Loveholidays to pay £18m in refunds after CMA probe

The CMA said it had been "investigating" Loveholidays after receiving hundreds of complaints that people were still awaiting refunds.

When customers contacted Loveholidays to request a refund for a cancelled holiday, they were told they would only receive money back for their flights once the firm had received refunds from the respective airlines.

Under the Package Travel Regulations, OTAs are legally bound to refund customers for package holidays cancelled due to coronavirus, regardless of whether or not the agent has received money back from suppliers.

Loveholidays has now signed formal commitments – known as undertakings – that ensure these customers receive all their money back by March 2021 at the latest.

More than £18 million will be refunded to 44,000 Loveholidays customers. Of this, so far £7 million has been refunded to 20,000 customers.

Refunds will be made in two parts. Further details of the relevant payment dates can be found on the CMA’s package travel webpage.

To ensure that Loveholidays adheres to its commitments, the company must provide the CMA with regular reports on the progress of its repayments.