financial protection

How does the TTA provide you with 100% financial protection?

As described below, insolvency protection is provided for package holidays and single travel services (e.g., accommodation-only). In addition to this insolvency protection, customers of TTA Members also benefit from fraud protection, which we describe further below.

Package Holiday Protection

If you have booked a package holiday, including a flight, your booking will be ATOL-protected, and your ATOL Certificate will set out what is protected. In the event of the failure of the TTA Member, the Travel Trust Association will make arrangements to enable your holiday to go ahead or alternatively for you to be refunded and/or repatriated. Further information on ATOL protection can be found on the Civil Aviation Authority’s website.

If you have booked a package holiday which does not include a flight then all payments made to a TTA Member for that package holiday are paid by that TTA Member into a specially designated Trust Account. In other words, when you pay ABC Travel Ltd, it will place all payments in the ABC Travel Ltd Trust Account. Credit Card Payments are automatically deposited into the Trust Account via electronic processing.

A Trust Account is a bank account designated to hold customer money. Your money remains in the Trust Account and is supervised by an appointed independent trustee who is either a banker, chartered or certified accountant or a solicitor. Both the TTA Member and the trustee are required to authorise payments from the trust account. Once your payment is held in the Trust Account, it will only be released in limited circumstances. As such, if the TTA Member fails, these arrangements will enable your holiday to go ahead or for you to be refunded and/or repatriated.

Single Travel Services Protection (e.g. for accommodation only)

All payments made to a TTA Member for single travel services (whether for transport, accommodation, entertainment or other activities) are paid by that TTA Member into a specially designated Trust Account in the same way as described above.

Once your payment is held in the Trust Account, it will only be released in limited circumstances. For instance, before the completion of your holiday, the money will only be released to pay for the services you have booked, such as to pay the airline or the accommodation provider. Alternatively, the money can also be released upon the completion of your holiday or if you cancel your holiday.

If the TTA Member fails, these arrangements mean that your suppliers will either already have been paid or the money will be available in the trust account to pay the suppliers of your holiday (so that the holiday can go ahead). Alternatively, if this is not possible, then money in the trust account can be used to refund you.

Fraud Protection

In addition to the insolvency protection described above, there is further protection against the risk of suppliers not being paid because of the fraud or dishonesty of a TTA Member or the trustee, up to a maximum of £11,000 per booking. So if you paid £2,000, which is not available in the Trust Account to pay suppliers due to the fraud or dishonesty of the TTA Member or the trustee, TTA guarantees to make up the loss of £2,000.

When you make a booking, you will be supplied with a guarantee certificate which records who is protected by the guarantee. You can see the terms of the TTA guarantee at www.traveltrust.co.uk/guarantee