Could new claims trends plague travel’s Covid recovery?

Travlaw senior partner Matt Gatenby pointed out any spike in claims will be accentuated by greater numbers of travellers this year. “I don’t think the nature of claims is going to be that different; it’s just we’ve not seen these things for two or three years,” he said. “People unable to take a holiday for the past couple of years are expecting a lot, plus consumers are even more aware of their rights.”

He predicts litigation resulting from higher consumer expectations. “Clients who paid £2,000-£3,000 for a family holiday pre-Covid will be paying £5,000-£6,000 now – they are likely to be demanding,” said Gatenby, adding this – combined with hotels struggling with large debts and recruitment problems – was a potential issue.

Operators are also grappling with a post-Covid recruitment hangover. Complaints that reach lawyers are often those unresolved by customer service teams, and with many still depleted, there may be trouble ahead.

“A lot of people were laid off and everything has gone into sales,” said Gatenby. “If in January someone said we need to ready the customer service team, there would have been a problem with recruitment but also it was probably still not the focus – all the effort went into sales. I want companies to be ready with the right people when queries start coming in.”

Medical tourism

So much for immediate concerns, but what about future legal perils? Gatenby believes the growing popularity of medical tourism will prompt some serious disputes now it is becoming mainstream. “Twenty years ago, fewer people were doing it and it was much higher end,” he said.

He described the Foreign Office warning on medical tourism to Turkey following 24 deaths since 2019 as “extraordinary”. “It’s a judgement call on the quality of service.”

Nevertheless, rising NHS waiting lists tempt many abroad for procedures, with operators showing an interest in the market. “If you’re a tour operator, it’s an easy add-on – surgery and a week to recover," added Gatenby.

"We’re seeing an uptick in claims, but also people asking if there’s a business opportunity – it’s people saying, ‘I’m already doing the travel’, or those doing the treatment asking if they should do the flights and accommodation."

Prager is another who believes medical tourism will be a new legal battleground. “No reputable tour operators offer medical tourism packages, but some disreputable ones do,” she said. “These, I am afraid, deserve all the claims they get.

“The problem for claimants is that these operators are often uninsured, so claimants also have to sue the foreign doctors. I would caution any operator against this area of the market without very carefully considering the potential consequences, and insuring themselves adequately.”

Any consumers thinking normal package regulations will protect them are in for a shock. Farina Azam, a partner at Fox Williams, explained the liability under the Package Travel Regulations (PTRs). She said spa treatments would fall into the category of tourist services under the PTRs, but added: “It would be a real stretch to put plastic surgery under that.

“The actual procedure is not a tourist service. You have a definition of what a package is and, in my opinion, a medical procedure does not fall within that.”

Sustainability spotlight

Another area – disability claims – will grow, aided by social media, Prager believes. “They haven’t yet really materialised in the UK, but in the US there has been a lot of publicity about how people with restricted mobility are treated on aircraft, with TikTok enabling them to show followers how difficult it can be. I think we’ll see some of that in the UK.”

Prager added “greenwashing” was another concern: “It’s another area I’ve been cautioning about for a while which finally seems to be coming to fruition. “There’s been a handful of claims in Europe, but in the UK, greenwashing is largely something the relevant authorities deal with, as it’s difficult for consumers to show loss.

"I predict the Advertising Standards Authority and Competition and Markets Authority will start to look at greenwashing more carefully – I think we can expect to see the results in the next few years.”