NEWS
‘Hugely saddened’: Nena Chaletzos
Luxtripper collapse likely to lead to multimillion-pound call on ATT
Ian Taylor
The fate of luxury online tour operator Luxtripper remained unclear as Travel Weekly went to press, with efforts to sell some or all of the business continuing, but with the cost of its failure likely to run into millions. Luxtripper ceased trading
on October 20 after announcing a day earlier that it had suspended operations to “explore urgent rescue solutions” and telling clients their holidays “will not be able to go ahead”. The Civil Aviation Authority
Luxtripper held an Atol for
4,437 package customers. The CAA had yet to confirm the numbers of Atol-protected customers affected as Travel Weekly went to press. But it’s understood 70-75 passengers were overseas when the company ceased trading, and there were at least 900 forward bookings. A single booking could be
STORY TOP
worth as much as £20,000, meaning a multimillion- pound impact on the Air
Travel Trust is likely. There was no indication
from the company or CAA as
confirmed the company’s failure, noting accommodation-only bookings and non-flight packages would not be covered by the Atol scheme. A consumer claims portal for those with Atol-protected bookings was expected to be in place by Thursday.
travelweekly.co.uk
Travel Weekly went to press of the scale of Luxtripper’s non-Atol business and bookings. The CAA advised consumers
due to travel with Atol-protected bookings to check with airlines whether tickets are valid and warned: “Overseas service providers may not have been paid.”
The company engaged
business advisory group ReSolve to save or sell the business, with the aim of completing any transaction by October 27. Without a sale, administration or liquidation appears likely. In a statement, Luxtripper
said it had undertaken “months of fundraising attempts” during “this challenging business period”, but the capital required had “not materialised due to the exceptionally challenging economic environment”. Luxtripper chief executive
Nena Chaletzos did not respond to requests for comment but said in a statement: “We are hugely saddened that we were unable to secure adequate funding.” The company had a strong
reputation, drawing a series of former senior industry executives into making significant investments as shareholders, and Roger Flynn
– former chair of Loveholidays – took over as chair of Luxtripper in November 2018 following the sale of Loveholidays to private equity. An industry source suggested:
“Luxtripper was doing really well. The company was operationally brilliant. There was a lot of investment in the system. This was not a business that was not well run.” Yet there are questions as to what
went wrong given the strength of overseas travel demand in the last 12 months. Luxtripper’s accounts reveal significant operating losses over the five years leading up to the pandemic, with significant sums from the issue of shares bolstering its finances. Chaletzos told Travel Weekly
sister publication Aspire in September 2022 that the pandemic “wasn’t about survival for us”. Instead, the company “ramped up its digital content” and expanded from 44 staff to 155.
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