Holiday rental company Travelopo has ceased trading.
In a message on its website, the company says: “Rental Republic Ltd t/a Travelopo.com, has ceased trading with immediate effect.
“Steps have been taken to appoint a liquidator, whose details will be released in due course.”
The message went on to apologise for any inconvenience.
The message says the company had been in business since 2007, although wording on its Trust Pilot page says it was founded in 2011.
Travelopo.com parent Rental Republic Ltd, based in Bath, had recently been the subject of a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority over its claim Travelopo was the ‘#1 holiday website on the planet’.
The ASA ruled the company had breached its code and that the statement was misleading.
Rental Republic Ltd t/a Travelopo did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries and the ASA said it was ‘concerned’ by Rental Republic Ltd’s ‘lack of response and apparent disregard for the code’.
Out-of-pocket customers have posted on review sites, such as Trust Pilot, expressing dismay that they have not been able to get hold of anyone from Travelopo.
One customer, who had booked a villa to celebrate her 40th wedding anniversary with family, posted: “We have paid £2,800 deposit on a villa in the Algarve and to our horror, the Travelopo website seems to have been taken down and instead there is a message stating that Travelopo (parent company Rental Republic Ltd) has ‘ceased trading with immediate effect and steps have been taken to appoint a liquidator’.
“We have had no communication from Travelopo whatsoever, they are not responding to any email enquiries and we fear we have lost our money.”
Another said her villa holiday, initially booked for 2020, had been rearranged twice because of COVID, and the family had been due to travel next month.
After being unable to get hold of anyone at the company, she said she ‘found out by chance that our birthday celebrations are in tatters’.
Travel Gossip has contacted Travelopo for a comment.
