Trade-friendly Great Little Breaks was named by a national title and an online trade title as having ceased trading as an Atol holder on Friday (13 June).
It followed a CAA bulletin correctly stating that another brand, Great Little Escapes, had ceased trading as an being an Atol holder.
Great Little Breaks managing director Diana Evans told TTG she was in talks with both outlets about how they would redress what she described as the “damaging and misleading” coverage.
"It created widespread confusion and panic,” she said. “We have seen a large volume of calls and enquiries. People are confused and concerned. The impact when they don’t check the facts is quite significant.
"We took a lot of staff off other duties to reassure partners and customers. Also, what you don’t see is the invisible impact – consumers might see those headlines and move on, they’re not going to book.”
However, she added: “If I’m being truthful, we have not seen a spike in cancellations or anything like that.”
Evans is in negotiations with the two media outlets, but said she did not want to take legal action.
She urged: “It would be good if the bigger media outlets did proper checks because they largely control consumer confidence at a time when we want people to be booking through operators and agents.
"If you Google the coverage, considering we are a relatively small company, it’s bonkers. It’s really disproportionate and undermines consumer confidence in the sector.”
Evans added Great Little Breaks was expanding its mainly domestic break portfolio to include more European itineraries.
In a message to agents, she said: “We’re still here, and we have a lot of new product in the pipeline, which we will be revealing shortly."
