NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4


Card charges review ‘will only do half the job’


Ian Taylor ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk


The Payment Systems Regulator will not examine all charges on card transactions despite announcing it would review card-acquiring services last July.


Advantage Travel Partnership


chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said described the decision as “only doing half the job”. he regulator confirmed last


week it would “not assess the fees merchants pay for card- acquiring services” and “not


examine whether the supply of services provided by card scheme operators is working well for users of card payment systems [including agents]”. It acknowledged retailers’ concerns about the level of fees and noted requests “to review the level of scheme fees” but said: “We have limited resources.” Agents have had to absorb the


full cost of fees on all credit and debit card transactions since the EU Payment Services Directive 2 came into force in January last year. Lo Bue-Said described the regulator’s decision as “really


Julia Lo Bue-Said: ‘The key issue is the transparency of fees’


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disappointing”. She said: “The key issue is the transparency of fees. he impact has een significant The review will only be doing half the job. There is a need for a full and wider review.” Abta welcomed “the broad scope” of the review. But head of public affairs Luke Petherbridge said: “Members highlighted their frustration with the lack of transparency in the various fees they pay for card payments.” These fees are made up of an


‘interchange fee’ paid by one bank to another, a ‘scheme fee’ charged by the card-scheme provider, and an ‘acquirer fee’ levied by the transaction processor. Only the interchange fee is transparent. The British Retail Consortium


said scheme fees alone had recently risen by £1 billion a year. Petherbridge said: “The current


marketplace does not serve the best interest of businesses,


especially SMEs.”  Business, page 111


5 Spain lawyer hails fake claims fight


Ian Taylor ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk


A Spanish lawyer representing hotels on the receiving end of multiple sickness claims says the threat of UK holidaymakers being banned from all-inclusive resorts has receded.


Marie Rogers, of Madrid-based


la firm ogers  o hailed the campaign to cut bogus claims but warned of higher room rates. She said: “There has been a significant reduction in claims


compared with this time last year. Lawyers in the UK who had 20-30 claims suddenly no longer pursued them. Judges in the UK are scrutinising cases more. It’s a very different outlook. “We assume hotels


have increased prices – their insurance premiums will have gone up – but we’ve not seen hotels stop selling all-inclusive [to the UK].” Rogers said: “Claims have significantly reduced ut this


6travelweekly.co.uk31 January 2019


fraud hit the sector hard. “It was an industry. UK operators


anted to fight ut ere happy to pass on the bills to hotels.” Spanish police have estimated the cost to Spain’s hotels alone at €60 million. Rogers said: “When you get 3,000-4,000 claims in one go, only from the UK and all-inclusive, it made people wary. “It gave Brits on all-


inclusive packages to the Costa del Sol and Magaluf a bad name. “The claims seemed so absurd,


hoteliers didn’t take them seriously until it was too late. Now they are monitoring all-inclusives closely.” he suggested the fight against


the fraud, including Travel Weekly’s Fight Fake Claims


campaign, had had “a positive effect”, saying: “It forced hoteliers to look at their systems. “Hoteliers are monitoring


visitors more in restaurants [and] British visitors should be aware now that, if you are ill, you tell the


hotel and see a doctor.”  Comment, page 111


CLAIMS FIGHT


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