Why You Should Travel With Trust For Your Next Holiday

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.

Whether you’re walking the Brecon Beacons, swimming in the sunlit waters of Madeira, or gazing in wonder at the northern lights, you don’t want to be worried about your money.

It’s important to ensure before you trek out that your money is safe, you’re legally and financially covered, and if anything at all should go wrong, it can be a stress-free process to fix it.

We always tell you to ‘Travel with Trust’ so that you can ensure all of this, but what do we really mean when we say, ‘Travel with Trust’? Why do our members believe in it too? And why is it so important?

What Does It Mean to Travel with Trust?

So, what do we mean by trust? Well, this means travelling with a travel agent or tour operator that works under an independent trust account and a Protected Trust Services (PTS) member.

There aren’t as many examples of trust accounts in travel as we’d like there to be, it is something that has only gained its rightful spotlight very recently, especially during the pandemic. Since not a single PTS member has gone bust in the havoc of early 2020.

When you book a holiday with a PTS member, all your money is going into the PTS trust account. This means a few different things:

1.       None of your money will be used for anything other than your holiday

2.       Your travel business does not have direct access to your money

3.       Your money is separated from all other bookings

4.       That money will remain in trust unless:
– You require a refund or reimbursement
– It is protected by Supplier Failure Insurance (SFI)
– Your travel agent has paid an ATOL protected wholesaler.

All of this ensures your consumer protection and compliance with the package travel regulations that protect you when you book a package holiday. It means that your money will only be used for your holiday, under the protection of the trustees. The only times your monies are directed from the trust account early, are to pay for your holiday services and the monies are secured with insurance in the case that the company goes bust. Your monies are fully protected at all times.

Why Do PTS Members Use Trust Accounts for Travel?

It could seem at a glance that this has no benefit for the travel business. However, not only is consumer protection in the company’s best interests, but travel with trust creates a high level of protection for the company too. Also, stakeholders, such as merchant acquirers, respect the stability of the PTS trust account which leads to incredibly competitive credit card rates. Also, better insurance costs, preferential supplier terms and many more advantages.

Using an independent holder creates a bond of trust with their consumers, because no one involved in the sale has direct access to the money. This may seem like it would slow down the process, but the PTS trust account is incredibly efficient. This means that if a PTS member, or one of their clients,  want to know where the money is, or want to retrieve monies, all you need to do is login and the monies are completely traceable. PTS reconcile daily and so complete financial track and trace is absolutely possible.

Some of these things are specific to PTS and not all trust account holders, we will go into more detail with that shortly.

Using a trust account means that the company is package travel regulations compliant (you can find out more about the package travel regulations on the government website). The PTS solution allows travel business owner’s to manage their finances in real time which empowers the financial stability of the business. The control and management tools that all PTS member company’s receive enables the travel business to strengthen their position.

Protecting your money allows their business to thrive and for your consumers to go on holiday with 100% peace of mind.

Why Book with A Protected Trust Services (PTS) Member?

As I mentioned earlier, not all the features I’ve referenced apply to all trust accounts, a lot of the benefits our members and their consumers reap are PTS specific. We are dedicated to providing the best protection in the travel industry and giving peace of mind to businesses and travellers alike, and this is how we are achieving it.

Our members join PTS for many reasons, but when it comes to trust account holders, we offer the best service in the industry. We do this in a few ways:

• We are the only company in the UK to reconcile daily – this means that everyday all monies and payments are checked and approved down to each individual booking.
• We use track-and-trace software – this ensures that if and when you or the travel company need to know where money is, we can track down to each booking and tell you exactly where it is in a matter of seconds.
• We use independent trustees – in some cases, the account holder will have access to the monies, but at PTS we believe in using a completely independent trustee to ensure trust among all companies involved. This means that we don’t have access to the monies either and therefore it is completely secure. Elman Wall are PTS’s independent trustees.

PTS’s trust is efficient, easy-to-use for our members, and transparent to all parties, so everyone knows where all the money is whenever they need. If something does go wrong and you need a refund or reimbursement, you can receive your money swiftly.

We provide one of the most efficient travel protection services in the travel industry, and we are dedicated to providing this.

So, keep in mind when booking your next holiday, to look out for the PTS logo on a travel company’s website, so you know you’re booking with a PTS member and are ready to travel with trust.

Travel with trust has never been more important. So, before you book your next holiday make sure you ask your agent if they have PTS membership.

Or, if you need advice on which of our fabulous members to book with, you can contact our lovely staff directly at 0207 190 9988 or by emailing us at ask@protectedtrustservices.com.

If you would like to learn more about how you are protected as the consumer or package travel regulations you can visit one of our pages.