Every trip you book through MB openBaltics ("we", "us") is a "package" within the meaning of EU Directive (EU) 2015/2302, the Package Travel Directive, transposed into Lithuanian law as the Law on Tourism. This page explains what that means in plain language: what the Directive requires of us, what it protects you against, and what it doesn't cover. It supplements our Terms; if the two ever conflict, the Terms govern.
What counts as a "package", and why it matters
A package is a pre-arranged combination of at least two different types of travel service, for example transport and accommodation, or accommodation and a guided experience, bought for one trip at a single price from one trader. Every multi-day itinerary and every day tour you book with us qualifies.
Packages get the highest level of protection EU law offers. A looser "linked travel arrangement", where a business helps you book separate services that stay legally separate from each other, gets a lighter regime. We don't sell linked travel arrangements: everything on this site is either a fully packaged private trip or a single stand-alone service, never a bundle of someone else's separately contracted bookings.
Your money is protected if we fail
The Directive's central promise: if the organiser becomes insolvent, prepaid money must come back to you, and if the package included transport, you must be brought home.
- How we cover it
- Statutory bank guarantee, covering all monies paid in advance for a confirmed booking.
- What it covers
- Your deposit and any balance paid before departure, refunded in full if we become insolvent before your trip runs.
- What it doesn't cover
- Money owed for services you buy separately from other companies: a flight you book yourself, travel insurance, or a hotel night added outside your itinerary with us.
We're liable for the whole trip, not just our own part
Under the Directive, we're responsible for the proper performance of every service in your package, even the ones we don't deliver directly: the hotel, the ferry, the guide, the restaurant reservation. If a supplier gets it wrong, it's our problem to fix, not yours to chase.
Our liability is limited to three times the total trip price, except for death, personal injury, or deliberate or negligent misconduct on our part, where the Directive allows no cap. Losses caused by transport providers (flights, ferries, trains) are separately governed by the Athens, Montreal and CIV conventions where they apply, as the Directive permits.
Price changes after you've booked
Once your deposit is paid, an organiser can only raise your price if the contract expressly reserves that right and the increase is due to a specific, listed cause such as fuel costs, taxes or exchange rates. We don't reserve that right: our Terms state your price is fixed once the deposit is paid, so a price rise after booking simply can't happen with us. The Directive separately blocks any price increase in the final 20 days before departure regardless.
If we ever have to change something significant before departure, such as shifting your hotel to a different category or dropping a listed inclusion, we have to tell you, and you can accept the change, accept a substitute of equal or higher quality, or cancel with a full refund.
Cancelling because of events beyond anyone's control
If "unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances": war, natural disaster, a public health emergency, significantly affect your destination or getting there, you can cancel before departure and get a full refund with no cancellation fee. We can do the same if those circumstances mean we genuinely can't run the trip.
This is different from an ordinary change of mind, which follows our own sliding-scale cancellation schedule set out in the Terms.
Help if something goes wrong on the road
If you're in difficulty while travelling with us, including a medical situation, we're required to offer appropriate assistance: information on health services and local authorities, and help finding alternative arrangements. We can charge a reasonable fee if the difficulty is your own fault.
In practice, this is the 24/7 emergency phone number every traveller receives once the balance is paid.
Transferring your booking to someone else
You can transfer your booking to someone else who meets the same requirements (visas, age, fitness for the itinerary), as long as you tell us a reasonable time before departure. We'll charge only the actual costs the transfer causes us, never a markup.
What the Directive doesn't cover
- Travel insurance. We recommend it strongly; we don't sell it, and it isn't part of this protection.
- A flight, hotel or activity you book entirely yourself, outside your itinerary with us.
- Your own decision to cancel for reasons that aren't "unavoidable and extraordinary": our ordinary cancellation terms apply instead.
- Arrangements where another agency resells our itinerary under its own separate contract with you.
Where this sits in our own paperwork
This page explains the protection in plain language; it doesn't replace our Terms, which are the actual contract between you and us and contain the full legal detail, including our company identifiers, insolvency provider, and exact cancellation schedule.
Complaints and where to escalate
If something is wrong while you're travelling, tell your guide or trip designer first: most issues can be fixed within the hour. Written complaints should reach us within 30 days of return; we respond within 14 working days.
Unresolved disputes can be referred to the Lithuanian State Consumer Rights Protection Authority (vvtat.lt) or, for EU residents, the European Commission's Online Dispute Resolution platform at ec.europa.eu/odr.