Abta / atol

sistercook

I would like to book a tour to Grand Canyon Monument Valley i have found a company i would like to use but they are American based company, however I am finding it difficult to find a company (travel agent) that can book the tour and the flights together and therefore will our tour be covered by ABTA/ATOL if we book it independently on the credit card.

Can you please advise if this is the case and whether there is another way we can book the tour and still be covered?

Thanking you in advance for your assistance in this matter.

Thank you and kind regards

PeacefulWaters

Have you considered booking flights and car hire via an airline and doing the rest yourself?

That would give you ATOL protection and a marvellous sense of freedom.

SW17

sistercook wrote: »

I would like to book a tour to Grand Canyon Monument Valley i have found a company i would like to use but they are American based company, however I am finding it difficult to find a company (travel agent) that can book the tour and the flights together and therefore will our tour be covered by ABTA/ATOL if we book it independently on the credit card.

Can you please advise if this is the case and whether there is another way we can book the tour and still be covered?

Thanking you in advance for your assistance in this matter.

Thank you and kind regards

The answer depends somewhat on what you are seeking with ABTA/ATOL. To answer one question, you will not have any ABTA/ATOL protection if you book directly with a company who is not a member of these schemes. You may get some financial protection under section 75 (I would prefer if someone who is more of an expert on this confirms it) if you paid for some or all the tour on a credit card (not a debit card) and it cost more than £100 or equivalent.

As to what "protection" you are seeking; ATOL is simply a financial failure protection, if the tour operator who sells you the ATOL package, or any of the providers within that package, goes bust before or during your holiday (it's mainly aimed at repatriation, but covers the other elements too). There is no protection in ATOL for complaints due to poor service/product etc.

ABTA is a travel agents industry group. Their members have to subscribe to a Code of Conduct in terms of how they deal with complaints, and ABTA may get involved if they don't meet this code, but ABTA provides reassurance rather than genuine protection. There are a few every limited cases in which they provide financial protection, but not many. If they sell you a package which was not covered by ATOL it may be subject to the European Package Travel Regulations, though I won't try to give you advice on those, they require someone with greater expertise than myself.

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Have you considered booking flights and car hire via an airline and doing the rest yourself?

That would give you ATOL protection and a marvellous sense of freedom.

Are you sure about this? To my knowledge this would give you ATOL protection on the flights and the car rental, but not on any elements booked separately, as they would not form part of the package provided by the tour operator holding the ATOL licence (whether an airline tour operator or non-airline tour operator).

sistercook

Thanks for the help and advice its now time for a rethink.

SW17

sistercook wrote: »

Thanks for the help and advice its now time for a rethink.

What's the name of the company? Someone on here might know about them. You could also try asking the question on the West Coast/SW USA general thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3248860