Bonded Coach Holidays is proud to attend Excursions Show, British Tourism & Travel Show, UK Coach Rally and Euro Bus Expo and to support the industry where possible. Bonded Coach Holidays is the coach tourism industry’s scheme, in partnership with the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) and run by ABTOT.
ABTOT is a Membership Association with over 300 travel operator Members. We are approved by government to run a bonding scheme and have been doing that and more since 1993. We proudly celebrated our 30th birthday last year – see here for a video we put together about us and what we do.
Nearly a third of our Members are coach holiday operators protected under the Bonded Coach Holidays scheme. A trusted name and instantly recognisable logo — group tour organisers, coach holiday companies and their passengers get peace of mind and comfort from the brand. Bonded Coach Holidays offers a number of benefits to its Members including:
- Free guidance on complying with the travel regulations
- Direct links to the t&g underwriter and membership team
- A 24/7 free legal and emergency helpline
- Access to an arbitration service to help settle disputes with customers
- Opportunities to attend webinars, seminars and networking drinks You can learn more here. Members are able to use the services of our ABTOT Associates who are specifically chosen for the expertise they can help ABTOT Members run successful business.
Bonding is one of the three ways (and we feel the most straightforward way) to comply with the Package Travel Regulations (PTRs) introduced in 1992, updated in 2018 and currently under review once more.
If you sell package holidays (a combination of two or more of overnight accommodation, transport, vehicle hire and other tourist services) you have to provide financial protection for the monies you receive in advance from your customers and you must have a repatriation mechanism (bringing customers back home) and claims handling service in place – Bonded Coach Holidays provides this, protecting customers in the event their holiday provider ceases trading.
In recognition of both the amazing and varied tourism service our Members provide and of its importance to local communities and those travellers that don’t live within 15 minutes of an airport, this year we are partnering with routeone Awards for the Coach Tourism Programme of the Year award. We are excited to see the shortlist and can’t wait to see Members on the night. One of the better parts of our Membership role is getting to check all the Members’ brochures to make sure they are compliant and that they explain to customers what protections they have in place. Travel brochures take us to our happy place straight away!
Good luck to the companies nominated for awards and here’s wishing you a successful and enjoyable season.
