LastMinute.com has agreed to pay more than £7 million in refunds following pressure from the Competitive and Markets Agency (CMA).
Watchdog has guaranteed that more than 9,000 customers will be refunded for holidays after the holidays were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Following the CMA intervention, the group is currently signing a formal commitment to pay these refunds as soon as possible.
“We are pleased to announce that Andrea Coscelli, CMA CEO, said: “Online travel agents are legally responsible for providing prompt refunds to customers whose holidays have been cancelled due to the coronavirus.
“What we do today means that customers whose holidays have been cancelled by LastMinute.com will definitely receive the money without delay.”
“The CMA continues to investigate package holiday companies in accordance with concerns that people are not receiving eligible refunds when bookings cannot proceed due to the pandemic. We will not hesitate to take further action if we find that businesses are violating the Consumer Protection Act.”
Half of customers who receive a refund will be paid by December 16th, with the rest being refunded by the end of January.
Lastminute.com wasn’t the only one being chased by regulators. The CMA is chasing over 100 package holiday companies to ensure that customers who see their holidays cancelled will receive a refund.
The CMA received confirmation from Virgin Holidays in October that all customers would be refunded “without excessive delays” after numerous complaints.
