Thousands of holidaymakers have had their holidays disrupted following the collapse of UK tour operator Goldtrail, which provided flights and holidays to Greece and Turkey.

The company went into administration on Friday – leaving an estimated 16,000 customers overseas and a further 50,000 having to rearrange their holiday plans.

The Civil Aviation Authority said it was making arrangements to fly customers home under its Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (ATOL) scheme. ATOL provides financial protection to customers that have purchased air holiday packages and flights from a tour operator that stops trading.

Goldtrail Travel Limited traded as Goldtrail Holidays, Goldtrail Travel and Sunmar. It opened in 1996 and was based in Surrey. The company sold charter flights to Turkey and Greece, as well as air holiday packages. These arrangements are covered by ATOL. The company sold its air holidays and flights through travel agents and via its website. According to thisismoney.co.uk, there had been rumours for several months that it was not doing well.

But the collapse has come at a very bad time for the tourist industry – right at the start of the school summer holidays and not long after the volcanic ash cloud disruption in April and BA strikes. July and August are also peak times for holidaymakers travelling to Greece and Turkey.

On its website the CAA advises that people with advanced holiday bookings with Goldtrail will not be able to travel and charter tickets will not be honoured by airlines.

The CAA says: “Those due to travel shortly are advised not to go to their departure airport. Holidaymakers who purchased accommodation only arrangements that did not include flights are not covered by ATOL. Customers should contact their credit card or debit card issuer about recovering money paid. If accommodation was booked through a travel agent, customers should speak to them.”

Horror stories were reported in both Turkey and Greece – with reports of customers being asked by hotels to pay for their own accommodation as hotel managers feared they would not be compensated otherwise

The failure is not on the scale of the XL collapse in September 2008, which left 60,000 holidaymakers stranded abroad, according to Julian Bray – an aviation expert. He said: “Customers who have paid over £100 of the total invoice price by credit (ie: not debit) card may be in a better position to recover some of monies paid to Goldtrail, otherwise customers will be subject to the administration process and could well wait some two years or more for a partial or full payment under travel industry bonding arrangements.”

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The acquisition of Holiday Lettings by TripAdvisor holds enormous amounts of potential for advertisers and consumers. While at the point of the deal no plans had been created for integration, we are now discussing the various options that would see Holiday Lettings adverts appear on the TripAdvisor sites. How Holiday Lettings can offer guest reviews on its adverts and/or how reviews will be handled on Holiday Lettings adverts on TripAdvisor, are expected to form part of these conversations. Once we have completed the proposition, our advertisers will be the first to know.

The core benefit is that a travel company with such a global following and a captive audience of travellers has entered the holiday lettings marketplace. This reflects not only the increasing demand for holiday home lettings, but also the demand for this type of accommodation from existing TripAdvisor users. The blend of our expertise in the holiday home marketing industry with TripAdvisor’s leadership in the travel community ensure that Holiday Lettings has an enviable position in the global travel industry.

Greece has had a tough few months economically and reputationally, but despite this, overall demand for holidays in Greece on Holiday Lettings remains quite steady. Enquiries for Greek holidays sent during June increased five per cent year on year. Owners of Greek holiday homes are increasingly savvy to the need to increase their marketing in order to entice people to the country and many are opting to promote late deals as we steer closer to the main summer period. Year to date compared to 2009, we have experienced a 12 per cent increase in demand for Greek holidays, so we are hopeful that with the focused efforts of those with homes there, along with our continued promotion of the destination, that Greece will continue to attract high volumes of visitors and that holiday home owners will be some of those to benefit most.

If you’d like to advertise your Greek Holiday Home and take advantage of the new opportunities created by this partnership, you can register here, if you do so before 31st July 2010, you will be entitled to their Money Back Guarantee. Find out more here

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On the 30 July 2010 the Greek government will implement a new law which requires all prepaid mobile phone SIM card holders to be registered. No matter if you live in Greece, or are just visiting, this law will apply. The purpose of this law is to remove anonymity.

Please see full article by Kat Christofer  livingingreece

Last week we witnessed another volatile week for Sterling against the single currency with a 3.2% fluctuation in exchange rates across the week. In real money terms this equated to a difference of over £5500 when purchasing €200,000.

The movements came following a series of economic announcements in both the UK and the Eurozone, further proving the fragile state of both economies and in turn their respective currencies.

The main details of note from a UK perspective came in the shape of the consumer price index (which is a measure of inflation), showing a hike by 0.6% taking the annual rate to 3.7%, higher than the expected 3.5% that had been forecast making the current level the highest seen in 17 months.

This was followed by the bank of England minutes which showed an expected 9-0 vote from the Monetary Policy Committee to hold interest rates at 0.5% and pause its quantitative easing program at £200. The final piece of data released on Friday saw the UK’s budget deficit revised down to £156 from £163, providing a glimmer of hope and welcome news for buyers from the UK in light of a good deal of otherwise negative variables.

With reducing this figure a top priority for newly instated Prime Minister Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Clegg, the news has been well received as the new coalition government attempt to bring the UK out of the financial crisis it is still in.

In the Eurozone, the biggest news of the week came from Germany where Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a ban on naked short selling. This caused investors to sell off the Euro causing some short term weakness for the single currency. Also, Spain’s central bank has decided to bail out regional savings bank CajaSur with $621.75 million (500 million euros), causing investors to worry that Spain’s savings banks are in more trouble than the country can handle. This was followed by negative economic sentiment figures from Germany, Greece and the Eurozone as a whole. The fragility of the Euro is sending shockwaves through the EU, as in the case of the Greece bail out package, Greece will benefit yet the German economy will suffer. As these countries lean on one another in the interest of generating support for the single currency, it inevitably feels the strain of such economic unrest.

Euro weakness hurting the pound (Risk Aversion)

The weak Euro is also not helping the pound. All of the euro worries have led to general weakness in risky assets and that’s typically not good news for sterling. It’s more selling of risk than anything else – Sterling is seen as a riskier currency, and so when things are uncertain as they are now, it drives investment towards the safe haven US Dollar – that’s why we have seen Dollar strength of late, and the pound and Euro are comparatively weak. This trend was kick-started by the downgrading of Greece’s sovereign debt rating and as people took to the streets of Athens, concerned investors moved their money from the Euro to the safe haven US Dollar. The downgrading of Spain and Portugal swiftly followed and a fortnight ago at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels, reports surfaced of Nicolas Sarkosy threatening to pull France from the Euro if Germany failed to fall in line with the proposed bail out plan for Greece. Although these claims have since been denied, Germany did conveniently change their tact and agreed to fall in line.

What does this mean for people buying property in Greece?

For people looking to buy a property in Greece or on any of the Greek Islands, this may be an opportune time to take advantage of the weakening Euro. If you are looking to exchange Sterling, Scandinavian Krona or Swiss Francs to Euros for your property purchase on Skopelos or anywhere throughout Greece, you are guaranteed to get a good live commercial rate when using a specialist in foreign currency exchange. The difference between a commercial rate and the tourist rate can mean a difference of thousands when exchanging larger sums. Specialists can be found at brokerages like the Foremost Currency Group www.foremostcurrencygroup.co.uk , where I will be able navigate you through the entire process of foreign exchange, keeping you aware of what the markets are doing and why.

Contact Mathew Edwards - Click here
Currency consultant and FX Trader at Foremost Currency Group
www.foremostcurrencygroup.co.uk

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Hi,

I just wanted to let you know about the latest special offer that I’ve managed to negotiate with holidaylettings.co.uk

Get £60 off a Premium advert and be one of the first to display a video of your home on your ad

Typically Premium Adverts deliver 20-30 per cent more enquiries with well presented adverts performing even better. Feedback from advertisers with Premium Adverts also emphasises the quality of enquiries they are receiving. Plus, Premium Adverts now have the facility to display a video of your holiday home – showcasing it yet more comprehensively to potential guests.

NEW: There is also a video display on Premium Adverts

holidaylettings.co.uk are the only major UK holiday home advertising site to enable you to display a video of your home on Premium Adverts. Introduced in response to demand both from holiday home owners and holidaymakers, videos provide an even richer insight into the home they are interested in renting.

20 enquiries in 12 months or your money back!

If you join Holiday Lettings for one year by 31st May, they’ll give you a Peace of Mind Guarantee – if your advert attracts less than 20 enquiries in the 12 month advertising period they will refund your payment in full. Plus you’ll get a free deal credit worth £25.

So if you do own a holiday home and have been thinking about renting it out during the summer this seems like the perfect time to get advertising with them.

Click here to register quoting promo code 45922 and as long as you pay before May 31st 2010, you’re guaranteed to qualify for this offer.

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Current laws stipulate that home owners must pay tax to the government based on the size of all internal rooms at the property. However, unscrupulous building firms have taken to creating large ‘verandas’, only to convert them into liveable spaces later on once the inspectors are out of sight.

It is thought that many owners – who are liable to pay this extra tax – will be unaware of what tax may have been paid when the property was first constructed. Taxes are expected to vary from 19.5 per cent in the more expensive areas and those in cheaper regions are expected to receive a less potent 10 per cent tax bill.

Industry experts predict a modest two-bedroom apartment found to have an ‘undeclared room’ could end up with a bill of around £600.

Greek estate agents are warning the new tax penalties may cause a downturn in the lucrative countries property market.

Owners of holiday homes in Greece are obviously concerned will need to seek advice from a lawyer in the local area.

We will bring you updates if and how the new law is imposed

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Air travel restrictions due to volcanic ash

You will be aware due to the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland all flights in and out of British airspace and northern Europe are grounded or severely restricted until further notice.

There is only one thing worse than a crisis and that is lack of information and if you’re one of the many clients affected by cancellation or delayed flights, you will want to know how your Staysure policy is affected;

1. Let us know if you have bought a single trip policy but haven’t yet travelled and your trip has been interrupted by volcanic ash, as we can change the travel dates on your policy.

2. If you have bought a single trip policy and are already in resort or your return travel is delayed, let us know and we will extend the travel dates on your policy.

To make these amendments call Customer Services on 0845 508 1318.

Due to the enormous amount of calls our telephone lines are extremely busy, so if you would like further information we request that you visit www.staysure.co.uk/ash to get the latest update on the situation and how it affects your cover.

Kind regards

Customer Services Manager
Staysure.co.uk Ltd – the over 50s experts

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Greece has been a popular holiday destination for many years. The beautiful beaches and excellent holiday resorts on both the mainland and on Greece`s many islands are only part of the appeal that keeps visitors coming back year after year and attract the majority of visitors during the hot summer months.

During late spring and early autumn the temperatures are cooler and the beaches and resorts are quieter and many visitors are attracted by the beauty of the hills and wild flowers. There is always a warm welcome from local people and the traditional Greek culture and lifestyle is easy to find. The resorts vary depending on location and whether the holiday maker is looking for a lively night life, great cuisine, a deserted beach or beautiful mountain walks, Greece has it all.

Flights are available to most popular Greek holiday locations from the UK during the holiday season only and by the end of October the majority of holiday resorts have closed for the season. Flights to Athens are available throughout the year. Athens is fast becoming a popular holiday destination as well as a great location for a short break or long weekend. With its ancient sites such as the Acropolis and the famous Parthenon, Athens is steeped in history and myth, but is also a modern city where the visitor can enjoy designer shopping, boutique restaurants, exciting night life and local markets.

Greece`s national airline, Olympic, flies from Athens airport to many of the smaller islands that are not catered for by UK flight operators. In addition, visitors can reach the islands that do not have an airport by catching a ferry from the port of Piraeus in Athens or from Agios Constantinos in the north to Skiathos and Skopelos.

It is easy to fly from UK to Greek locations such as Athens, Volos, Thessaloniki and Skiathos. Easyjet flies from London Gatwick to Athens daily between mid-April and the end of October and from Manchester every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday during the same period. Easyjet also fly to Thessaloniki from London Gatwick each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday during late April and throughout May. From June to the end of October there is an additional flight available with Easyjet to Thessaloniki on Thursday. Thessaloniki has a large port from which there are many ferries to the islands in the Aegean. The beautiful holiday island of Skiathos is a popular holiday destination during the summer months and Thomas Cook provide flights from Birmingham and Newcastle once a week and fly from Manchester and Gatwick, providing 2 flights each week on Wednesday and Friday.

The city of Volos is the third largest in Greece after Athens and Thessaloniki and is located approximately 320 km from the capital. Many Greek islands can be reached via ferry from the port in Volos including the Sporades islands of Skiathos, Skopelos and Alonissos. Air Berlin fly to Volos from London Stansted, while Flybe and Monarch Charter fly from London Gatwick and Manchester. BMI fly to Volos from London Heathrow and Edinburgh, with SAS flying from Aberdeen.

Flights are available between mid-April and the end of October.

This Article is brought to you by dealchecker

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The pound drifted down from €1.14 to €1.13 before jumping nearly two cents higher on Thursday. It peaked at €1.1550 on Friday and opened in London this morning at €1.15.

Sterling has been doing its best to develop a career in not-being-a-euro. With the problems in Greece holding investors’ attention, the pound wore a badge of non-involvement on its sleeve.

The Bank of England’s Quarterly Inflation Report (it does what it says on the tin) raised the spectre of a further round of quantitative easing. It was a possibility that sterling’s supporters would have preferred not to see. There is still the impression – warranted or otherwise – that the Bank is happy to see the pound weaken and that it chooses its language to help that cause.

And if the statements out of Paris, Berlin and Luxembourg over the last few month are anything to go by, the majority of Euroland finance ministers would like to see a more competitive (i.e. weaker) euro. This might explain why they have put so little effort into reassuring investors about their plans to help Greece out of its budget bind. An ‘agreement’ in that direction masterminded by the EU last week was worth less than the very small piece of paper it was printed on. In order to gain the approval of France and Germany it had to be pruned so severely that all it said was ‘Don’t worry’. Its exact wording was ‘Euro area member states will take determined and coordinated action if needed to safeguard stability in the euro area as a whole.’ As reassuring statements go it was useless.

It did not help matters for the euro when revised figures for the fourth quarter of 2009 showed slower economic growth than previously thought. Until EU leaders can formulate a coherent and credible plan to make Greek government bonds saleable the euro will remain weighed down by fears about the fiscal viability of Club Med.

After three months spent between €1.09 and €1.13 the pound has attached itself to a slightly higher range between €1.13 and €1.16. For the moment, the euro’s Greek albatross is a significant burden, balancing investors’ slightly different worries about Britain’s political and financial situation. Moneycorp suggests that buyers of the euro investing in the Greek property market should take advantage of any spikes to hedge 50% of their exposure.

The pound and the dollar are likely to strengthen further against the euro. This is subject to the UK economy continuing to claw its way out of recession and the decision of what the Euroland finance ministers will do to help the economy in Greece. In this short term situation, buying property in Greece is cheaper for UK and US buyers.

It is always best to transfer currency to Greece via the commercial rate and not the tourist rate. Currency specialists like Moneycorp often offer much better exchange rates than high street banks, and their expert dealers offer you guidance to help to ensure you are sending your money to Greece when the exchange rate is at its peak within your given time frame

It is always best to transfer currency to Greece via the commercial rate and not the tourist rate. Currency specialists like Moneycorp often offer much better exchange rates than high street banks, and their expert dealers offer you guidance to help to ensure you are sending your money to Greece when the exchange rate is at its peak within your given time frame

For information about setting up a bank account in Greece and Skopelos please see: Legal info

To find out about the best ways to transfer money to Greece and Greek Islands

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Within minutes of France and Germany publicly pledging support for Greece in its struggle to reduce the budget deficit, the euro went from 1.15 to 1.13 against the pound.

Two hours later, when it became clear that no figures were going to be attached to these pledges, the pound went back to 1.15. Two days later it is 1.152 and the currency markets are predicting that the euro will weaken further over the short term.  Today Monday 15th February 2010 the euro is 1.157 – Moneycorp

Clearly, this situation will continue until “support for Greece” becomes a proper financial package. Under normal circumstances, this would be a job for the IMF, but it is difficult for leaders of the eurozone countries to have the IMF saving the euro.

Perhaps more important in the world of realpolitik is the fact that the current head of the IMF is Dominique Strauss-Kahn and a potential future challenger to French President Sarkozy; the sight of Strauss-Kahn riding in on a white charger to rescue the euro would be politically unwelcome – to understate it massively. Therefore expect delay.

Greece has two important dates coming up when the government has to repay outstanding loans – 20th April and 19th May. Given that a Greek default cannot be allowed to happen, something will have been fixed up by then. The smart money says that the eurozone leaders will swallow their pride and allow the IMF to sort out a loan for Greece.

Before that happens, the pound and the dollar are likely to strengthen further against the euro (subject to the UK economy continuing to claw ts way out of recession), making Greek property cheaper for UK and US buyers in the short term.