Financial Protection
In booking any holiday – and in particular one found over the Internet – you need to very carefully consider where you stand if anything goes wrong. Something ‘going wrong’ can range from the supplier simply pocketing your money and disappearing from sight, to his going bust before you have taken your holiday. In something as important, and as expensive, as your holiday, peace of mind in booking is an essential prerequisite.
Paying by credit card
Various consumer protection schemes exist, the simplest being to always
pay for your holiday using a credit card, since, under the Consumer
Credit Act 1974, the credit card company is equally responsible with
the supplier if anything goes wrong. However this may not apply to payments
made abroad, and in any case gaining redress on this basis could take considerable
time, and in the meantime, you could have lost your holiday. Furthermore
credit card payments are necessarily subject to the 1½% surcharge that
the credit card company imposes on its users.
Travel Trust Association
In order to provide holiday travellers in particular with adequate
protection, a number of independent schemes have been set up, usually
involving the deposit of a substantial financial bond on the part
of the holiday operator, thus guaranteeing that funds for compensation
are available. The ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) and
ATOL (Air Tour Operators Licence) bonding schemes are probably the
best known in this respect, although, in a dramatic reversal of policy,
ABTA has recently announced that it will no longer refund holiday
travellers if their supplier goes bust..
An alternative scheme, which has the advantage of equally protecting the supplier, such as a safari camp operator or airline, as well as the actual holidaymaker, is the trust account scheme pioneered by the Travel Trust Association, of which we are members (Membership Number: R1236). Further details of the Travel Trust Association can be found at www.traveltrust.co.uk, but its main features can be summarised as follows.
In addition to imposing a code of conduct on members, membership also ensures that on receipt of payment for any holiday-related service, the TTA member immediately lodges this money into a secure Trust Account, operated by Natwest Bank Ltd. If payment is made using a credit card, this payment is automatically made directly into this trust account. Cheque payments are also transferred directly into this account. Money placed into this account is frozen, and can only be released from this account under the co-signature of the scheme’s independent trustee – and then only after completion of the holiday in question.
In this way the travel agent or tour operator never takes possession of the client’s money until after the holiday has been successfully completed. Hence, even if the tour operator were to go bust, your holiday payment remains secure in the trust account, out of reach of all trade creditors, and your holiday is still guaranteed, since the money exists to pay all suppliers. Even if the overseas camp or lodge operator were to go bust – after receiving final payment – your own money is still protected in the trust account, and we ourselves would have to bear this loss, something that you would not be protected from if booking direct with the lodge concerned, or with an overseas agent.
This is a virtually cast-iron guarantee as to the security of your money. The only exception would be if – contrary to his responsibilities as a TTA member – he were to somehow bypass the trust account (for example if paid cash). However even this situation is covered in classic ‘belt and braces’ fashion by the existence of a separate insurance element. This additional layer of protection is provided by the inclusion of a separate insurance policy – termed ‘The Safe Seat Plan’ - which independently covers any travel-related service booked through the TTA member, against financial loss of any kind up to a maximum of £11,000 per person.
ATOL Bonding
“ATOL” means an “Air Travel Organiser’s Licence” granted by the Civil
Aviation Authority (CAA). Firms selling air travel in the UK are required
by law to hold an ATOL licence. ATOL protects you from losing money,
or being stranded abroad, when a travel firm goes out of business.
For your further protection, The Away Company is also a member of the ATOL protection scheme. Thus the air holidays and flights shown are ATOL-protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is ATOL T7147. For further information www.atol.org.uk.
