020 7190 9988PTS for consumers
Every Protected Trust Services (PTS) Member shares our mission to keep consumers safe. So whether you’re booking a weekend away or a round-the-world cruise, a staycation or the overseas trip of a lifetime, your money is fully protected. That’s because every PTS Member offers you trust account protection (plus ATOL cover when flights are included), from the moment you book to the minute you arrive home.
Every penny, securely packed.
Every consumer has the right to expect that they’ll get what they pay for. Yet out there in the wide world of travel, unforeseen and even unforeseeable events can occur. Volcanoes can unexpectedly erupt, airlines can go bust and even the best hotels can get overbooked.
Naturally, no-one can prevent these events from happening, but we and every PTS Member can promise that you won’t lose your money, because Protected Trust Services is 100% committed to ensuring that your money is safe.
Make sure you book your trip through an official PTS Member.
Your money will be held in our Trust Account for your protection.
Sit back and look forward to your trip with 100% confidence.
Trustees pay for your trip once everything has gone smoothly.
While our Trust Account Protection is essential, we’re not just here for when things go wrong. PTS is here to help our Members send every client away happy, with expertly booked and fully insured trips. So we choose PTS Members carefully, only accepting those with the professional experience they need for the sector in which they work. In addition to their proven abilities, they also operate using our proven travel platform, enabling them to plan, book, secure and insure every single trip, seamlessly.
Find a PTS member
Trust is the most important word of all in the travel industry, and PTS Trust Account Protection is at the heart of everything that we and our Members do. But what exactly is a Trust Account and how does it work at PTS?
Learn more about Trust Accounts
Why You Need Travel Insurance
Travel insurance can be daunting and confusing for consumers, with so many different options and variables to consider. Yet you really do need to make sure you have appropriate travel insurance, for eventualities like these.
Unless you’ve acted carelessly, such as leaving a bag unattended before it was stolen, travel insurance will cover the cost of lost or stolen luggage
Not every country has an NHS, so you really do need cover for medical costs. You also need to make your insurer aware of any pre-existing conditions.
Cancellations can be inevitable: if you have an accident or get called for Jury Duty for example. You can insure against cancellation for most reasons that are beyond your control.
When it comes to travel insurance, it’s important to think about what to prioritise. We always urge consumers not to go for the cheapest travel insurance, because it’s so important. There are some things you may want to save money on, and others you may want to pay a little extra for, such as:
- Extreme Sports
- Individual Valuables
- Priority Service
- Medical Conditions
Holidays don’t just get cancelled or go awry because of cancelled flights or air traffic controller strikes. You need to make sure your travel insurance will pay out in any event that affects your holiday and is beyond your control, including:
- Bad Weather
- Political Unrest in Another Country
- Accidents
- Pandemics
- Home Emergencies
Booking a holiday?
Make sure you find the right booking agent and keep yourself protected. Talk to our experts on 0207 190 9988 or email us using the button below.
Understanding Package travel regulations
When it comes to being aware of your consumer protection, understanding the Package Travel Regulations and how they affect you and your booking, is one of the biggest places to start.
Though there are many forms of protection that cover you, from ATOL, to trust, to insurance, the Package Travel Regulations are the most general form of protection and the one you will almost always be protected by, as long as you are booking a package holiday.
You can find the entire Package Travel Regulations on the government’s legislation website or an in-depth, consumer-friendly guide on our blog, but here we will answer your biggest questions, and the ones most important to understanding how you are protected.
What Are The Package Travel Regulations (PTRs)?
The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangement Regulations 2018 are a set of legal regulations created by the government to protect consumers on holiday.
As you might expect, the Package Travel Regulations will only protect package holidays and linked travel arrangements, and these must be over 24 hrs or include overnight stay, so if you’re booking holiday elements individually, you will not be protected by the PTRs.
This specific version of the PTRs was put into action on the 1st of July 2018, so anything booked before then won’t be protected by these PTRs but by the 1992 PTRs. All travel businesses must comply with the PTRs as well, so if you are booking a package holiday or linked travel arrangement, these will pretty much always apply.
What Isn’t Covered By The Package Travel Regulations?
There are a few things to keep in mind concerning what the PTRs won’t protect you for. Some of this can depend on the specific booking, but that’s rare. For the most part, these are the things to be aware of:
- Individually booked elements – if you book a flight, and then book accommodation with a different company, without being lead there by the original company, and through a separate contract, this isn’t a package, so it won’t be protected.
- If you book with a non-UK company – the PTRs only cover travel booked with a company based and selling in the UK.
- If you are booking a business trip
- If your package holiday lasts under 24 hours and does not include overnight stay
- If you book a flight and a tour element and the tour element is not a significant portion of the package
What is a Package Holiday?
A package holiday is a holiday consisting of two or more elements paid for as one holiday, under one contract. Elements being holiday aspects as below:
- Flights or other transport
- Car Hire
- Accommodation
- Tour experiences (this includes things such as cooking classes, hiking trips, tours, etc.)
When Do The Package Travel Regulations Protect Me?
The PTRs will protect you in a variety of situations if anything should go wrong with your package holiday once you have booked it. They also set out obligations for the travel company to follow so that you are prepared.
The situations in which the PTRs will protect you include but may not be limited to:
- If you need to cancel for unexpected and extraordinary circumstances
- If you wish to transfer your contract to someone else, or they wish to transfer to you
- If there is political unrest in your destination
- If your package is not performed as agreed
- If a supplier or travel company goes bust after you have booked
- If there is an unpredictable or extraordinary occurrence while you are on holiday
- If there is a situation resulting from the travel company not fulfilling all their legal obligations
Independent trustees are at the very heart of PTS.
Using third-party trustees ensures that the monies aren’t directly accessible to anyone involved in the trust account, that includes PTS members and PTS itself alike.
Ensuring the monies are being cared for efficiently and safely by the independent trustees allows the system to flow swiftly and without hitch, allowing PTS members to thrive and run their travel business to the highest quality and provide excellent holidays.
For this, we at PTS have appointed the Xeinadin Group, Elman Wall as our independent Trustees. A leading travel industry specialist firm of chartered accountants dedicated to helping great businesses like our members thrive, Elman Wall help us provide the secure and trusted financial protection that our members and their consumers experience when booking with a PTS member.
Understanding Chargebacks
When it comes to financial security, it’s important to know all your options and the ways you can be protected from losing your money. Especially in travel, where you are paying in advance of the product you are buying, there are slightly more risks. Being aware of how you are protected, how you can protect yourself, and how financial proceedings work is crucial.
Most of the time, if you book with a PTS member and something goes wrong, you can sort it out with them directly and everything will be resolved. On some occasions, however, what are referred to as chargebacks may be processed by a consumer when they don’t need to be, and this can cause complications for the travel company and the merchant service provider. There are times when requesting a chargeback is simple and the right solution, but with a lot of confusion surrounding when they are the best solution, it’s important to understand what chargebacks are.
What is a Chargeback
Put simply, a chargeback happens when someone pays for a product with a credit card transaction, and that process is then reversed in order to return the money to the payer. This usually happens when the company being paid does not perform the service as they promised or produce the product paid for, therefore the money will be returned to the payer. This could be things such as:
- The product never arriving, or the service never being provided
- The product or service being different than described
- The service being provided but to a lower quality than agreed
- The product arriving damaged
- The company going out of business or stopping trading
When Should I Process a Chargeback For Travel?
deally? Never. If you’re booking in a way that protects you best, no issue should ever get as far as needing to process a chargeback. However, if you do have to, we recommend leaving it as a last resort resolution since other ways are more efficient and more beneficial for all involved. There are many ways that you are already financially protected in travel because the industry understands how financially risky it could be. Booking by credit or debit card is highly recommended for this extra layer of protection, it is usually just a precaution if you’re booking in the best way possible. The ways you’re already protected are as follows:
- If you book a package holiday or linked travel arrangement
- If you book a flight as part of a package
- When you book with a Protected Trust Services (PTS) member
- When you have good travel insurance
Providing you with the best travel guidance
Whatever you need help with for your next holiday, we’ve got you covered. Check out our selection of guides below to keep up to date.
Before You Book
August 15,2024
Travellers Lost Thousands on Facebook Bookings: You Need PTS
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May 2,2024
5 Brilliant Reasons You Should Start Booking with a Travel Agent
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What Are Consortia and Why Do They Matter For Travellers?
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February 1,2024
Navigating Safe Travels: Holiday Scams Rise Amid January Peaks
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FCDO Updates for the Middle East Following Yemen Air Strikes
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How we help consumers with resolutions
This is a question we get asked a lot, and it’s important that you go through the right channels when you do need a resolution to something. No matter what has happened, it is best to follow these steps in order to find a solution efficiently.
1 Contact your travel business
For most concerns consumers have, this is the only step you’ll need to follow. All of our PTS members are experienced, passionate, and dedicated teams or individuals that can solve whatever issue you’re having pretty quickly on their own.
Whether you’re having an issue with a supplier booking, you need some information, or there’s something that’s just been nagging you about your booking, your PTS member will be there once you’ve made that booking to support you until you’re home again.
So, first and foremost, we urge that you get in contact with your PTS member and 9.9 times out of 10, they can fix the problem and get your holiday back on track.
2 Contact PTS Directly
In the rare case that your PTS member can’t help you, we at PTS are always here to help. Whether it’s a situation they haven’t experienced before and they’re unsure how to help, it’s a matter of misunderstanding, or something else, if your PTS member can’t resolve it, our friendly team can assist.
There are a few things to keep in mind if you think you need to contact PTS directly about a query:
We will need confirmation that you have done all you can to resolve it with your PTS member first.
We cannot help you if your travel business is not a PTS member.
We consider this a last resort option, and we thoroughly encourage you to communicate with your travel business first and foremost. It is very rarely we’ve needed to assist our members with a consumer query, and it’s important to us that our members can provide to you the most stress-free process possible.
To ensure you are booking with a PTS member, you can look on their website for the PTS logo and their PTS number, or you can call PTS at 0207 190 9988 to confirm with us if your travel company is a PTS member.
You can also find out more about your consumer protection on our page or visit our blog for articles on how we protect you on holiday.
*Please keep in mind that the PTS team cannot help you if you have not tried to solve any issue or query with your PTS member first. Contacting PTS directly should never be your first option.
Contact our consumer team
News & Guides
Whether you're a new traveller or an avid explorer, you should stay up to date on how your holiday is affected.
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About PTS
We believe in providing all the foundational support you need, without all the restrictions. It’s that simple!
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Charity partners
The support of PTS isn't just about travel, our team are proud to be supporting families across the UK with Julia's House.
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