Following the recent news that ABTA will consider trust accounts for their members, further updates have clarified that ABTA will be considering the use of trust accounts to begin around the march renewals.
“We’re taking this approach for the March renewal, which has just started. Maybe we can accept a trust arrangement,” said Rachel Jordan, ABTA director of membership and financial protection, following her earlier statement that they would “open discussions with potentially-suitable trust account providers”.
Previously, ABTA members were required to seek financial protection through bonding or insurance, two of the three options accepted for Package Travel Regulations compliance next to trust accounts (you can find out more about Package Travel Regulations compliance in our article). However, some members have struggled with the lack of flexibility with bonding protection, leading to this update.
Essentially, if ABTA accept trust accounts for the financial protection of their members, this opens the doors to some great, efficient, and secure financial protection for the members and their consumers alike through trust account providers like PTS. This will provide the members with more options to protect their monies.
ABTA have clarified that they will not take responsibility for the trust account arrangements or manage them, “Abta will not be managing or financially protecting trust accounts and will not be responsible for dealing with claims arising from company failure.” Still, this is an exciting development.
Introducing the use of trust accounts in time for March renewals also means that ABTA members considering switching to financial protection through trust have the opportunity to do so immediately.
This is an important time to introduce these changes as it gives ABTA members time to put a renewal into action in time for March 2022 with a properly run and approved trust account provider.
This is where Protected Trust Services (PTS) come in. As a trust account provider for a properly run trust account, we are enthusiastic about these coming changes for ABTA members. This opens up great financial protection to many more travel businesses and will be a great boost to consumer confidence while also providing more flexibility for the business.
However, if you’re considering moving to a trust account provider for your financial protection, it’s important to get started as soon as possible. This is because applying with a trust account provider takes time, with PTS this can be around 6-8 weeks depending on whether you also need assistance applying for things like an ATOL through the CAA, or merchant facilities.
We are committed to providing all our members with all the foundation-building assistance they need, so our expert team will assist all new members getting an ATOL through us or the CAA, getting great rates on merchant facilities, setting up a trusted community of suppliers from our contracted suppliers or your own, setting up SFI and SAFI, and more.
Because of this, we always advise travel businesses migrating to PTS to apply sooner rather than later. Applying in February will be too late for the March renewals, but if you get in contact with PTS now, the transition can be smooth and simple with plenty of time to do so, so you can have a stress-free application process.
The news that ABTA will consider trust accounts in time for the renewals in March is excellent to hear, and great progress for many in travel. So, if you’re considering moving to a secure, properly run trust account provider, don’t forget to get in contact with the lovely PTS staff on 0207 190 9988.
Or, if you’d like to learn a little more about the PTS trust account solution and how we ensure complete Package Travel Regulations compliance for all our members, feel free to check out our pages.
