Your money is safer with us… We strongly believe client funds should be segregated!
If you book a holiday with us and pay us a deposit and then a balance, your money goes straight into a client trust account, which is managed by PTS (Protected Trust Services). It does not go into our own current account and cannot be used to pay for anything other than your own holiday items!
Covid was a warning to the whole industry as firms were having to find cash to refund their clients – cash that in many instances might have already been spent on keeping their businesses funded! We believe it is vital to keep all money that has come in from our clients for their future holidays completely segregated from our own company business bank account. It is your money – and not our money, so should not be in any account where it could be spent on anything other than your holiday!
Other travel companies that don’t use a separate account for customer funds may be using your money to fund their business. That means, that unless the company is adequately funded, your cash (deposit and balance payments) might be being used to pay for a salary or a marketing campaign… or perhaps even to pay for another client’s hotel!
We believe everything should be separated so that you know that your cash is being kept safe. We will only use your cash (each customer has a separate account within the trust) to pay for the costs of your own holiday and every £ you have paid is kept within the trust until you are safely back from your holiday.
It also means, that if for any reason (such as change in government advice on travel to that country) your holiday has to be cancelled and is refundable, your money is readily available and can be immediately accessed to provide a straightforward, quick refund.
We have now been members of Protected Trust Services since 2021. I love the peace of mind that this gives to our clients following such a challenging period for travel. PTS now have nearly 400 members and are enjoying rapid growth as many travel businesses are realising they too should give their customers that extra peace of mind. We also of course have an ATOL licence too (ATOL number 6412), which means that your money is safe if we book a flight package for you. With our PTS membership however you have an extra layer of security. It is just another example of the highest standards that we want to offer our clients.
The CAA is currently reviewing the financial requirements it wants to impose on travel businesses. Following the collapse of Thomas Cook and the devastation Covid brought to the industry it is likely that they may look to require travel companies to segretate customer funds. We believe that every travel business should be required to do this, rather than use ‘free money’ as working capital but in the mean time we’re proud of the high standards we have set ourselves to look after your money.
You should always ask what financial protection is in place for your money when you book any kind of travel. Please call me or email me to discuss anything if you have any questions at all!
Email: kathryn@thehealthyholidaycompany.com
Call: 020 8968 0501
PTS Membership number 5537
