What is not a package holiday?
You have not bought a package if:
• The arrangement lasts for less than 24 hours – unless it included overnight accommodation.
• You buy only one of accommodation, transport and car rental and the other travel service you buy is either not a significant part of the package or it is an intrinsic part of the other service.
• The arrangements are made only occasionally on a ‘not for profit’ basis
• If the tourist service was not a significant or essential part of the package
• You are travelling for business and the arrangements have been put together for you by a trader that does this under a ‘general agreement’
– So for instance a trip to watch a Champions League football match in Barcelona which included both flight and tickets would not be a package if you went there and back in less than 24 hours.
– If you buy hotel accommodation inclusive of meals that will not be a package because the provision of meals are an intrinsic part of the hotel service. It might be different if the package was part of a ‘gourmet weekend’ hosted by a celebrity chef
– Likewise the provision of a lie flat bed on a business class flight or a berth on an overnight ferry trip is unlikely to make the flight or the sailing a package. However a trip on a luxury train like the Venice Simplon-Orient Express or the Blue Train which includes fine dining and sleeping compartments could very well amount to a package.
– If someone in your choir organises a cost price, not-for-profit, one-off, trip to Verona to see the opera which includes flights, hotel accommodation and opera tickets that would not be a package.
– If you bought hotel accommodation and included in the price was a ticket to a local museum this tourist service would not make a package out of the arrangements unless the ticket was worth more than 25% of the package or it was regarded as an essential feature. For instance if the ticket was for a West End show or a concert at the O2.
– If you are travelling on a business trip to New York including flights and hotel accommodation but this had been put together by a trader that you have, or your employer has, an agreement with to do this on a regular basis this will not be a package.