A NUMBER of Irish holidaymakers have been double-charged for hotel rooms in the US following the collapse of Dublin-based wholesale travel agency Chase Travel.
It is believed that up to 20 customers may have been affected, although the exact number is not known.
Chase Travel, which was wound up last week, was a wholesale hotel room provider that sold rooms to travel agents. One of these travel agents was Dublin-based travel agency Cassidy Travel.
In at least one case, a customer who had booked and paid for a package holiday to the US in June through Cassidy Travel discovered that she had been charged an extra €600 five months after she had returned from her holiday.
This extra payment had been drawn down by a Florida hotel. While Cassidy Travel had not furnished the customer’s credit card details to the hotel, the customer did provide her credit card details to the hotel at check-in.
John Cassidy from Cassidy Travel said yesterday that it had paid Chase Travel for all its bookings and that the hotel should not have charged customers separately.
He said customers needed to be extra vigilant when providing credit card details to hotels, as they may be unknowingly entering into a new contract with the hotel.
Mr Cassidy said credit card companies were responsible for repaying cardholders and clients would be refunded by such companies.
“We have provided all clients with a proof of payment which shows that the room had been paid for,” Mr Cassidy said. “These should be given to the credit card companies, who are obliged to refund customers.”
A spokesman for Visa said that any cardholders affected should contact the bank who issued their card.
“If the services they purchased with their Visa debit or credit card were not received, cardholders may be entitled to a refund.”
No comment was available from Chase Travel yesterday.
The company, which was founded in 1990, offered discounted prices on up to 40,000 hotels and apartments across the world. It employed about 30 people, having employed 112 staff at its peak.
A creditors’ meeting has been scheduled for the company next Monday, at which a liquidator will be appointed.
