Our trust account protection method at PTS consists of 4 participants: the consumer, the travel company, the trust account holder (PTS), and the independent trustees.
Independent Trustees
The independent trustees are an outside company that control, manage, and release, all of the monies that go into the trust account. They are the only ones with direct access to the monies, and money will only be released to the other participants if they have approved it.
Trust Account Holders
The trust account holder is us, Protected Trust Services. We hold the trust accounts, manage them, and monitor all the monies going in and out, down to each individual booking payment. We reconcile daily and use our expert software so that all transactions are efficient, swift, correct, and secure.
Travel Companies
The travel companies are our lovely members. They are the ones who sell you fabulous holidays, then put your money into the trust account to stay protected. They will only request the money release if they need to pay a supplier for your holiday, refund you, or when your holiday is all paid for, and it is safe to release profits.
If a travel company should go bust, though none of our members have ever done so, the trust account will keep your money safe and allow you to continue your holiday without a hitch.
Consumer
The consumer is you. You pay money to your travel company depending on how your booking contract dictates it, then those monies are kept separate from all other monies, safe and protected in trust so you can call up PTS at any time, ask where your money is, and we can tell you exactly where it is.
Having all the monies under the control of one organisation and out of direct reach of the travel company or consumer could seem inefficient, but it is an incredibly secure, simple, and efficient system.
When you, the consumer, pay your PTS member, that money goes directly into trust. The trustees then protect it and only release monies to pay suppliers for your holiday. If a supplier must be paid early, then those monies are covered by Supplier Failure Insurance (SFI), so that your money is never unprotected.
Unless you are entitled to a refund or reimbursement, or you request information on where your money is, once you’ve paid you can enjoy your holiday with complete peace of mind, knowing it is completely safe, and not worrying about complications.
If you are entitled to a refund, these monies can also be released swiftly, because everything in a trust account is separated, down to each individual booking. All it takes is a few minutes for our members on our software, and they can begin processing your refund.
If you’d like to know more about how you are protected with our PTS members, take a look at our package travel regulations and travel insurance pages.
Take a Look at Other Related Topics
When it comes to travelling, no one really wants to be thinking about financial and legal safety when you’re trying to enjoy a long stretch of sun on the beach as evening creeps over the beautiful land of another, magnificent country. It is perhaps for this reason that ensuring complete security when you travel with trust is so important to us and our Protected Trust Services (PTS) members.
When it comes to paying a decent amount of money in advance for something such as travel, and something that takes you somewhere unfamiliar at that, it becomes even more evident how important being properly protected is. The big question is: how is your holiday actually protected? And, how is it done so through Protected Trust Services (PTS)?