Advantages of concluding the Combined Travel Contract

29/4/19

Advantages of concluding the Combined Travel Contract

The new legal text seeks to provide greater protection to travelers, especially when hiring online, both for the sale of traditional package trips Like those calleddynamic packages, or even when several businessmen are involved in transmitting traveler data to form the combined travel contract. In short, “the bulk of this new regulation insists on the importance of customers being informed about everything before buying the trip, and that they have all the information that is important.” To inform and to inform wellIt is translated into many aspects and, to give an example, it is established that if before entering into the contract all the information is not provided about: fees, expenses and other additional costs, the traveler will NOT have to bear them. With the regulatory evolution on package trips, the requirement in relation to the form of this type of contract has been relaxed, so in today repealed Law 21/1995, of July 6, regulating combined travel, it was clearly established in its article 4. That “The package travel contract must be formulated in writing”, on the understanding that only paper documents would fit, However, in the current Royal Decree Law 23/2018, art. 155, it also includes other forms, clarifying that the form is in writing, although it can be given on paper or in any other way, provided that the Support is durable and accepting the validity of the contract with mere confirmation, although it can always be required on paper by the traveler. In cases of out-of-establishment contracts, if a paper contract is required and only if the consumer agrees, can it be on another durable medium:Art 155 “Package travel contracts must be drafted in clear and understandable language and, if they are in writing, they must be legible. At the time of the conclusion of the contract or subsequently without delay, the organizer or, where appropriate, the retailer, will provide the traveler with a copy of the contract or a confirmation of the contract on a durable medium. The traveler will have the right to request a copy of the contract on paper if it has been concluded in the physical presence of both parties. In the case of contracts concluded outside the establishment, the traveler must receive a copy of the combined travel contract or its confirmation on paper or, if he agrees, on another durable medium.”Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, of November 16, establishes the definition of what we should understand as “durable support”, art. 59. bis, f):“any instrument that allows the consumer and user and the entrepreneur to store information that has been addressed to them personally so that in the future they can consult it for a period of time commensurate with the purposes of said information and that allows its faithful reproduction. Among others, it is considered durable media, paper, USB sticks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, memory cards or computer hard drives, e-mails, as well as SMS messages.”However, we must also bear in mind that, regardless of the possible inconveniences and suspicions that executing a contract may entail, it also provides BENEFITS FOR THE TRAVEL AGENCY, which, if not signed, would sometimes mean, the impossibility of your requirement, with respect to certain benefits that the agency can avail. In this way, Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, of November 16, approving the consolidated text of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users and other complementary laws. In the contract THE AGENCY may limit:

  1. The consumer's right of withdrawal:

Article 97. Pre-contractual information on distance contracts and contracts concluded outside the commercial establishment. “When, in accordance with Article 103, the right of withdrawal does not apply, the indication that the consumer and user does not attend, or the circumstances in which they will lose it when appropriate.”

  1. Information on commissions and surcharges for application to the consumer:

Art. 154.2 “If before the conclusion of the contract the organizer and, where appropriate, the retailer do not meet the information requirements for commissions, surcharges or other additional costs established in article 153.1.c), the traveler will not have to bear them.”

  1. Cancellation without compensation for not reaching the minimum number of people:

Art. 160.3.a: “Minimum number of people required, if any, to carry out the package trip and, in this case, the deadline for informing the consumer and user in the event of cancellation, which must be made at least ten days before the scheduled start date of the trip.”

  1. Amendment to the contract before the start of the trip:

The organizer may carry them out, ONLY, if he has provided for this possibility in the contract, as established in articles 158 and 159.Art. 158.1. “After the conclusion of the contract, prices can only be increased if the contract expressly reserves this possibility and establishes that the traveler is entitled to a price reduction in accordance with paragraph 4. In such a case, the contract shall indicate how price revisions are to be calculated.” Art. 159.1. “The organizer may not unilaterally modify the clauses of the contract before the start of the package trip, with the exception of the price in accordance with Article 158, unless this right has been reserved in the contract, the change is negligible and the organizer himself or, where appropriate, the retailer informs the traveler in a clear, understandable and prominent way on a durable medium.”

  1. Consumer expense application if you cancel:

Art. 160 “The contract may specify a type penalty that is reasonable based on the advance of the termination of the contract with respect to the start of the package trip and on the savings in costs and revenues expected from the alternative use of travel services. In the absence of a standard penalty, the amount of the penalty for terminating the contract will be equivalent to the price of the package trip minus the cost savings and revenues derived from the alternative use of travel services.”

  1. Price reduction and compensation for damages

Art. 162: “In other cases, the contract may limit the compensation to be paid by the organizer or retailer provided that this limitation does not apply to bodily harm or harm caused intentionally or by negligence and that its amount is not less than triple the total price of the trip.”Taking into account everything detailed, we must place special emphasis on what is specifically established in the regulations, regarding the burden of proof in art. 156, which clearly states:”The burden of proof in connection with compliance with the information requirements set out in this chapter will be on the employer.”Therefore, it is for the benefit of the agency to require the signature of the documents it delivers to the consumer, by any means accepted by law (physically or electronically), and all this in order to peacefully assert the rights that assist him. And a final consideration, regarding the responsibility of the Travel Agency, if he omits the delivery of the copy of the contract and/or confirmation, implies a violation in the field of tourism, which in the Madrid regulations established in Law 1/1999, of March 12, on the Regulation of Tourism of the Community of Madrid, are included in its article 57 e) as a minor offence with a penalty of up to 3000 euros.

Paloma Aguilar (T&L Attorney)