Package tours without a deposit and with free cancellation up to six days before departure - sounds like a fairy tale when you look at this year's reimbursement mess in the Corona summer. But the tour operator Holiday Check is serious and is bringing such a travel product onto the market.

Corona brought a lot of calamity with it. As much as the pandemic troubled us, it nonetheless brought some grievances to light. For example: Current cancellation conditions. In the past weeks and months, many vacationers have been confronted with unfavorable travel conditions, non-refundable down payments or vouchers for trips that have not been taken. Free cancellations were the exception - often only possible in special cases and associated with a relatively high level of effort. Travelers therefore only dare to make new bookings at very short notice. Booking behavior is dominated by uncertainty and the fear of new travel warnings for the selected holiday destination.

The travel booking portal also recognized this problem Holiday check and approaches the matter very differently: "Especially in the current situation, vacationers want to remain flexible and decide for themselves whether they really want to go on a booked trip," explains Vinzenz Greger, Managing Director at Holiday Check Reisen. “It is often not about a rational risk, such as an increased number of cases, but rather about a good feeling while traveling.” That is why the decision was made to launch a new travel product. The money does not have to be transferred on the day of booking. "Especially in the current situation, it is absolutely understandable if vacationers prefer to have their money in their own account until shortly before departure," says Greger. The company sets the deadline six days before departure. Until then, the vacation can be canceled online without any problems - and free of charge!