Are Your Supplier Payments Due? Don’t Fret, Use PTS!

If you’re an experienced travel professional, dealing with the consequences of supplier payments is probably just a matter of fact in the year of Our Lord, 2025. But what if we told you The Lord has nothing to do with your suppliers? 

Let Us Explain. 

Most travel suppliers need to be paid before the customer travels. This means your customer books, you pay the supplier, and then your customer travels. That’s pretty simple.  

However, if you’re working with a traditional travel trust account, the customer books, you do the supplier payments, and then you do not get paid your own profits until the customer has come home from their holiday. If you book last minute holidays, this may only be a month at most. For most businesses, this will probably be several months, and if you are booking something like Northern Lights tours (aka. years in advance), this is simply not sustainable for your business. 

Why Does It Work This Way?  

Great question. With a standard trust account model, the basic function is: monies are paid directly into the trust by the consumer. The monies stay in the trust out of reach of the business while the ‘product’ is delivered. Once the consumer is satisfied, the profits are paid from trust to the business.  

The trust is operated this way so that while supplier payments can still be made, if the consumer has an issue, they can get a refund quickly and easily, and the refund doesn’t come out of the business’ own pocket, because they can’t spend the profit before a refund might be required.  

How is PTS Different? 

The basic function at PTS is still fairly similar. The great part about a good trust account in that the monies are protected, separated, and reconciled daily; while being managed by an independent trustee so the consumer can trust the business isn’t going to harm them financially.  

However, we believe this shouldn’t have to hinder your travel business in the process. That is why, at PTS, we provide SFI and SAFI in tandem with the trust account, so our members can provide consumer confidence, get those supplier payments in on time, and, once the supplier is in full paid, claim their profits straight away.  

This means that whether your customer’s booking is tomorrow or in 2035, your business can claim the profits as soon as the supplier payments are complete and continue growing and improving without taking support away from that crazy customer that knows what they’re doing in 2035! 

Essentially, when you become a member of PTS, you’re not just using a trust account that prioritises consumer protection, you’re using a trust account that prioritises travel protection. Whether that’s protection of the consumer, the business, the supplier, or your hard-earned profits.  

So, if you would like to learn about how your consumers’ monies are protected with Protected Trust Services (PTS) and how we support excellent travel businesses, check out our pages. Or you can contact the lovely PTS team by calling 0207 190 9988 or emailing us at ask@protectedtrustservices.com.