2023-05-27 20:34:47
Customers of Hurb, a Brazilian tourism company formerly known as Hotel Urbano, have denounced yet another default by the company and reported problems with purchased trips. Less than a week after presenting a plan to the authorities to resolve the situation, the company now faces an administrative process from the National Consumer Secretariat (Senacon).
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Last Wednesday, around 10 people were prevented from boarding a flight bound for Tokyo and had to give up the tours they had purchased.
The justification provided by the airline at the time of boarding was that the reservation had been canceled on May 19 due to lack of payment by Hurb to confirm the trip. The airline also informed passengers that the booking made by Hurb was a collective one, involving a total of 20 people.
Faced with these events, some of the passengers, coming from different parts of São Paulo and even from other states, estimate losses that exceed R$ 10,000. This amount includes the packages paid for and not received, the stay in a hotel in São Paulo during the days they were “stuck” in the capital and the purchase of new tickets to return home or make the scheduled trip.
In a statement, Hurb alleges that customers did not receive confirmation of flights or accommodation within the established period due to “operational problems” and, therefore, the trip had to be postponed.
“Committed to making the journey of its customers, the company suggested that impacted travelers indicate new boarding dates, according to the validity of each package. Hurb also informs that communications about changes to the trip, when previously confirmed, are made in advance”, said the company.
Understand the crisis plaguing Hurb
- Hurb, formerly known as Hotel Urbano, a well-known online travel agency, has been going through a very heavy crisis. Among the recent problems, hotels and inns canceled reservations due to late payment by Hurb.
- To make matters worse, the then CEO and founder of the agency, João Ricardo Marques, resigned at the end of April, after appearing in videos threatening clients and disclosing their data.
- In operation since 2011, Hurb, in addition to seeing the cancellation of reservations by the enterprises, was also the target of criticism and complaints from tourists on the internet, which indicate problems with reservations, flights, accommodation and company service, in addition to concern with booked trips.
- The company managed to avoid a fine of R$ 50,000 by responding to information requested by the precautionary measure of the National Consumer Secretariat (Senacon), whose deadline was until the end of last Monday (8).
Read Hurb’s note in full:
Hurb, a Brazilian company that has been in the market for over 12 years, has always valued transparency with its travelers and, guided by the primordial value of being a company made by people for people, puts its customers first.
Regarding the complaint of customers who purchased flexible date travel packages (see regulation) to Tokyo and were unable to make the trips, Hurb informs that:
Specifically on the cases mentioned, the company clarifies that, due to operational problems, customers did not receive confirmation of flights or accommodation within the regular period and, for this reason, the trip had to be postponed. The company recognizes that every trip generates expectations and regrets what happened.
Committed to making the trip for its customers, the company suggested that impacted travelers indicate new boarding dates, according to the validity of each package.
Hurb also informs that communications about changes in the trip, when previously confirmed, are carried out in advance.
Regarding the filing of lawsuits, the company informs that, for legal reasons, it does not comment on ongoing lawsuits. However, he states that he is at the disposal of the authorities to provide any clarification.
As Hurb has been notifying the press, based on the actions already implemented internally in the company’s new phase, Hurb 3.0 – a moment in which all its employees gather in a task force to normalize their performance.
The company reports having resolved 87.5% of doubts and other queries from customers on the platform’s official communication channels and has put in place initiatives to better serve the traveler’s journey. Below, some results of these newly launched actions, according to data collected at the beginning of the week:
- 100% of contacts registered on Reclame Aqui were answered;
- 99.4% of queries registered on the Consumidor.gov website were addressed;
- inclusion of new functionalities in our Help Center, as well as new explanatory articles in the FAQ of Reclame Aqui, both in order to facilitate the understanding of the available information;
- beginning of the process of settling open invoice payments with partners and the hotel chain;
- continuous contact with both hotels and industry associations in order to maintain an open dialogue channel.
Likewise, the company is also in continuous contact with financial institutions.
Added to this, allocated at Hurb’s headquarters, there is a financial advisor with recognized experience in the market, currently working together with the company’s employees to complete the resolution of the mapped issues. Hurb also has new business partners to accelerate this process.
The company takes the opportunity to point out that more than 1,200,000 (one million, two hundred thousand) products and services were operated by OTA in 2022. In the same year, the company was responsible for boarding travelers to 272 destinations, a number 20% higher than to 2021. For 2023, the company has already operated more than 441,000 travelers, to date.
These numbers attest to Hurb’s ability to operate high volumes of packages, as well as demonstrate the company’s commitment to its customers, even if, globally, the tourism sector has not yet fully recovered from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Hurb points out that it continues to value active listening and care for its audiences and, therefore, is available in case of any doubts.
In a note, Senacon says that the platform responded to the administrative process on time and confirms the delivery of a restructuring plan to meet the contracts that have not yet been fulfilled.
“The information provided by the company is under technical analysis by Senacon and is, at the moment, confidential”, states the secretariat in a note.
With information from g1.
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