Ticketing, travel, hotels: is there a cooling-off period?

If you sell event tickets, travel, hotel nights or hire online, the question comes up fast: does the withdrawal button, mandatory since 19 June 2026, apply to you? Good news first: in most cases, a dated service opens no right of withdrawal. But everything you sell around it is not in the same boat. Let us look precisely at where you are safe, and where you are not.

The dated service escapes withdrawal

The law says so itself. Article 16 of Directive 2011/83/EU, harmonised across the 27 EU member states, sets aside the right of withdrawal for services "related to accommodation other than for residential purpose, transport of goods, car rental services, catering or services related to leisure activities" where the contract provides for a specific date or period of performance. Case law and practice extend that logic to the transport of persons, already excluded on other grounds.

In practice, the same rule covers two trades that are often thought of as separate:

• Ticketing and events: a concert on 14 March, a match next weekend, a festival pass for the summer.
• Travel and accommodation: a flight on 14 March, a hotel room for next weekend, a rental car from 1 to 8 August, a table booked for Saturday evening.

In both cases, your customer does not have fourteen days to cancel "without giving a reason" and demand a refund on the basis of withdrawal.

The logic is simple: a seat, a room or an airline seat left unsold at the last minute is a dead loss, impossible to put back on the shelf like a returned parcel. The legislator took that into account.

The exception only applies to what is dated

Be careful not to over-read the good news. The exemption hangs on one precise point: the date. As soon as what you sell is not tied to a set date, the fourteen-day right of withdrawal returns, and the button becomes mandatory again.

Three cases come up often:

1. Gift vouchers and "open" tickets, valid for several months with no fixed date: no dated service, so withdrawal applies.
2. Undated services, for example a credit of nights to be used whenever the customer wishes.
3. Goods sold alongside on your site: t-shirts, vinyl and posters for a ticketing site; luggage, accessories and guidebooks for a travel site. These are ordinary goods, subject to withdrawal as in any online shop.

The classic trap is to conclude "I do ticketing" or "I do travel, so this does not concern me". A single non-exempt sale (a gift voucher, a piece of merchandise, an accessory) is enough to make the button mandatory. And it must then be visible on all your pages, not only in the merchandise checkout.

Withdrawal excluded, but other rights remain

The absence of a right of withdrawal does not deprive your customer of the protection regimes specific to the sector, which are also European.

A package holiday (for example a flight and hotel sold together) falls under Directive (EU) 2015/2302, which opens its own rights of termination and refund, distinct from withdrawal. An air ticket is covered by Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 on air passenger rights in the event of delay, cancellation or denied boarding.

These regimes apply across the 27 member states and coexist with the withdrawal question without replacing it: not opening a right of withdrawal on a dated service does not release you from complying with them.

Even exempt, you must inform the customer

Being exempt does not mean doing nothing. Where the right of withdrawal does not apply, the law still requires you to inform the buyer before they confirm their purchase. That is the pre-contractual information obligation of Article 6 of Directive 2011/83/EU.

In practice, a clear statement at the payment step is enough: "Dated ticket: no right of withdrawal", "Dated service: no right of withdrawal". Failing to say it exposes you to a penalty even though the exemption is real, which would be a shame.

Take care too not to confuse withdrawal with cancellation terms. Your commercial terms (free cancellation until D-2, fees beyond) are a policy you choose freely. Withdrawal is a legal right where it applies. These are two different things, not to be mixed up in your terms and conditions.

What I advise

If you sell only dated services, put the statement of non-applicability at the payment step and you are compliant.

If you also sell undated vouchers or products alongside, do not try to walk the tightrope sale by sale: put the button up permanently. It does not hinder your dated-service sales in any way, and it automatically covers the rest. It is simpler, and safer.

To go further, see the detail of the exceptions to the right of withdrawal, and to check your situation in two minutes, the "am I concerned" diagnostic.