• Trust account holders are obliged to pay all money taken from customers for the travel arrangements sold which require financial protection into a separate designated trust bank account.
• Funds remain in the trust account in line with parameters set by law or negotiated with the CAA, a merchant acquirer or other party asking for security from the trust.
• A written payment request is made by the travel company to Serenity trustees in line with the agreed parameters for release.
• Serenity trustees approve the request.
• Two Serenity account handlers or an account handler and a designated person from your company must authorise the payment out of the account.
• Payments into and out of the account can be viewed via online banking systems at any time.
• Accounts are reconciled and audited in line with parameters agreed with the party asking for security or imposed by Serenity trustees

• Overcome common start up obstacles – such as obtaining an ATOL or a Merchant Services facility.
• No Expensive Bonding – It’s no secret that the cost of bonding is on the up. With the CAA’s minimum ATOL bond requirement at £40,000.00, this option is prohibitive for a start-up or low turnover business.
• Economy and efficiency – Once our travel trust accounts are set up, running costs improve with scale and you don’t have to waste time on annual renewals.
• Avoid the risks associated with insurance policies – Insurance policies can contain loopholes that insurers can jump through to avoid paying a claim. Insurers can also pull-out of the market. This can leave your customers high and dry in the event of an insolvency and you in serious trouble.
• ATOL friendly – A trust account makes meeting the CAA’s balance sheet requirements for a successful ATOL application easier to achieve. The CAA’s 2021 ATOL Consultation suggests that the CAA are moving towards favouring a trust account solution to the more traditional ATOL bond.
• Merchant Acquirer friendly – Most merchant acquirers operating within the travel industry recognise the security that a travel trust account brings.
• No annual membership fee – And no payment for access to services that you don’t need.
• Compliance with Regulations – Serenity’s travel trust accounts comply 100% with the Package Travel etc. Regulations 2018 and are fully endorsed by the CAA as being a means of achieving their requirements for financial protection.

• The types of travel trust account are many and varied. What is right for your business depends on a number of different factors:-
  • What kinds of sales of travel services are you making?
  • What proportion of consumer funds can you afford to segregate in a trust account?
  • What IT capability do you have?
  • Do you have access to financial failure insurance and/or travel bonds?
  • What requirements have the CAA imposed?
  • What requirements has your merchant acquirer imposed?
  • What risk are you aiming to cover?
  • What is your budget?

  The best way of determining exactly what type of structure is best for you is to contact us for an initial discussion about these factors. You could also try following our ‘which trust’ flow chart above.

Yes. Trust and escrow accounts can be used as security both upwards and down the travel supply chain. They will protect money taken by booking agents before it is paid over to a principal. They can also protect money due to be paid to suppliers.

No particular IT systems are required. We can help you to design your own, can work with your existing set up or can provide a link into specially designed databases.

No – although the CAA are consulting with the travel industry about whether companies selling flights should be required to have a trust account as a condition of holding an Air Travel Organiser’s Licence.

The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 require travel companies that sell packages to hold a form of financial protection to ensure consumers obtain a refund or are returned home in the event of a travel company’s financial failure. A trust account is one way of providing that protection.