Dear Customer
We are getting a lot of questions about what a CVA (Company Voluntary Arrangement) is, so I thought I’d try to clarify exactly what this means:
Why wasn’t I paid my refund on 31st July?
We had hoped to have processed all refunds by 31st July and we apologise that hasn't been the case. We wanted to reach an agreement where the insurers would fund the refunds pending the completion of the CVA, however we were unable to reach this agreement, meaning we need to wait until the CVA is officially approved.
What is a CVA?
A CVA does not mean 'you're going bust', or 'you're going into administration', or 'you're going to cease trading' - or any other many other terms that mean the end of a company.
It’s a legal process for agreeing with the people you owe money to on how to pay that money back.
We are committed to paying back all creditors 100%
How does this affect our customers?
If you have a future event booked with us it doesn’t affect you at all. We intend and are able to deliver all future events.
If you had an event cancelled because of the Covid crisis and are holding an RCN, we still intend to pay back every single penny. There will be and I apologise for this, a delay until after the CVA meeting. We hoped to have this all sorted out by the 31st July but were unable to do so.
Why a CVA?
It is largely to come to an agreement with our landlord and the HMRC, on how we can repay the money we owe to them as a result of not being able to trade throughout the Covid crisis. We intend to pay them back 100p in the pound but over time. It also triggers an event which triggers the insurance policies covering customers money.
Why can customers vote on it?
As a customer you are technically a creditor, even though we are going to either deliver your event or refund you and so you are entitled to vote if you would like to.
Who else has done a CVA?
Some of the companies that have gone through CVA's recently as a result of the Covid crisis or are looking at going into them are Travelodge, Pizza Express, Monsoon, Arcadia, Itsu, Byron and many more.
Does ABTA know about this?
Yes we have worked very closely with ABTA through this whole process and we constantly keep them informed of proceedings.
We are truly sorry we were unable to stick to the 31st July refund date, especially as you have already been so patient. After almost 20 years of organising memorable events and weekends away for millions of people these last four months have been the most difficult. We've had to say goodbye to many wonderful people who worked here but we are absolutely committed to work as hard as we can with the insurers to process your refund and hope to conclude the CVA process on the 25th August.
Kind Regards
James Baddiley CEO
