Vouchers – that’s one of those things: They tend to end up in a drawer and are forgotten. If you discover them after years of mucking out, they have long expired and are only worth the brightly colored piece of paper on which they are written. The deadline for many travel vouchers issued in connection with the corona pandemic will soon be: they must be redeemed by December 31st. And if not? What consumers have to do to avoid losing money.
Which vouchers are you talking about?
When the pandemic began in March 2020, travel was over almost everywhere in the world within a few days. Borders were no longer passable, hotels were closed, and curfews were in effect in many places. Trips had to be canceled and vacationers brought back to Germany, bookings for the coming weeks and months were no longer necessary.
In the case of a package tour, the legal situation is clear in such cases: If it cannot be carried out as planned or if it is canceled by the organizer, all payments already made must be reimbursed within 14 days. But many tour operators could not afford this in the early months of the pandemic: They simply did not have the money.
Many customers were angry about the slow payment behavior. There was a lot going on for them too. A fully paid flight for the whole family – that’s quickly several thousand euros, which, given the short-time work and other financial uncertainties in the wake of Corona, you would have liked to have had back in your account.
The vouchers that many organizers offered instead of repayment were not only of little interest to many consumers for this reason. They also harbored a very specific risk: if the company had filed for bankruptcy in the wake of the pandemic, the money would have been gone, which is not an unlikely scenario given the extent of the travel restrictions.
The federal government jumped into the breach with a compromise proposal and assured: If the organizer can no longer pay, the state will take over. That should make the vouchers more attractive to customers. In summer 2020 the “Voluntary voucher solution” Passed by law – under the following conditions: It had to be a package tour, i.e. a trip in which at least two services, for example accommodation and flight, are bundled into a package. And: The booking had to be made before March 8, 2020 and the trip had to be canceled due to the corona pandemic. A time limit was also stipulated – namely until December 31, 2021. This is the maximum time that the vouchers are valid for.
What happens if you don’t use the voucher by the end of the year?
The money is not lost, it has to be transferred “immediately” by the tour operator, according to the law. “Immediately” means: The same deadlines apply as for a canceled trip. “Anyone who accepts a travel voucher and has not yet redeemed it must have the value automatically paid out by January 14, 2022 at the latest,” says Julia Gerhards, consumer law advisor at the Rhineland-Palatinate consumer center.
The travel company Tui, for example, guarantees that the money will be paid back automatically in Januaryto the account or credit card used for the payment. If something has changed here in the past year and a half, for example by switching to another bank, this information should be passed on as quickly as possible so that the money gets to the recipient without detours.
If an organizer does not pay off on his own, Gerhards recommends: “Contact us immediately and insist on payment.” But even if the voucher is forgotten in the depths of the drawer and only reappears months later, you can still ask for the money back. “The general statutes of limitations apply,” says Gerhards. You have three years to assert your claims. Calculations are made from the end of the year in which the claim arose. However, December 31, 2021 is not decisive here, but the date on which the trip was canceled. “The statute of limitations would then be the end of 2020, and the claim could still be asserted until December 31, 2023,” says Gerhards. Before doing this, however, you should check whether the money has long since arrived in the account.
Can I extend the vouchers?
Consumer advocates advise against this, even if the organizer lures with a bonus or if you would like to travel with him again, but do not want to set a specific date because of the pandemic. “With the end of the statutory special regulation, the additional state protection of vouchers against possible bankruptcies will no longer apply,” says lawyer Julia Gerhards. Anyone who has the money refunded now is on the safe side.
Or should you book quickly?
If you already have travel plans, you can of course use the voucher for this. You shouldn’t just let yourself be put under pressure, not even from early bird discounts and supposedly tempting offers that some organizers are currently making with reference to the vouchers. On the contrary: It is precisely then that a careful price comparison is worthwhile.
With the voucher you are bound to the provider who issued it. It is possible, however, that the same trip is available from a competitor for less money. Or with more services, for example a transfer from the airport, a more comfortable room, with half board instead of just breakfast – or with particularly flexible rebooking and cancellation options that can be worth real money in the pandemic.
And what about vouchers from hotels or airlines?
Only the government-guaranteed travel vouchers for package tours expire at the end of the year. This does not apply to vouchers that you have received from a hotel or an airline – and thus also does not apply to the fact that the equivalent value now has to be paid out. Vouchers for package tours that were booked after March 8, 2020 and canceled, for example because of a travel warning, are also not covered by the regulation.
You shouldn’t give yourself unlimited time to redeem it, even if there is no expiration date on the voucher: In Germany, the limitation period of three years also applies here as a rule, then the voucher loses its value and the money cannot be reclaimed either. Reason enough not to let the travel vouchers disappear too deeply into the drawer.