Review and booking site Zoover is the first Dutch travel organization to refund all outstanding vouchers to its customers. The vouchers were issued last year to holidaymakers whose package travel was canceled due to the corona measures. Travel companies are required to start paying back their vouchers from March 17.
According to the SGR guarantee fund, Dutch travel organizations have a total of 600 million euros in corona vouchers outstanding with travelers. The agreement is that they will be repaid no later than one year after issue, so from 17 March. Because unnecessary travel is still discouraged and going on vacation remains uncertain in the coming months, an estimated half a million people are demanding their money back. To prevent this from leading to a boom in bankruptcies, the national government is working on a voucher fund, where travel organizations can borrow up to 400 million euros. According to SGR, two-thirds of the affiliated travel companies want to make use of this, but that fund is not there yet.
Zoover, with more than 30 million annual visits, more than 3,8 million reviews and more than 15.000 holidays, one of the largest holiday sites in the Netherlands, does not use it. Even before March 1, the organization has refunded all vouchers. Zoover does this proactively. “That means that consumers don't have to ring the bell or go after their money. We call everyone and then transfer the money immediately ”, says director Judith Eyck of Zoover.
“The canceled tickets have not yet been reimbursed for a small part, but we are ahead of that. We have also made an agreement with airlines that new bookings will be settled with outstanding amounts ”, says Eyck.
The fact that Zoover can repay all vouchers so quickly is partly because Zoover does not purchase its holidays in advance, but reserves the flight and hotel when consumers book a package trip. Zoover has special purchasing conditions for its hotels, which state that payment only has to be made a week before arrival. When many trips were canceled, Zoover no longer had to pay the hotels. Flights must be prepaid, but after months of waiting, airlines have started to refund canceled tickets. Although it is not necessary for Zoover, she thinks it is important for fellow companies in the travel industry that the voucher fund comes up as soon as possible.
“Traditional organizations such as TUI, Corendon or Sunweb, for example, have their own hotels and airplanes or have already purchased the trips in advance. They are less likely to get that money back, says Eyck. She thinks the travel industry is facing a difficult time, but can survive the corona crisis. If people go on holiday again as soon as the weather is possible, the entire industry will rebound. That's what we all hope for, ”she says.
Previously, a poll held by Zoover among visitors to the website showed that almost 82 percent of travelers are willing to get vaccinated to go on holiday abroad. Although from the Zoover Holiday monitor shows that most Dutch people go on holiday in their own country again this year, many travelers still dare to look at a holiday abroad again.
