's has just cancelled their flights to Italy (for the whole season) so watch out for this. Self drive is "not" covered by ATOL

On a personal note (for what it's worth) I would always book with a bonded TO

After all it is free

But self-drive is (generally) covered by your insurance. I.e. if you're sick, have to cancel etc you get your money back. Likewise if you break down, you have breakdown cover.

Cost of crossing is pretty low compared to flights for a family, and when Speedferries went tits up last year, other operators offered discounted crossings to those affected.