One of our top pieces of advice in booking travel is always to book with a trusted travel business. Whether it’s trusted by a family member, a travel expert, or is simply a travel agent or tour operator that you’ve booked with many times before, the difference when you book with a good travel business is going to make your holiday infinitely better and more stress-free. And with a PTS travel business member, this is even more true. All PTS members are experienced and passionate and provide complete protection under our trust account, so you don’t have to worry about a thing. 

When you book with a Protected Trust Services (PTS) travel business member, you are guaranteed some of the best consumer protection in travel across the UK. 

The process of booking a holiday isn’t just the exciting bits. There are prices, contracts, legal and financial protection, and much more to think about. Many times, you’ll just need someone to call for some advice while you’re away. Staying well informed throughout the booking process is important, but it can take away some of the thrills of a new holiday. This is where a great travel business comes in.  

Great travel agents and tour operators will take the stress off your hands and make the anticipation for your holiday the central focus again. In fact, a good travel business will likely get you even more excited about your holiday.  

Of course, this isn’t all, a great travel business and PTS member will ensure you are completely financially and legally protected, they will keep you aware of anything that may clash, and help you book the holiday that is perfect for you with suppliers they trust.  

Why Book with A PTS Travel Business Member?

Great travel businesses are many things. They are passionate about what they do, they have industry connections, they know what they’re talking about, they provide better protection than individual bookings, they’re always just a phone call away and can find you the best deals and help you put your money in the right place. 

All PTS members are also Package Travel Regulations compliant and provide the protection of the ATOL scheme if they’re selling flights (you can find out more about the ATOL Scheme on the CAA website). These are key requirements for any good travel business, and we ensure that our members can protect your booking in this way. But most importantly, they hold your monies in trust. 

A PTS travel business member is not just these things, but a business that we trust and have confidence in to provide you with the best all-around service possible. We ensure this confidence in a couple of different ways. 

1. PTS Members Are Experienced

At Protected Trust Services (PTS) we pride ourselves on having passionate, experienced, and expert travel business members. All our members are travel experts, whether they’re travel agents that have worked in travel for years and know the world like the back of their hand, or they’re tour operators selling a niche experience that they are experts on. 

We ensure this is the case for all our members with some entry requirements and a great team of staff dedicated to supporting our members and ensuring they are travel businesses we know consumers can trust. 

Travel businesses joining PTS must meet one of two key points: 

  • Have experience in the travel industry 
  • Be experts in their chosen field and have a good business model 

After this, they are approved by our staff to become trusted travel professionals, completely in control of their business, but with the support of PTS as their scaffolding. Because they are experts and experienced in travel, they’re able to create exactly the business they want and provide excellent packages to you, with our confidence and secure consumer protection backing them up. 

In short, you can be confident booking with a PTS member because they are experts and know travel like their own mind, they know exactly what you need and don’t need, who to go to for what you want, and how to give you the best experience with complete peace of mind. 

2. PTS Members Work Under Our Trust Account

There are a few different ways that you can be financially protected on holiday. Accepted under the Package Travel Regulations are insurance, bonds, and trust accounts. Unfortunately, despite being the best form of protection when operated correctly, trust account protection is not very widespread in the travel industry. Though this is beginning to change, the best trust account protection you can find in travel is still that which we provide through our members at PTS. 

When you book with a member of PTS, there are many forms of protection you’re already provided such as Package Travel Regulations and ATOL. But our secure, independent trust account system is what ensures that from the moment you book, to the moment you arrive home, your money is only leaving the secure account to pay for your holiday. Put simply, this means that your money is only paying for your holiday. 

The PTS trust account system protects you in the following ways: 

  • Independent Trustees – we work with independent trustees to ensure that no one who profits from your booking has direct access to your monies, so they are only leaving trust when the trustees have been given valid reasons. 
  • Independent Trust Account – this means that PTS are in control of the trust account, we ensure that everything is working smoothly and efficiently, and keep the accounts transparent, so our members can always see what’s going on. 
  • Daily Reconciliation – At PTS, we believe in making our trust account system as efficient and traceable as possible. But reconciling daily, the consumer or the company can get in contact at any time and find out exactly where the money is, down to each individual booking.  
  • Supplier Failure Insurance (SFI) – this means that at any point if your money must leave trust to pay a supplier, it’s covered and protected so you can still get your money back if need be. 

All of this combined with our efficient software system means that our members are able to work as efficiently as possible while protecting your monies completely.  

The consumer protection PTS provide ensures that you can have the best holiday, with the best protection, and complete peace of mind. Whether you have an issue and need a refund, or everything goes smoothly, you should be able to process your booking stress-free.  

PTS members are incredibly friendly and happy to help with whatever you need during the booking process or while you’re on holiday. We take pride in having some of the best travel businesses selling in the UK as our members. So next time you’re thinking of booking a great getaway, don’t forget to look for the PTS logo and number on your travel company’s website or call PTS directly at 0207 190 9988 to confirm they’re one of our trusted members. 

And if you’d like to learn more about the Package Travel Regulations or your consumer protection under PTS travel business members, don’t forget to check out our pages. 

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