Protected Trust Services is aiming to attract hundreds more agents over the next couple of years after rebranding to make it clearer what it offers members.
Speaking at the first-ever PTS conference, held this week in Warwickshire with over 100 delegates, CEO and majority shareholder Daniel Landen (pictured centre) said it could grow its membership from 426 today to as many as 1,000 within the next couple of years.
He admitted this was a ‘tad ambitious’ but he said it was a ‘no-brainer’ for agents to join since, unlike other consortia, PTS allows them to keep 100% of their commission, minus a transaction fee. “That’s about £15 for a typical family booking of about £5,000,” he said.
It costs £999 plus VAT to sign up, plus there’s a £109 a month membership fee. For that, agents receive back office support, including card payments services, and customers’ money is placed in a trust account so members are compliant with Package Travel Regulations without the need for a bond.
Agents can also apply for an ATOL, which costs from £851 for the first year, which Daniel said is cheaper than applying direct because clients’ money is in the trust account, lowering the risk to the Air Travel Trust Fund.
Currently, about 60% of PTS members are tour operators, but Daniel expects agent members to be in the majority within the next couple of years, during which it will be targeting entrepreneurs who might be new to the industry as well as agents who want more independence.
“We’re not like other consortia, we’re not gatekeepers, we don’t tell them what to do, we just make it easy for them to run their own businesses by providing the back-office support they need,” he said.
As part of its plan to grow the business, Bournemouth-based PTS has just opened a new sales and marketing office in Sunderland, and it also has as an office in Fleetwood in Lancashire.
It is also continuing to invest in its technology, including creating a fully integrated API with its core suppliers to allow agents to make online bookings, hopefully by the end of this year.
PTS has contracts with more than 200 suppliers, but members can book with any others they choose, and they’re not locked in to long-term contracts, so they’re free to leave with three months’ notice. “They own their business, their own database, so they can do what they like with it,” said Daniel. “We don’t tell them what to sell, we offer complete freedom.”
What PTS doesn’t offer is training, marketing advice or sales leads, which are available at some other consortia. “Our members are experienced agents or entrepreneurs who know how to run a business,” said Daniel. “They don’t need us to tell them how to run a business, they know how to sell holidays, they just want us to take care of the other stuff.”
Currently, PTS doesn’t have ABTA’s seal of approval for its trust account, so its members are obliged to stump up a bond if they want to join the association, but Daniel hinted that could soon change. “I think ABTA does some really good stuff,” he said. “ABTA is a superbrand, and if members want to join then yeah, I think they should be able to do that, they would get access to ABTA events, to training and the ABTA badge is still important to customers.”
When asked at the conference what PTS is doing to avoid further incidents of fraudulent behaviour amongst members, Daniel insisted it already had strict measures in place. “The hardest thing for us isn’t keeping an eye out for fraudsters, the hardest thing is us not changing our model and making everyone else’s life harder.
“We are really adamant we are sticking with this model, we are not losing this model, it is there for people to trade in the best way possible.”
He admitted that fraud is ‘a big thing’, adding that PTS is ‘always looking at its onboarding process’ and working with members and suppliers and keeping an eye on online reviews to stamp it out.
Executive Director Emma Collis said: “We have changed the way we work internally but it’s wrong to think that you can spot fraudsters when you onboard people, that’s not the way it works.”
“It happens out there, to everybody, it is part of life and we are quite open about it, we are not ashamed but most importantly you can’t let those bad apples change everything for the rest,” added Daniel.
“There is the odd bad person out there, but 99.9% of people in the travel industry are nice.”
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Speaking at the first-ever PTS conference, held this week in Warwickshire with over 100 delegates, CEO and majority shareholder Daniel Landen (pictured centre) said it could grow its membership from 426 today to as many as 1,000 within the next couple of years.
He admitted this was a ‘tad ambitious’ but he said it was a ‘no-brainer’ for agents to join since, unlike other consortia, PTS allows them to keep 100% of their commission, minus a transaction fee. “That’s about £15 for a typical family booking of about £5,000,” he said.
It costs £999 plus VAT to sign up, plus there’s a £109 a month membership fee. For that, agents receive back office support, including card payments services, and customers’ money is placed in a trust account so members are compliant with Package Travel Regulations without the need for a bond.
Agents can also apply for an ATOL, which costs from £851 for the first year, which Daniel said is cheaper than applying direct because clients’ money is in the trust account, lowering the risk to the Air Travel Trust Fund.
Currently, about 60% of PTS members are tour operators, but Daniel expects agent members to be in the majority within the next couple of years, during which it will be targeting entrepreneurs who might be new to the industry as well as agents who want more independence.
“We’re not like other consortia, we’re not gatekeepers, we don’t tell them what to do, we just make it easy for them to run their own businesses by providing the back-office support they need,” he said.
As part of its plan to grow the business, Bournemouth-based PTS has just opened a new sales and marketing office in Sunderland, and it also has as an office in Fleetwood in Lancashire.
It is also continuing to invest in its technology, including creating a fully integrated API with its core suppliers to allow agents to make online bookings, hopefully by the end of this year.
PTS has contracts with more than 200 suppliers, but members can book with any others they choose, and they’re not locked in to long-term contracts, so they’re free to leave with three months’ notice. “They own their business, their own database, so they can do what they like with it,” said Daniel. “We don’t tell them what to sell, we offer complete freedom.”
What PTS doesn’t offer is training, marketing advice or sales leads, which are available at some other consortia. “Our members are experienced agents or entrepreneurs who know how to run a business,” said Daniel. “They don’t need us to tell them how to run a business, they know how to sell holidays, they just want us to take care of the other stuff.”
Currently, PTS doesn’t have ABTA’s seal of approval for its trust account, so its members are obliged to stump up a bond if they want to join the association, but Daniel hinted that could soon change. “I think ABTA does some really good stuff,” he said. “ABTA is a superbrand, and if members want to join then yeah, I think they should be able to do that, they would get access to ABTA events, to training and the ABTA badge is still important to customers.”
When asked at the conference what PTS is doing to avoid further incidents of fraudulent behaviour amongst members, Daniel insisted it already had strict measures in place. “The hardest thing for us isn’t keeping an eye out for fraudsters, the hardest thing is us not changing our model and making everyone else’s life harder.
“We are really adamant we are sticking with this model, we are not losing this model, it is there for people to trade in the best way possible.”
He admitted that fraud is ‘a big thing’, adding that PTS is ‘always looking at its onboarding process’ and working with members and suppliers and keeping an eye on online reviews to stamp it out.
Executive Director Emma Collis said: “We have changed the way we work internally but it’s wrong to think that you can spot fraudsters when you onboard people, that’s not the way it works.”
“It happens out there, to everybody, it is part of life and we are quite open about it, we are not ashamed but most importantly you can’t let those bad apples change everything for the rest,” added Daniel.
“There is the odd bad person out there, but 99.9% of people in the travel industry are nice.”
The post PTS CEO says membership is a ‘no-brainer’ as it hosts its first-ever conference appeared first on Travel Gossip.
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