NETHERLANDS | NICK DE LEEUW, JUDITH TERSTEEG, PETER VOS 507 agreements are concluded. There are two versions of the linked travel arrangement. The first version may occur both online and offline. The trader facilitates the separate selection and separate payment of each travel service by the traveller during one visit of or during one contact moment with the own sales location (i). The second version, which likely only occur online, take place when the trader facilitates the purchase of at least one additional travel service from another trader in a targeted manner, and an agreement with this other trader is concluded no later than within 24 hours of the confirmation of the booking of the first travel service (ii). An example of version (i) is when a customer visits a website of an online travel agent (or enters a physical travel agency) and books a flight to Barcelona. The customer books and pays this travel service. This concludes travel service one. The customer then looks for a hotel on another tab on the same website. This hotel is booked (and possibly paid) through a bed bank. This means that two separate agreements are concluded that are paid separately during one visit to the sales location (a website in this case). This results in a linked travel arrangement. An example of version (ii) occurs when a customer, for example, visits the website of an airline and books a flight to Barcelona here. The confirmation sent to the customer after he has booked a ticket includes the offer to purchase a hotel room from another trader. The customer clicks on this offer (often specifically concerning the period for which the ticket was booked) and is linked to another trader who offers the hotel room, and the hotel room is booked here. This again results in two separate agreements and separate payments. This is not the shopping basket method, when all travel services are paid through one payment, and a package agreement will be concluded. This will likely result in a linked travel arrangement, but not necessarily. After all, there must be a commercial relationship between trader 1 and 2, and trader 1 must have facilitated the purchase of the second service “in a targeted manner”. Merely an advertisement on Google does not result in such a relationship. The Explanatory Memorandum states in this respect that a “search engine” cannot be considered a trader facilitating linked travel arrangements. The facilitation must take place in a targeted manner. Neither the Explanatory Notes nor the Directive make it clear when this is actually the case. However, the distinction is difficult to make for a traveller. The first trader in the chain of the linked travel arrangement must provide (financial) security, but only insofar as the booked travel service cannot be
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