The online travel agent, which was founded in 1998, will close on Wednesday 4 September.
At the same time, its BONUS+ programme in the UK will also be “retired”.
After this date, holidaymakers will be redirected to Expedia – its parent site – for new bookings, and your already accrued rewards will be transferred to the One Key loyalty programme.
In the meantime, you can still book on Ebookers until 4 September. Ebookers isn’t a member of trade body ABTA, The Travel Association, but flight-inclusive packages are financially protected under the ATOL scheme (Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing).
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) told YourMoney.com that provided travellers remain booked and therefore protected by a licensed entity of ATOL, coverage will remain in place so they will have protection should the company fail.
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Existing reservation or upcoming trips?
Ebookers confirmed that any existing or upcoming reservations “will not be disrupted”.
This means customers can still modify or cancel reservations, and you will still be able to access your Ebookers UK trips page after the close date.
To cancel an upcoming reservation, you can go through the self-service option via the Trips page.
To modify an upcoming reservation, contact the customer service team.
Up to 4 September, Ebookers confirmed you can continue to earn and use BONUS+ rewards as well as your membership benefits, such as airport lounge, travel activity reimbursements and priority phone line.
However, any changes to bookings after this date won’t earn OneKeyCash (the new loyalty scheme) or BONUS+ rewards.
If you already have a One Key account via Expedia, Hotels.com or Vrbo, the full remaining value of BONUS+ rewards will be transferred to OneKeyCash, otherwise a new One Key account will be opened for you on Expedia.
The travel site said customers will be placed in the equivalent One Key tier, while the rewards will be reset to expire in 18 months’ time to give customers more time to redeem.
It added that it will count either your total room nights booked in 2023 or so far in 2024 (whichever is higher) as ‘trip elements’, including:
- Blue – zero elements
- Silver – five trip elements
- Gold – 15 trip elements
- Platinum – 30 trip elements
Free to join, One Key allows users to access member prices and enjoy “unique travel perks” as you move up the tiers.
If you’re not interested in moving over to Expedia and One Key, you can delete your Ebookers account by 4 July 2024. Once done, you won’t have access to your account history, and neither will customer services. If you’re already on a trip or have an upcoming trip booked, you won’t be able to delete your account until those have been undertaken.
Once all your trips have been completed, Ebookers will shut down your account, booking history, as well as its UK website and app.
An Expedia Group spokesperson, said: “We have been transparent in the past that our strategy has been to simplify our portfolio. In the UK, we wanted to ensure travellers received the best experience possible and given the small presence of Ebookers UK, we decided that those travellers would get the best experience on Expedia. Based on that approach, we made the decision to sunset Ebookers and its BONUS+ program in the UK on September 4.
“It is important to note that travellers can continue to earn and use BONUS+ rewards and membership benefits on Ebookers UK until September 4. Expedia will honor BONUS+ member benefits and rewards through One Key (coming soon to the UK) and any existing and upcoming reservations/trips will not be disrupted. On September 4, we will automatically transfer any remaining BONUS+ rewards over at their full value in OneKeyCash to an existing or new One Key account. In each One Key account, we will place the One Key equivalent of the traveller’s current BONUS+ tier and reset the rewards expiration date to 18 months so travellers have even more time to use the rewards as OneKeyCash.”
