Rights

EU Package Travel Rights: Cancellations, Refunds and Insolvency

A practical EU guide to package holidays, linked travel arrangements, price changes, cancellations, organiser liability, refunds and insolvency protection.

By the Federal Europa editorial team Reviewed 2026-09-10

On this page

Packages and linked travel arrangements
Before booking and before departure
Price changes and cancellation
Problems during the trip
Insolvency protection and complaints
Sources and review

Packages and linked travel arrangements

EU package travel law matters because it gives a traveller one responsible organiser instead of forcing them to chase an airline, hotel, transfer company, and excursion provider separately. If the booking qualifies as a package, the organiser is responsible for the proper performance of every travel service included in it, even when another company actually supplies the flight, room, car, or activity. The organiser must also provide information before booking, assistance during difficulty, refund and cancellation routes, and protection if the organiser becomes insolvent.

A package normally combines at least two different types of travel service for the same trip: passenger transport, accommodation, car or certain other vehicle rental, or another tourist service. A traditional flight-and-hotel holiday sold for one total price is the obvious example. A tailor-made online booking can also be a package; the legal result depends on how the services were selected, presented, priced, and contracted, not simply on whether the website used the word package.

Separate contracts can still form one package. Under the rules currently presented by Your Europe, this can happen when services are selected at one point of sale before the traveller agrees to pay, sold at an inclusive or total price, advertised as a package, chosen through a package gift arrangement, or bought through a linked process in which the first trader transfers the traveller's name, email address, and payment details and the second contract is concluded within 24 hours. Save the complete booking path, not only the final confirmation page.

A hotel combined with a concert ticket, guided tour, ski pass, or another tourist service does not automatically become a package. The extra tourist service generally has to account for at least 25% of the total value or be advertised as, or otherwise be, an essential feature of the trip. If it is added only after the main transport, accommodation, or rental service has started, the package definition may not apply.

A linked travel arrangement is a narrower category under the current rules. It can arise when a trader facilitates separate contracts with different travel providers during one visit or contact, or sends a targeted invitation that leads to a second booking within 24 hours. The traveller does not receive the package organiser's full responsibility for every service. The facilitating trader must explain the status through a standard form and provide insolvency protection for money it receives, including repatriation where it is responsible for passenger transport.

Before booking and before departure

The distinction is practical. If a hotel in a package is unavailable, the organiser must address the problem. If the same hotel was a genuinely separate booking, the claim is normally against the hotel under its contract and applicable consumer law. Ask the seller in writing whether the booking is a package, linked travel arrangement, or separate services, who the organiser is, and which insolvency-protection body covers the money. A label chosen by the trader cannot remove package obligations when the legal facts create a package.

Some bookings sit outside the package rules. The current exclusions include stand-alone services such as a flight or room booked separately; certain business travel bought under a general agreement; packages offered only occasionally, not for profit, and to a limited group; and trips lasting less than 24 hours unless overnight accommodation is included. Passenger rights, card protections, insurance, national contract law, and ordinary consumer law may still help even when the package directive does not.

Before the contract, the seller must give clear information about the destination, itinerary, dates, included services, organiser and retailer, total price and additional charges, payment arrangements, passport and visa requirements, cancellation terms, and complaint procedures. The traveller should also receive the standard information form identifying the legal protection being offered. Treat that form, the brochure, screenshots, accessibility promises, room description, baggage terms, and special requests accepted by the organiser as part of the evidence file.

Price changes and cancellation

A package price can be increased only when the contract allows it and the change results from specified costs such as fuel or other power sources, taxes or fees imposed by third parties, or relevant exchange rates. The organiser must also pass on corresponding cost reductions when applicable. No increase may be imposed during the final 20 days before departure, and an increase above 8% gives the traveller a right to end the contract without a termination fee rather than silently accepting a materially different bargain.

A traveller can cancel for any reason before departure, but the organiser may charge an appropriate and justifiable termination fee. The amount can depend on how early the cancellation happens and on costs the organiser saves or can recover. The traveller can also transfer the package to another person who meets the conditions, subject to reasonable actual transfer costs. Ask for the calculation and supporting evidence rather than assuming that a published percentage is automatically correct in every case.

Free cancellation is possible when unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occur at or near the destination and significantly affect the package or passenger transport there. A serious security event, natural disaster, or comparable disruption can qualify, but a general feeling of uncertainty or a problem far from the itinerary may not. Use official travel advice, transport notices, organiser communications, and evidence tied to the dates and place. Free cancellation normally brings a full refund, not additional compensation for the cancelled holiday.

If the organiser cancels before departure, the traveller is entitled to a refund and may also be entitled to compensation unless an exception applies, such as unavoidable extraordinary circumstances or failure to reach a disclosed minimum number of participants within the required notice period. Refunds due after termination of the package contract must be made without undue delay and, under the present framework, no later than 14 days. A voucher is a choice, not a reason to leave a valid cash-refund request unanswered.

Problems during the trip

During the trip, tell the organiser promptly when an included service is not delivered as agreed and give it a reasonable opportunity to fix the problem. The organiser must remedy the lack of conformity unless that is impossible or would cause disproportionate cost. If it fails, the traveller may arrange a reasonable remedy and seek necessary expenses. Significant changes can require suitable alternatives at no extra cost, a price reduction, compensation, or termination and repatriation depending on the facts.

Keep the response proportionate and documented. A changed room, missed transfer, closed facility, or abandoned excursion does not always justify ending the whole holiday, but it can justify a cure or price reduction. Send a dated message from the destination, show the contract promise and the actual problem, state what reasonable solution you need, and keep receipts. Waiting until after returning home can make both the loss and the organiser's chance to correct it harder to prove.

The organiser must assist a traveller in difficulty, including by giving information about health services, local authorities, consular help, and alternative travel arrangements. When unavoidable circumstances prevent return, the package rules can require accommodation for up to three nights per traveller, with important exceptions and interaction with passenger-rights law. Travellers with reduced mobility, accompanying persons, pregnant travellers, unaccompanied minors, and people needing specific medical assistance can receive stronger protection in relevant circumstances.

Package rights and passenger rights can overlap. A cancelled flight inside a package may trigger duties for both the airline and organiser, but the traveller cannot recover the same loss twice. Ask the organiser to preserve the package and arrange the practical solution, while also recording the carrier, flight or train number, reason, notice time, rerouting, final arrival, care, and receipts needed for any separate passenger-rights claim.

Insolvency protection and complaints

Insolvency protection is one of the package system's most valuable safeguards. Organisers must secure repayment of traveller money and repatriation when passenger transport is included. A facilitating trader must protect relevant payments it receives for a linked travel arrangement. Before paying a large balance, identify the protection provider and keep its contact details. A card chargeback or insurance claim may be useful, but neither replaces the statutory insolvency route.

If the organiser rejects the complaint, write once in a structured way: identify the contract and organiser; list the promised and delivered services; give the disruption timeline; attach messages, photos, receipts, and official notices; state the remedy and amount sought; and set a reasonable response date. For a cross-border dispute with a trader in another EU country, Iceland, or Norway, contact the European Consumer Centre in your own country after first approaching the trader. If court becomes proportionate, the European Small Claims Procedure guide explains Form A, the €5,000 limit, jurisdiction, fees, and enforcement. National enforcement, alternative dispute resolution, court, and insurance routes depend on the case.

A major legal update is already adopted but should not be mistaken for today's national rule. Directive (EU) 2026/1024 entered into force on 28 May 2026 and will replace linked travel arrangements with clearer package-or-separate-service information, strengthen refund and voucher rules, add complaint-response and insolvency-refund deadlines, and clarify crisis protections. Member States must transpose it by 29 September 2028 and apply the new measures from 29 March 2029. Until then, check the current national law implementing Directive 2015/2302.

Package travel is a small example of what shared European citizenship can make practical. A family booking across several borders should not lose its protections because the hotel, carrier, seller, and payment platform sit in different countries. The European rule creates one accountable organiser and a route through disruption; the unfinished task is to make the booking category unmistakable, complaints faster, and enforcement equally dependable everywhere in the Union.

Which kind of travel booking do you have?

One combined holiday

A package with one organiser

Two or more travel services are combined under the package rules, giving you one organiser responsible for performance, help, refunds, and insolvency protection.

Connected separate contracts

A linked travel arrangement

Current law gives narrower information and insolvency protection, but not the organiser's full responsibility for every separately supplied service.

Independent purchases

Separate travel services

A flight and room booked independently may rely on passenger rights, ordinary consumer law, contract terms, insurance, and card remedies instead.

Before booking or claiming on an EU package

Save the booking journey, basket, price breakdown, trader names, standard rights form, terms, and final confirmations.
Identify the organiser, retailer, service providers, and insolvency-protection body before paying the balance.
Check whether the booking is a package, linked travel arrangement, or separate services; ask in writing if the answer is unclear.
Record the exact itinerary, room, transfers, baggage, accessibility needs, excursions, and accepted special requests.
For a price increase, check the contractual basis, cost category, calculation, notice date, and whether it exceeds 8%.
For cancellation, preserve official destination advice and evidence showing how the event affects the booked trip or transport.
Report problems to the organiser during the trip, request a practical remedy, and allow a reasonable chance to correct them.
Keep receipts, messages, photos, transport records, and final arrival times; claim each loss once even when rights overlap.
Complain to the organiser in a dated timeline and contact your local European Consumer Centre for an unresolved cross-border case.
Check current national law: the 2026 amendments become binding on operators from 29 March 2029, not immediately.

Check before you rely on it

Federal Europa keeps this friendly, but official details can depend on your country, route, status, timing, airline, seller, or document situation.

Package classification depends on the full booking flow, contracts, service combination, timing, data transfer, price, and presentation; keep evidence from before payment.
National law implements the directive and can set procedures, limitation periods, enforcement bodies, and protections that are more favourable to travellers.
Free cancellation for unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances requires a significant effect on the package or transport to the destination, not merely a general concern.
Passenger rights, travel insurance, card claims, and package rights can overlap, but compensation cannot exceed the actual loss or be recovered twice.
Linked travel arrangements remain part of current law but are deleted by the 2026 amendment when national measures apply from 29 March 2029.
A voucher must not be confused with the right to a cash refund. Read the current national rule and any voluntary application of future safeguards.
This guide is general orientation, not individual legal advice. For a large loss, insolvency, injury, or disputed classification, use the competent national body or qualified advice.

Plain-language FAQ

Questions people usually ask next

What counts as a package holiday under EU law?

A package normally combines at least two different travel services for the same trip and is sold or arranged in one of the ways defined by EU law, such as one contract, one basket before payment, a total price, or a qualifying linked booking process.

Can I cancel an EU package holiday and get a refund?

You can cancel before departure, usually subject to a justifiable termination fee. Cancellation is free when unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances at or near the destination significantly affect the package or transport there.

How quickly must a package holiday refund be paid?

When the package contract is terminated and a refund is due, the organiser must pay without undue delay and no later than 14 days. Keep the termination notice and payment details and ask for a written calculation of any fee.

Who is responsible when a hotel or flight in my package goes wrong?

The package organiser is responsible for proper performance of all included services, even when another supplier provides them. Passenger rights may also apply to the carrier, but the same loss cannot be recovered twice.

Sources and review

Federal Europa keeps the friendly voice, but practical facts still need official or reliable sources.