The Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) is reminding travel agents and consumers to book with AITO operators to guarantee 100% financial security – including cover for accommodation-only elements of any AITO holiday.

After the sad demise of Superbreak Mini Holidays (known as Super Break), with reports that around 53,000 holidaymakers could be affected, Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) confirmed that while it offers its members the option of 100% financial protection, Super Break chose not to protect sales of its accommodation-only bookings via its ABTA membership.

Derek Moore, chairman of AITO said: “Agents are complaining that ABTA did not make it clear that hotel-only bookings were not covered in the event of Super Break’s failure. That would be difficult for any trade association to do. I would argue that Super Break should have done so itself via its booking conditions and via its sales team – but it’s a challenging message to explain clearly; it’s only when things go wrong that the relevance of 100% bonding becomes blindingly obvious.”

It’s sad that it often takes a collapse – of an operator or an airline – to make people, both within and without the industry, realise the importance of the 100% bonded message.‎ Perhaps it will now be clearer to agents and consumers why AITO emphasises that all holidays booked with an AITO operator are covered, even accommodation-only bookings, he added.