Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably have seen news about various travel companies going bankrupt. To name just a few: Frasers Travel (Scotland) goes bust in August 2026 after 40 years of operations, Golf Villa Rentals (England) also goes bust in August 2026, AVG Travels (Australia / New Zealand) goes bust in May 2026, Tripaneer (Netherlands) goes bust in October 2026, Animawings (Romania) enters insolvency end of September 2026.

Also, do you even remember Malev, for example? Or Flybe, Thomas Cook Group, Air Italy, Fly bmi? Yes, all of these (and more) went bankrupt in the past 10-15 years.

While insolvency and bankruptcy are different (legally), for the traveler there’s little difference. And in many cases insolvency does end up in bankruptcy (unless there’s a restructuring).

So, you’ve been looking forward to your next vacation, did your homework, and ended up booking with that looked like a solid company. Social media was active, reviews were good, customer service maybe even answered your questions. No red flags, right?

It’s important to know that in most (if not all) cases, those working in these companies have no clue of any issues until the company goes bust. So, no, they couldn’t have warned you.

But you either find out from the news or social media or you get an email that all is not, in fact, well, with your next vacation. What should you do?

Pull up the email with the booking confirmation

Did you book through a marketplace? Direct with the service provider?

If the service provider went bankrupt (e.g. an airline, a travel agency), your only hope to recoup any money is through travel insurance. The very least you can do when you book is to get an insurance covering trip cancellation but make sure it also includes insolvency / bankruptcy.

If you booked through a market place or 3rd party and that went bankrupt, find out the service provider. That could be the airline, the hotel, the yoga retreat organizer and get in touch with them. For example, when Tripaneer went bankrupt, many yoga teacher training schools offered to still honor the bookings if the client could show the booking email. Likewise, when various airlines went bankrupt, others offered “rescue flights” for a fraction of the price. You will need to do some research and shoot some emails, but it’s worth it. Or, go the insurance way.

Find out if you can claim the money

When a company goes bankrupt, they’re placed under the control of another company (usually law firm) that handles the claims against them. Again, you need to do some research but if you didn’t have an insurance, this is the way to go. File for the amount you paid for the service and just wait it out.