萬國法律事務所

Group travel disputes are common. Travel Quality Assurance Association has received over 16,000 group travel disputes within 26 years. Most of them are about cancelling trip prior to the travel date, followed by airline ticket problems and flaws in itinerary. In September, Consumer Protection Committee, Executive Yuan modified Standard Contract for traveling agency; violation of which would be fined from NT$30,000 to NT$300,000.

"Guaranteed Trip" or "No minimum traveler" is the common slogan of travel agencies. However, when the registered traveler number of a group travel is lower than expectation, the travel agency would usually transfer the registered travelers to another travel agency to merge tour groups or simply cancel the trip. The registered traveler would travel with a different travel agency from what they sign for, and sometimes the two tour groups may pay different prices for the same trip. Under this new standard Contract, if a travel agency calls "Guaranteed Trip", the travel agency must realize the trip even there is only one person registering this group travel. In addition, transferring the registered traveler to another travel agency is banned in this new Standard Contract.

The quality of food and accommodation which is inferior to the travel agency's advertisement is also a common dispute of the group travel. The new Standard Contract states that the agency should double the refunds for price difference. Moreover, the new Standard Contract adds a clause that the agency should refund at least 5% of the price of the trip if the consumer and the agency have argument or the agency couldn't provide the solid calculation method of price difference. The new Standard Contract also adds a new sixth level in the refund schedule for cancelling trip. Days required of canceling trip prior to the travel date is extended from 30 days to 40 days, and the refund would be 5% of the price of the trip for prior 30 days cancellation, 10% for prior 40 days. If cancellation is not attributable to the consumer or the agency, such as cancellation due to weather or an airline strike, the new Standard Contract specifies that the agency should provide material documents of fees paid in advance and then to be able to deduct these fees from the payment of the refunds to the consumer. The modified Standard Contract was announced and effective on September 18th. It is, however, not retroactive. The perpetrators will be required to make improvement within certain period. Otherwise, a fined from NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 may be imposed consecutively.