In my last article, I spoke about the basics of contract law and how it applies to travel agents and independent contractors. In this article, I will discuss the obligations imposed by agent and third-party suppliers to the clients by contract, statutes, and common law. Statutes are created by Federal, State, and local bodies and can impose certain duties upon the agent and third parties that can affect the contract terms. Therefore, it is important to always have a severability clause in all contracts. The severability clause means that if one section of the contract is deemed invalid by law, the entire contract is not abrogated, and the rest of the terms and conditions remain valid. Read the rest of this entry »

Chargebacks, cancellations, refunds, vouchers, impossibility of performance, Acts of God, and now COVID-19, as well all sorts of other terminology that most travel agents have never had to deal with, have shaken the Tourism Industry as never before. Agents, tour companies, and suppliers are dealing with events simply unimaginable and unforeseeable, resulting in the need to turn to the legal industry and governments for solutions. Those solutions, when viable, revolve around laws, previous case histories, and, most important, contracts and the interpretation of the terms and conditions contained or implied in those contracts. Read the rest of this entry »