Which? Travel: 50 years of challenging companies, regulators and the government

Ever since Which? Travel’s launch in 1974, we have played a crucial role in standing up for consumers. 

The magazine was launched in response to the increasing number of holidaymakers travelling abroad in the 70s, but many of them ended up seriously ill, or left stranded and penniless. There were few laws regulating holidays, and lots of cowboy providers.

We’ve spent the past five decades campaigning, alongside our subscribers, for safeguards and improvements to holidays. And the pressure we’ve put on companies and successive governments has led to significant changes in the law, and many firms improving their treatment of holidaymakers. 

As one reader told us back in the 90s, ‘It’s not much use me writing to my MP, when Holiday Which? can be much more effective’.

We still make hundreds of interventions every year on behalf of consumers – from challenging travel companies in our magazine over their illegal behaviour , to submitting evidence to regulators and standing up for consumers in Parliament. 

Below are a handful of our most important campaigns and interventions. 

Which? Travel is non–profit and it’s only because of the support of our subscribers that we can continue to fight to make holidays safer and better for everyone.

1970s

• Our lobbying led to limits on surcharging – a practice where the holiday company would ask you to pay more for your holiday even after you had booked it. Holiday companies can still increase the cost of your holiday by up to 8%, so we have gained guarantees from all  Which? Recommended Provider tour operators that they will not surcharge.
• We exposed the significant dangers children faced at some residential activity centres, which eventually led the government to introduce a compulsory inspection and licensing scheme.

1980s

• We sent fire safety officers abroad to gather evidence for investigations into the lack of fire precautions in European hotels. We found padlocked exits, long dead ends and unprotected stairways, which led the EU to set out measures required to improve safety.
• The Transport Select Committee supported our call for an urgent review of evacuation procedures and ferry design following the 1987 Herald of Free Enterprise disaster, when a passenger ferry travelling between Zeebrugge and Dover capsized with the loss of 193 lives. This pressure led to the UK government introducing higher safety standards in an agreement between north European countries.

1990s

• We campaigned for the introduction of the Package Travel Regulations in 1992, which protected consumers against everything from cancellations and price hikes to fictional promises in brochures, and kept up our pressure to ensure the measures weren’t watered down by a powerful industry lobby.
• Our recommendations to improve safety on British beaches, including a nationally recognised flag system informing people about sea conditions, were included in guidelines for local authorities.
• We campaigned to stamp out inflated airport prices and, in 1994, the British AIrports Authority guaranteed you’ll pay the same price as the high street for anything from soft drinks to clothes. This might be a campaign we need to return to.
• After our safety inspections found that 59 out of 60 foreign hotel swimming pools were dangerous, Abta and the Federation of Tour Operators agreed to contact operators and remind them that they should inspect hotel pools to ensure they’re safe before sending British tourists to the property. 

2000s

• After we raised concerns about the structural integrity of hotels selected by tour operators, Thomson promised us that it would be more vigilant in checking the structural safety of buildings before signing them up.  
• Airlines routinely excluded tax from their advertised fares, until the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that any flights advertised as free or costing £1 should be exactly that. We met with leading airlines, such as easyJet, Flybe and Jet2, to obtain guarantees that they would comply with the ruling, and we reported further breaches to the ASA.
• Our report into travelling with a disability criticised the original Monarch Airlines for discriminating against passengers with certain mental health issues. As a result, the airline changed its policy, promising to individually assess whether passengers are fit for travel.

2010s

• Our lengthy campaign against rip-off credit and debit card charges – sometimes as high as 18% and usually added only when you checked out – first saw payment fees reduced, before they were finally outlawed in 2018.
• Following our investigation into fraud on Airbnb, the site introduced a new warning for its 3 million users worldwide to not communicate or pay outside of Airbnb’s own systems.
• After we found some large tour operators selling or promoting cruel animal experiences, several companies took action. British Airways Holidays stopped promoting shows where tigers were forced to jump through hoops of fire, and both Tui and Riviera Travel removed elephant rides from their itineraries.
• We went undercover to experience car hire pressure-selling first hand. Our hidden cameras exposed the lies and bullying tactics used by Goldcar to upsell insurance, and we presented our evidence to the Competition and Markets Authority. Goldcar told us they do not condone the use of misleading statements and that they had introduced a programme of large-scale change. Bullying tactics in car hire sales is an issue we continue to investigate. 
• Enforcement action was taken against major hotel booking sites after we shared evidence of misleading sales tactics, including hidden fees such as city taxes and service charges added at the checkout. As a result, major sites including Booking.com and Expedia agreed to display the full cost of a hotel room up front.

2020s

• During the pandemic, we investigated hundreds of airlines and holiday companies, and found many were illegally withholding customer refunds. We reported several to the Competition and Markets Authority, and forced them to hand back the money.
• After investigating fire safety issues in UK hotels, we reported two Britannia Hotels to the fire service. Fire officers visited both hotels, with one told informally to make improvements while the other was handed an enforcement notice. The hotel also said it had ‘investigated and addressed’ the issues.
• Following pressure from Which?, the Department for Transport dropped proposals to reduce domestic flight compensation in case of delays and disruption. 
• Our investigators revealed that millions of pounds worth of county court judgments (CCJs) had mounted up against major airlines, including Wizz Air. The regulator subsequently took enforcement action against the airline, and it committed to contacting customers to pay the money back.