ONLINE RESERVATION company 1800Hotels has continued to make “numerous” holiday bookings even after seeking bankruptcy protection last Tuesday, a leading US travel company has claimed to a Florida court.

Mark Travel, which handles reservations for major tour operators, said the firm’s Dublin-based parent company was trying to compel it to take these bookings without showing any ability to pay.

The bankruptcy laws were supposed to act “as a shield, not a sword. Their purpose is to minimise fiscal chaos and disruption, not to aggravate it,” Mark Travel warned in its briefing, while arguing that it should not be compelled to do any more business with 1800Hotels.

It said it would take no future bookings unless 1800Hotel’s parent company, Happy Duck, pays outstanding debts and gives cash in advance, a cash deposit or an irrevocable letter of credit.

In pre-hearing filings served to Happy Duck at its Dublin headquarters, Mark Travel, agreed there should be an emergency hearing, but only because it had not been paid and it wanted the case resolved.

It said it first agreed to provide a reservation service for 1800Hotels in July 2009 but became increasingly concerned about “payment delinquencies” by early 2010. Both sides agreed to abandon that contract and enter a new one in February 2010, this time compelling 1800 to put down a $20,000 deposit and to pay its bills every week.

However, 1800Hotels continued to make “numerous” reservations for which it did not pay, both before and after seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Mark Travel claims.

1800Hotels is in bankruptcy court in Florida today in an attempt to compel Mark Travel and the other travel companies to honour its reservations.