Some online travel platforms have preset traps and profit-seeking practices to form a complete industrial chain
Why disputes over online travel orders remain high
□ Our reporter Zhang Wei
Disputes over refunds and reforms, big data "crack familiarity", restricted trading conditions, overlord clauses, unreasonable low-price tours, bundling and tying... Nowadays, online travel has many problems.
A reporter from the Rule of Law Daily found that the Beijing Sunshine Consumer Big Data Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as the Big Data Research Institute) and the Consumer Network recently released the “Analysis of Public Opinion on Online Travel Consumption Rights Protection in the First Half of 2021” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”) , Online travel consumer complaints are concentrated in the above-mentioned aspects.
"We must adhere to problem-oriented, severely investigate and punish illegal business activities, resolutely ensure that law enforcement must be strict and violations must be investigated, form continuous supervision and rectification, and create a good online tourism consumer market environment." Deputy Secretary of China Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association Chang Chen Yinjiang said.
The tourism market is gradually recovering
Negative public opinion is far higher than positive
According to data previously released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in 2021, the total number of domestic tourist trips nationwide during the Spring Festival holiday was 256 million, an increase of 15.7% year-on-year, and recovered to 75.3% of the same period before the new crown pneumonia epidemic; 102 million domestic tourist trips nationwide during the Ching Ming Festival holiday , A year-on-year increase of 144.6%, returning to 94.5% of the same period before the epidemic; "May 1st" holiday national domestic tourist trips totaled 230 million, a year-on-year increase of 119.7%; Dragon Boat Festival holiday national domestic tourist trips of 89.136 million, a year-on-year increase of 94.1%. It recovered to 98.7% of the same period before the epidemic.
While the travel market is recovering rapidly, online travel disputes have also increased significantly.
According to the monitoring data of the Big Data Research Institute, from January 1 to June 30, more than 2.93 million pieces of public opinion information about online travel consumption were monitored.
Among them, more than 140,000 pieces of positive public opinion information, accounting for 4.81%; nearly 2 million pieces of neutral public opinion information, accounting for 67.73%; over 800,000 pieces of negative public opinion information, accounting for 27.45%.
Although online travel consumption public opinion is mainly neutral information, there are relatively more negative public opinion information, reaching nearly 6 times the number of positive public opinion information.
Sorting out the negative public opinion information on online travel found that unsubscription and refund issues caused by itinerary changes (including active changes by consumers and passive changes due to objective reasons) accounted for 48.8% of travel complaints in the first half of 2021; Complaints caused by the travel product/service experience itself accounted for 19.4%; complaints caused by business format terms (the reasons for complaints claimed by consumers) accounted for 15.9%.
"Disputes over refunds and reforms of online travel orders have always been a hot spot for consumers to complain."
There have been many disputes over refunds and changes in travel products such as air tickets, hotels, and holiday groups.
Experts from the Big Data Research Institute pointed out that the issue of online travel order refund and modification disputes revealed that when platforms, airlines and related businesses encounter emergencies, they often use their own advantages or relevant overlord clauses to deal with unexpected risks and even their own management problems. Pass it on to consumers.
Some consumers are required to charge a high handling fee for refunding tickets a long time in advance due to changes in itinerary, or refunding and changing orders due to physical discomfort, etc.; while airlines temporarily cancel flights or hotels unilaterally cancel orders, but are unwilling to compensate consumers Related losses.
It is worth noting that some online travel platforms have also set up "gray traps" and "skimming" on order refunds and changes, and even many order disputes come from the preset traps behind some platforms.
"Some ticket sales agents once profited from refund fees. They used big data to calculate the probability of refunds. They chose routes with high refund probability to sell tickets at ultra-low prices to attract consumers. At the same time, they set high refund fees, similar to profit-seeking. The practice has even formed a relatively complete industrial chain in the industry." The "Report" discloses this little-known industry practice.
Big data still exists
Mandatory transactions are not uncommon
The issue of online travel big data "killing familiarity" has always been a concern.
The "Report" shows that complaints about personal information leakage in the first half of 2021 have an upward trend compared with the same period last year.
Recently, the People's Court of Keqiao District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province ruled that Ctrip "refunds one compensation three" case is widely regarded as a representative case of online travel big data "killing familiarity".
"I hope that the court's judgment on Ctrip's big data'killing familiar' case can serve as a warning to the industry." Experts from the Big Data Research Institute said.
In recent years, my country’s personal information protection legislation has accelerated significantly, and consumers’ awareness of personal information protection has increased unprecedentedly.
The "Interim Regulations on the Management of Online Tourism Management Services" issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism clearly requires that online travel operators must not abuse technical means such as big data analysis and set unfair trading conditions based on tourists' consumption records and travel preferences.
However, it is difficult for consumers to prove their rights when they encounter big data "killing familiarity". Although there are many problems with complaints and complaints about big data "killing familiarity", they often end up in the end.
The "Report" also pointed out that issues such as restrictions on trading conditions still exist.
As major platforms gradually enter the stage of ecological operation, the operation idea of “no water flow to outsiders’ fields” has become the source of compulsory consumption problems, especially for some platforms with dominant market positions, compulsory downloads, account openings, or mandatory use of designated services, etc. It's not uncommon.
The problem of unreasonable low-cost travel has also risen.
Through the monitoring of multiple complaint channels, the Big Data Research Institute found that complaints about unreasonable low-price travel showed signs of increasing month-on-month, many of which involved online travel platforms.
In addition to traditional online travel platforms, unreasonable low-cost travel has also "fought" on social platforms such as Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Live Broadcasting, and Lvyou Circle.
Recently, the Tourism Quality Supervision and Administration Institute of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has released the first and second batches of typical complaints about "unreasonable low-priced tours".
For example, tourist Li complained that he signed up for a five-day tour from Jingmen, Hubei to Xiamen, Fujian through an online travel platform, with a tour fee of 880 yuan.
During the itinerary, the tour guide took them to the shopping store without the tourists' consent, and deceived and forced them to purchase more than 50,000 yuan of jade.
After mediation by the Jingmen Cultural Comprehensive Law Enforcement Detachment, the travel agency agreed to handle the return of the goods for the tourists and advance the refund of more than 50,000 yuan in advance.
The illegal act of the travel agency will be investigated and dealt with separately by "transfer of lawsuit".
Enterprise adheres to the concept of integrity
Industry regulation must keep up
In the above-mentioned disputes, there are both old problems and new trends.
According to Chen Yinjiang’s analysis, behind the increase in online travel consumption disputes and complaints, first of all, the travel consumption market is not mature and standardized. Some operators lack the business philosophy of integrity and law-abiding and sense of responsibility, and they have not established necessary emergency problem resolution mechanisms. Lack of due responsibilities when an incident occurs.
The second is the improvement of consumers’ legal awareness, the change of tourism consumption concepts, and the lack of tourism consumption knowledge. Some consumers have higher and higher requirements for the quality of tourism consumption, and their awareness of legal rights protection after encountering problems is also becoming stronger, but At the same time, a small number of consumers lack the necessary tourism consumption knowledge, which can easily lead to tourism problems and disputes.
Recently, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for the Development of Culture and Tourism Market", which identified online tourism as one of the contents, and emphasized the establishment and improvement of an industrial chain supervision mechanism centered on online travel platform enterprises, and a perfect network System of inspections, situation reports, interviews and warnings, promote the establishment of online travel product and service standards, and standardize the order of the online travel market.
Experts from the Big Data Research Institute suggest that online travel companies should further adhere to the business philosophy of integrity and law-abiding, proactively assume legal and social responsibilities, and consciously safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
First of all, it is necessary to provide consumers with true and accurate travel service information without false propaganda; second, to protect the data security of consumers' personal information and other data, and not to damage the legitimate rights and interests of consumers through means such as "killing familiarity" with big data; In order to unblock the channels for consumer rights protection and properly resolve consumer demands, the platform should actively assist consumers in protecting their rights, and if necessary, they can pay compensation first, and then seek compensation from the relevant operators.
Relevant laws and regulations and administrative regulations are gradually improved, and relevant industry supervision must keep up to ensure that relevant laws and regulations are effectively implemented.
Chen Yinjiang suggested that we should make full use of and apply big data, artificial intelligence and other innovative technologies to solve some of the pain points of online tourism consumption supervision, proof, and rights protection, and establish credit rating mechanisms through information technology to effectively strengthen the online tourism industry Supervision; In addition, enterprises should be encouraged to innovate and develop, and compete fairly, and allow enterprises to provide consumers with diversified and personalized travel services to better meet consumer demand.
The "Report" also puts forward that consumers should take the initiative to learn relevant legal knowledge and common sense of tourism consumption, and continuously improve their awareness of self-protection and their ability to protect their rights in accordance with the law.
It is necessary to choose tourism companies with formal qualifications and not blindly pursuing low prices; to sign tourism contracts carefully and carefully read the contents of the contracts; to enhance risk prevention awareness, try not to participate in low-cost publicity stunts such as "zero tour fees" and "secret prices" Price travel; if you encounter a problem of damage to your rights, you must negotiate with the operator in a timely manner.
If the negotiation fails, the evidence should be kept and a complaint should be made to the Consumers Association or the cultural and tourism department in a timely manner.
When necessary, they can protect their legitimate rights and interests through arbitration or litigation in court.