BRITS who have a summer holiday abroad already booked are being warned to check before travelling.
Earlier this week, one of Europe’s largest tour operator’s FTI went bust.
The announcement came just months after a €125 million investment, but said that bookings had “fallen short”.
The company said: “After a lengthy and complex investor process, the entry of a consortium of investors was announced in April 2024.
“Since then, however, booking figures have fallen well short of expectations despite the positive news. In addition, numerous suppliers have insisted on advance payment.
“As a result, there was an increased need for liquidity, which could no longer be bridged until the closing of the investor process.”
The FTI group added that while they were working on ensuring trips that had already started would be “completed as planned”, trips that hadn’t started would “no longer be possible or only partially be possible”.
Several Brits have already been affected, including anyone with holidays booked by Youtravel.com and anyone staying at hotels owned by Meeting Point such as Labranda Resorts.
The Lanbranda website is currently down, although concerned holidaymakers have been asking about their future holidays on their social media pages.
It affects around 30 resorts across the Canary Islands, local media reports, including 14 in Fuerteventura, 11 in Gran Canaria, three in Tenerife and four in Lanzarote.
Secretary of State for Tourism Rosaio Sanchex said they were “thoroughly studying the situation to understand the real extent of job losses and the number of tourists affected”.
Across Cyprus, as many as 30,000 hotel bookings could be affected, according to Filokipros Rousounides, the general manager of the hoteliers association.
He added that FTI previously worked with as many as 160 hotels across the country.
Holidays across Turkey, Greece, Malta and Egypt are said to be affected too.
One woman said on a Facebook holiday group that she arrived at her resort in Spain only to be told they had “no reservation”.
Others said they were being told they would have to pay for their hotel on arrival, despite having already paid.
One man said on X.com: “My mum and family are in Malta only arrived yesterday to come back to the hotel [to] find a letter saying the travel agent they booked with has gone into administration [and] they are asking for payment.”
Mum Victoria Poulter said her 20-year-old niece had been left “stranded at the airport” after receiving an email about the hotel partner going bust.
A third said: “I am currently stranded in Spain as my hotel cannot find my booking.”
X.com user Alan Wyse said: “Just arrived at my hotel in Turkey to find my reservation was cancelled yesterday!
“I did receive an email yesterday… Was assured it would be ok. Fuming.
“Just had to pay another £1700. The holiday was already paid in full.”
‘FAST-MOVING SITUATION’
A Loveholidays spokesperson told Sun Online Travel: “We are very sorry to hear of the insolvency of the FTI Group, the parent company of our accommodation and transfer partners youtravel.com and Meeting Point.
“Only a small portion of our customers are affected by this news and we’re working hard to ensure there is no disruption to their holidays.
“This is a fast-moving situation, so we will remain in touch with affected customers as the situation progresses and are very sorry for the inconvenience.”
TUI told The Sun that there is “no impact” on TUI customers.
The Sun has contacted Jet2 for comment too.
Here’s everything you need to know about your holiday refund rights.
How does the collapse of FTI affect tourists?
The Sun’s Head of Travel Lisa Minot has explained what this means for British holidaymakers.
“THE collapse of Germany’s third largest tour operator may not seem at first to be something that would concern British holidaymakers.
“But the group’s many subsidiaries included a UK-based bed bank called youtravel.com – this company would have been used by travel agents in the UK like loveholidays.com to package up holidays.
“Called dynamic packaging, the travel agents would pair accommodation from youtravel.com with flights.
“Any dynamic package would need to have ATOL protection as the travel agent is selling you flights and one other element, in this case, hotels.
“So while holidays are protected and travellers impacted will be able to make a claim, the situation is currently in limbo as not all parts of the FTI company have filed for bankruptcy.
“Many UK holidaymakers will also have no idea that their trips are impacted as the travel agents like Loveholidays would have packaged up youtravel.com hotel rooms with flights.
“Also concerning is the future of MP Hotels – also part of the FTI group – as if they are forced to close as part of the insolvency proceedings the holidays of many thousands more could be impacted.
“For all those impacted, the situation could be serious as finding alternative hotel accommodation at this busy time of year is going to be a challenge.
“UK holidaymakers should make sure to have very good travel insurance and check the ATOL certificate that they should get by law when they buy a package holiday with a tour operator or travel agent.”