One of the keys to a great travel business is providing excellent consumer protection. Whether you’re selling domestic holidays, business trips, group activities, adventure holidays, or something else, giving your consumers the confidence to book with you again and again makes a huge difference. And consumer retention isn’t the only great show of consumer confidence. If you can show your consumers how well protected their money is with you, they will a stress-free holiday they’ll rave about.
That is why, at Protected Trust Services (PTS), consumer protection is at the core of what we do. We provide a foundation of trust and financial security for you and your consumers, so you can focus on growing a great business and your consumers can focus on having a great holiday.
What Consumer Protection Does PTS Provide?
Consumer protection in travel isn’t just about protecting the money when the consumer pays, but ensuring that money is protected while they enjoy their holiday. Making sure that money is protected from the moment they pay to the moment they arrive home is what gives them the confidence not to worry.
PTS help travel businesses do this in a few different ways. This way, if something does go wrong with the consumer’s holiday, they can get their money back, and the travel business doesn’t have to pay out of pocket to do so. It not only protects the consumer but the business too.
PTS Trust Account Protection
Though travel trust accounts are not currently a widely spread consumer protection solution, they are by far the strongest when run properly. Some trust accounts have issues with degrees of separation and admin, and this is where PTS have the solution with our secure and efficient trust account for travel.
When a consumer books with a PTS member, all those monies go directly into trust via credit and debit card, cheques, or online bank transfers. Once they are in the trust account, these monies are only released for the use of fulfilling that consumer’s travel arrangements. All monies that leave trust are approved for release by our independent trustees, Elman Wall, even PTS do not touch these monies, to ensure complete protection.
Because we use independent trustees, this means that no one who benefits financially from the booking has access to the monies paid until the profit is released with approval. This can cause concerns about inefficiency, but in fact, running a trust account this way increases efficiency for all involved. With access to our software system, PTS members can always see where the money is and request release with the correct steps easily.
We also reconcile daily down to each individual booking so you and the consumer can both know exactly where the money is. This means that if the consumer does need money back for any reason, they can get it back swiftly and without hassle (if you would like to learn more of what you need to know about trust accounts and the PTS trust account, check out our article).
All PTS Members Are Package Travel Regulations Compliant
When a travel business becomes a PTS member, we confirm that they are completely Package Travel Regulations compliant. This ensures that the consumer is protected financially and legally by the Package Travel Regulations when they book a package holiday (you can find out more about the importance of Package Travel Regulations compliance in our article).
All consumers should be aware of when they are booking a package holiday. This simply consists of two or more elements (such as accommodation and flights) booked under one price. It’s important for the consumer to be aware of this because it gives them the assurance that they’re then protected by the Package Travel Regulations if anything should go wrong.
By operating through a trust account system like Protected Trust Services (PTS), this ensures that all our members are Package Travel Regulations compliant so that your consumers can be confident booking with you (if you would like to learn more about how your consumers are protected under the Package Travel Regulations, check out our article on complete Package Travel Regulations compliance).
Under the Package Travel Regulations, all payments that leave the trust account early to pay suppliers and airlines are also covered by Supplier Failure Insurance (SFI) or Scheduled Airline Failure Insurance (SAFI), so the monies are protected every step of the way.
Because of our dedication to providing the best consumer protection through expert travel businesses, our PTS members can thrive and rest assured that their consumers have nothing to worry about and can simply enjoy the excellent holidays they organise for them.
So, if you’d like to discuss consumer protection for travel companies further, please get in contact with one of Protected Trust Services’ (PTS) lovely staff members by calling 0207 190 9988. Or, you can visit our member support and travel trust account pages to learn more about how we protect you.
