An Irish travel website offers a great holiday deal and asks for a deposit. Before paying, establish who sells the trip, whether the relevant licence or insolvency protection is current, and what kind of booking you are making. A real CRO number, familiar brand or official-looking logo does not by itself answer any of those protection questions.
Direct answer
Use the Irish Aviation Authority's current travel-business search to match the seller's legal and trading names, licence or protection details and expiry date. Verify the company separately through its CRO record if incorporated in Ireland. Ask who organises the holiday and what protection applies to your booking before sending a deposit.
Three checks Irish holiday buyers should keep separate
The company register identifies a legal business. The IAA provides travel-trade licensing and insolvency-protection information. Your contract establishes who provides the travel services and how the booking is arranged. Use all three rather than treating one search result as a complete endorsement. This is particularly important when a website sells services supplied by several different businesses.
| Question | Evidence to check | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Who is the legal seller? | Contract, legal name and relevant company registration | Company existence does not establish travel protection |
| What registration or protection is current? | IAA travel-business entry and explanation of coverage | Listing alone does not explain every transaction |
| What am I booking? | Package, linked arrangement or individual-service terms | Different arrangements can carry different rights |
| Who owes performance? | Named organiser and service providers | The agent and organiser need not be the same business |
| Where is payment going? | Independently verified merchant or beneficiary | A genuine licence can be copied by an impersonator |
1. Get the seller's full legal name
Look at the booking terms, invoice and website legal information. Ask for the legal entity, business address and applicable registration number rather than relying on the logo at the top of the page. Establish whether the business is selling as an agent or acting as the organiser. Record the organiser as well as the business collecting your payment.
For an Irish incorporated company, use Businesses.ie company search and compare the CRO number with the official record. If the seller is established elsewhere, its home-country record may be the relevant company source. A .ie domain or euro price does not prove Irish incorporation. Our legal-name versus trading-name guide explains why a brand match is insufficient.
2. Search the IAA's travel-business information
Open the IAA's Booking a Holiday—Am I Protected? page independently. Search or inspect the entries for the business and trading name you were given. Compare the listed website, address and contact details, along with the licence or insolvency-protection information and expiry date. Save the result with the date you checked it.
The IAA page includes different types of entries, including licensed businesses and businesses with relevant insolvency insurance. Do not rewrite an insurance entry as a travel-agent licence, or assume every entry is an Irish incorporated company. Match the actual business and read the stated category instead of treating the page as a generic list of approved websites.
3. Check the status, not merely presence on the list
The IAA explains that its list can also include licences that expired within the previous six months, marked Licence Expired. Its guidance distinguishes servicing customers who booked while licensed from taking new bookings after expiry. Therefore, finding a name is not enough: inspect its current status before making a new booking.
If you cannot find the business or see an expired entry, ask the IAA travel-trade team for clarification. Do not accept a saved licence screenshot as proof of current authority. Equally, do not declare a missing business unlawful without establishing its activities, jurisdiction and applicable requirements. The point is to resolve the uncertainty before payment.
4. Understand whether it is a package or a separate booking
The CCPC distinguishes package holidays, linked travel arrangements and individually purchased services. The way you select and buy the services can affect which rules apply. Ask for the booking information explaining the arrangement, the organiser's identity and the relevant protections. Do not assume two services listed on one website always amount to a protected package.
Read the CCPC package-holiday guidance for the distinctions. Keep the actual booking terms, confirmation and pre-contract information. If the classification is unclear or you are relying on a particular protection, obtain clarification from the relevant authority or adviser rather than deciding from an advertising phrase such as “flight and hotel deal”.
5. Ask what insolvency protection covers your payment
Ask which entity provides the protection, how it applies to your arrangement and where to find the current details. Licensing, insolvency protection and travel insurance are related to different questions; none should be casually substituted for another. The IAA operates a consumer-protection scheme, but its own wording says customers may be covered. Do not assume every booking or expense is automatically refundable in every circumstance.
A CRO company report cannot certify that your holiday payment is covered by a bond, insurance policy or statutory scheme. It can help verify the company behind the offer and organise available public history. Check protection through the authoritative source and the actual booking documents, particularly if the seller, organiser and payment recipient are different businesses.
6. Verify the company record without overreading it
If the contracting business is an Irish company, review its status and available filing history. A recent name change or a group relationship may explain an unfamiliar invoice, but it needs a verified link. A status of Normal is not a promise that the company will remain solvent until your departure date. See our explanation of Irish company status before treating that label as financial protection.
Public accounts are historical and may have limited detail. A third-party dataset may not include every filing. Describe gaps accurately and seek more evidence for a large group booking or business travel contract. Do not infer insolvency, fraud or poor service from one missing number or an unsupported director-name match.
7. Confirm the payment route and retain the booking evidence
Be cautious if a business asks you to switch from its normal payment process to a new beneficiary after sending an urgent message. Verify the instruction through independently sourced contact details. Our invoice-payment verification guide gives a practical second-channel workflow. A real company and genuine licence can still be impersonated.
Retain the quote, itinerary, legal terms, protection information, receipt and correspondence about changes. Before paying, clarify the total price, remaining-balance date, cancellation terms and who handles problems. Do not assume a payment method provides an unconditional refund right; any dispute or recovery route depends on its rules and the circumstances.
A practical example: a familiar brand with a different seller
Suppose a fictional customer recognises a holiday brand but receives payment instructions from a different legal business. The salesperson says it is part of the same group. Ask for a documented explanation of which entity sells and organises the trip, and how the stated protection applies. Verify that explanation independently rather than treating the familiar logo as permission to pay any group account.
This example illustrates why identity, dates and transaction type belong in the same research file. An old valid document and a current company registration do not establish current travel protection. If the evidence remains inconsistent, pause a material payment and obtain appropriate consumer or legal guidance.
Sources and editorial review
Reviewed by the Businesses.ie Editorial Team on 2 October 2026, using the IAA consumer guidance, its travel-business search and CCPC package-holiday information. This is a checking workflow, not a coverage determination, travel endorsement or legal advice. The example is fictional. See our editorial policy.