Unlike a ready-made brochure package, a dynamic package is put together at the time of booking, usually from live availability and prices. Agents and tour operators can combine scheduled and low-cost flights, bed bank hotels and directly contracted rates, with mark-up rules applied by the booking engine.

The regulatory side

There is no legal definition of dynamic packaging, but a dynamically packaged trip is usually a package under the Package Travel Regulations 2018, because the parts are combined by one business, chosen in one booking process or sold at a total price. The business doing the packaging is normally the organiser, responsible for every part of the trip and for protecting the customer’s money.

If the package includes a flight, ATOL applies. Selling as an agent for an ATOL holder only covers a package if the agent simply selects, or lets the customer select, from a closed group of services the ATOL holder makes available and the ATOL holder acts as the organiser. A business that builds its own flight-inclusive packages normally needs its own ATOL or membership of an ATOL Accredited Body. For VAT, a business reselling travel in its own name accounts for VAT on its margin under the Tour Operators’ Margin Scheme.

Common confusion

• Dynamic packaging is not the same as dynamic pricing, where prices move with demand.

• Until 6 April 2027, services chosen and paid for separately in a single visit can be a linked travel arrangement rather than a package. From that date they count as a package too.