Consumer Protection

The Travel Trust Association is a travel trade association. Our members consist of travel agents, tour operators and travel organisers. The Travel Trust Association exists in order to protect you, the customer, with 100% financial protection and has been doing so for over 20 years. This means that every penny you pay to our members is protected by the Travel Trust Association.

You can book your holiday secure in the knowledge that Travel Trust Association will protect you in the unlikely event of a member becoming insolvent.

Every Travel Trust Association member deposits your money into the Trust Account. A Trust Account is a bank account designated to hold the customer's money. Your money remains in the Trust Account and is supervised by an appointed trustee who is either a banker, chartered or certified accountant or a solicitor. Both the Travel Trust Association members and the trustees are required to authorise payments from the trust account.

In addition to being held in trust, you also have a financial guarantee from the Travel Trust Association. TTA will guarantee the financial obligation of its members up to a maximum any one passenger of £11,000. So if you paid £2,000 we guarantee we will reimburse the loss of the £2,000 where it is not available for you from the Trust Account.

Therefore, the Trust Account plus the guarantee will ensure that all the money which you have paid is safely protected and available to reimburse the money paid. When you make a booking, you will be supplied with a guarantee certificate.

Should the TTA member become insolvent, in most instances your money will still be held within the TTA member's Trust Account by the designated Trustee, and available to pay for your holiday. If because of fraud or dishonesty the money is not there, then the guarantee is available to reimburse your loss. In some cases your holiday may continue as the providers or suppliers have already been paid. Where you have only paid a deposit and still have an outstanding balance, your holiday may be unaffected and by paying the balance, your holiday will continue as planned. Where possible, attempts will be made to ensure that you can carry on with your original holiday arrangements.

If you have a query about the way we protect your customers, see if your question has already been answered below. If not, we would be happy to answer it for you via our contact us page.

For recruitment queries, just call us on 0800 680 0707 / 01483 545783 (option 1 then option 2) or email us on joinus@thetravelnetworkgroup.co.uk to find out more.

• Who are the Travel Trust Association?

  The Travel Trust Association is a travel trade association. Our members consist of travel agents, tour operators and travel organisers.

  The Travel Trust Association exists in order to protect you, the customer, with 100% financial protection and has been doing so for over 20 years. This means that every penny that you pay to our members is protected by the Travel Trust Association.

• What does it mean if a company is a member of the Travel Trust Association?

  It means that you can book your holiday secure in the knowledge that Travel Trust Association will protect you in the unlikely event of a member becoming insolvent.

  Should a member of the Travel Trust Association for any reason financially fail or cease trading, the Travel Trust Association will liaise with the suppliers and Tour Operators to ensure that you holiday goes ahead unaffected. If for any reason this is not possible, we will administer a claim for a refund of money that you have paid to a member for your holiday.

  All members of the Travel Trust Association have to abide by the member Code of Conduct. This is to ensure that the customers receive the best possible service.

• Do Travel Trust Association members abide by a code of conduct?

• How does the Travel Trust Association provide 100% financial protection for me?

  Every Travel Trust Association member deposits your money into the Trust Account. A Trust Account is a bank account designated to hold the customer's money.

  Your money remains in the Trust Account and is supervised by an appointed trustee who is either a banker, chartered or certified accountant or a solicitor. Both the Travel Trust Association members and the trustee are required to authorise payments from the trust account.

  In addition to being held in trust, you also have a financial guarantee from the Travel Trust Association.

  TTA will guarantee the financial obligation of its members up to a maximum any one passenger of £11,000. So if you paid £2,000 we guarantee we will reimburse the loss of the £2,000, where it is not available for you from the Trust Account.

  Therefore, the Trust Account plus the guarantee will ensure that all the money which you have paid is safely protected and available to reimburse the money paid. When you make a booking, you will be supplied with a guarantee certificate – you can see the terms of our guarantee on our website www.traveltrust.co.uk/guarantee.

  Should the TTA member become insolvent, in most instances your money will still be held within the TTA member’s Trust Account by the designated Trustee, and available to pay for your holiday. If because of fraud or dishonesty the money is not there, then the guarantee is available to reimburse your loss. In some cases your holiday may continue as the providers or suppliers have already been paid. Where you have only paid a deposit and still have an outstanding balance, your holiday may be unaffected and by paying the balance your holiday will continue as planned. Where possible, attempts will be made to ensure that you can carry on with your original holiday arrangements.

• What happens if something goes wrong?

  A travel company enters into an Event of Default once they have ceased to be a member of the Travel Trust Association. It is a standard term used by the Travel Trust Association when a company is no longer a member of the Travel Trust Association for any reason.

  If you have booked with a Travel Trust Association member who has entered into an Event of Default, do not panic! The Travel Trust Association provides total financial protection.

  We expect clients to travel as planned. We shall be liaising with suppliers and tour operators to ensure that your holiday/trip goes ahead unaffected.

  If for any reason this is not possible, we will be administering a claim for a refund of money that you had paid to the member for your holiday. It is important that customers contact Travel Trust Association before booking a replacement holiday as it is likely that you will continue with your booking as intended. If you wish to cancel your booking please note that you will be subject to the cancellation charges levied by the Tour Operator. Travel Trust Association requires all customers to provide copies of correspondence with agency e.g. booking confirmation, invoices etc. as well as proof of payment. If you paid by:

  • Credit/debit card- If payment has been made by credit or debit card please forward your original card statement(s). This is the statement received on a monthly basis from your card provider and not only customer card holder receipts. Please contact your card provider for duplicate statements if necessary. Please ensure that the name of the account holder and payment to the Travel Trust Association member is clear.
  • Bank transfer: If payment has been made by bank transfer please forward your original bank statement showing that this transfer has cleared your account. Please ensure that the name of the account holder and payment to the Travel Trust Association is clear.
  • Cheque: If you have made payment by cheque please request a copy of this cheque(s) from your bank and forward upon receipt to the Association together with your bank statement(s) showing that this cheque(s) has cleared your account. Please ensure that the name of the account holder is clear.
  • Cash:If payment has been made by cash, please forward all receipts together with your bank statement(s) showing this withdrawal. Please ensure that the name of the account holder and the withdrawal balance is clear.

  Please send this paperwork to:
  Travel Trust Association
  2 Crown Square
  Woking
  Surrey
  GU21 6HR

• What is the complaints procedure?

  In the event of a breakdown of communication or a serious disagreement between a member and their customer, the Travel Trust Association can act as an independent intermediary.

  All complaints are dealt with in writing. Should you feel the need to make a complaint about one of our Members, please detail the matter in writing and post it to:

  Travel Trust Association
  2 Crown Square
  Woking
  Surrey
  GU21 6HR

  Please enclose copies of any previous correspondence that you may have had with the company and any paperwork that is at all relevant e.g. receipts, invoices, etc.

  Upon receipt Travel Trust Association will act as an independent intermediary in your grievance with the member and shall liaise between both parties. Should the response that you receive from the Member not be satisfactory, we can then offer you an arbitration service. The arbitration service is administered and managed independently from Travel Trust Association and the Travel Trust Association member.

• What is the difference between Travel Trust Association and ABTA?

  ended its consumer promise in 2006. This means that not all of the travel arrangements that you book through an ABTA member are necessarily protected in case of the financial failure of the travel company.

  You will need to ask the ABTA member how financially secure their travel arrangements are. If the arrangements are not automatically protected, the ABTA member may be able to offer suitable insurance to cover you.

  If you book with a Travel Trust Association member your money is 100% financially protected. This is achieved in two ways.

  Every Travel Trust Association member deposits your money into the trust account. A trust account is a bank account designated to hold the customers' money.

  Your money remains in the trust account and is supervised by an appointed trustee who is either a banker, chartered or certified accountant or a solicitor. Both the Travel Trust Association members AND the Trustee are required to authorise payments from the Trust Account.

  In addition to being held in trust, your monies are also insured.

  A Stand Alone Safe Seat Plan policy is an insurance policy which is issued on your behalf by the Travel Trust Association member. If your money is not in the Trust Account, the Stand Alone Safe Seat Plan policy will reimburse the loss of any amount paid to a Travel Trust Association member up to the value of £11,000 per passenger.

  It is the combination of the Trust Account and the Stand Alone Safe Seat Plan that ensures all of the money which you have paid to a Travel Trust Association member is safely protected and available to pay for those services which you have booked.

  Please be aware that this is NOT a travel insurance policy. The Stand Alone Safe Seat Plan will only protect the money that you have paid to a Travel Trust Association member. You will need to take out a separate travel insurance policy to provide cover for cancellation, medical expenses and lost baggage etc. The Travel Trust Association member will be able to provide you with a travel insurance policy.

• What does Event of Default mean?

  A travel company enters into an Event of Default once they have ceased to be a member of the Travel Trust Association. It is a standard term used by the Travel Trust Association when a company is no longer a member of the Travel Trust Association for any reason.

• I have a complaint about a Travel Trust Association member. What can I do?

  the event of a breakdown of communication or a serious disagreement between a member and their customer, the Travel Trust Association can act as an independent intermediary.

  All complaints are dealt with in writing. Should you feel the need to make a complaint about one of our members, please detail the matter in writing and post it to:

  Travel Trust Association
  2 Crown Square
  Woking
  Surrey
  GU21 6HR

  Please enclose copies of any previous correspondence that you may have had with the company and any paperwork that is at all relevant e.g. receipts and bookings.

  Upon receipt we will administer your complaint for you and ensure that you receive a response. Should the response that you receive not be satisfactory, we can then offer you an arbitration service.

If your question isn't listed above, we'll happily answer it for you! Get in touch with our friendly teams by calling Head Office on 01483 545 780.