On the 24^th May 2023 ABTOT celebrated 30 years of providing bonding solutions to the Travel Industry in style at a reception at the Courthouse Hotel, London, attended by over 100 ABTOT Members, Associates and Partners.

Guests were welcomed with a short film marking ABTOT’s key milestones during the past 30 years ahead of a business session moderated by Chris Photi, WHA, with speakers from ABTOT, t&g, the Department of Business and Trade as well as ATOL. This was followed by a reception in the Courthouse Hotel’s Sky Terrace where guests enjoyed views of London’s skyline amongst friends and business colleagues.

ABTOT was delighted to announce that through their partnership with Trees4Events they calculated and compensated (based on registration data) over 2 tonnes of CO2e through renewal projects and also planted 13 trees.

The evening provided an opportunity for ABTOT to announce and celebrate a significant milestone in its successful journey; ABTOT started operations in 1993 in response to the new Package Travel Regulations (PTRs), recognising a need to provide a straightforward, practical, and economical way for specialist SME travel organisers to comply with the rules.

ABTOT was awarded an ATOL franchise in 2017 enabling it to cover flight and non-flight bookings for approved Members and in the same year started the first of its 3 Merchant Acquiring Schemes, whereby Members enjoy beneficial acquiring rates and a streamlined application process.

In 2019, ABTOT launched the Associate Scheme – strengthening relationships between companies supplying legal, financial and consultancy services to ABTOT and ABTOT Members. ABTOT Associates are specifically chosen for their expertise in providing specialist advice and business solutions catered to the Travel Industry. In 2021, ABTOT took over the management of the Bonded Coach Holiday Scheme from the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) bringing over 90 coach holiday providers Members under ABTOT financial protection.

Since its inception, ABTOT has been committed to provide a personable, straightforward and cost-effective approach to insolvency protection, accepting insurance backed bonds and an easy to manage financial failure insurance from its sister company t&g as well as accepting bank bonds. Today, over 270 Travel Organisers benefit from ABTOT Membership ranging from small independent travel organisers to multinational organisations. Annual turnover per ABTOT Member varies from less than £100k a year to over £200m.

The achievement of this milestone is a testament to the ABTOT team’s experience and in-depth expertise in the travel sector, gained from working with diverse types of travel organisers’ business models for the past 30 years.

Richard Watson, MD ABTOT says:

“We are delighted to be celebrating our 30th anniversary. This achievement is a result of our team’s perseverance in what has at times been a challenging industry to work within, particularly over the past couple of years. This milestone is also testament to our Members’ trust in our work, and our commitment to the Travel Industry”

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by Jochen Eversmeier
Friday, September 16, 2022

The former Swiss Re and Zurich specialist for travel price hedging Jakov Dolic is building up business in the German market for Arcus Solutions.

With Arcus Solutions, a provider from abroad is entering the German hedging market for travel providers. He wants to compete with Tourvers, R+V and Zurich.

With Arcus Solutions, a new insurer is coming onto the German market for the first time since the new regulation of customer money protection for tour operators a year ago. Arcus is a subsidiary of the British market leader in travel price hedging, Travel & General Insurance Services (T&G). Arcus itself comes from Lyon and is therefore an EU-based company with corresponding options for action. “We have come to stay,” explains Jakov Dolic, who as Senior Underwriter is responsible for the Arcus business in Germany.

Arcus is limited to DRSF customers for the time being

Initially, the company will only offer its services to tour operators who have to insure themselves through the German Travel Insurance Fund (DRSF) or are there voluntarily. For these, Arcus wants to provide the collateral that a travel provider must prove to the DRSF – after a check of creditworthiness.

DRSF chiefs Mees and Ghent

“We are switching to collateralisation according to creditworthiness”

A cooperation in mediation has already been discussed with the specialists Gracher, Kaera, LTA, MDT, TAS and Vertoura. “The response from organisers and brokers has been consistently positive,” reports Dolic.

Want to become an integral part of the industry

The Arcus construct is similar to that of Reisegarant, the former closing agent of the insurer Generali. Arcus’ risk carrier is the EU subsidiary of the British insurer Accelerant. “We don’t want to engage in dumping,” Dolic stresses. He wants to stand out from the competition with short processing times and quick decisions.

In addition to Germany, Arcus also plans to offer hedging in other European countries, which is already the case in France, Ireland and, more recently, Austria. Belgium and the Netherlands are to follow soon, as well as Scandinavia at the beginning of 2023. “Arcus wants to become an integral part of the industry and accompany event organisers across borders,” says Dolic.

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September has always been the busiest renewal period of the two annual renewals (March and September) for ABTA and ATOL Bonds and of the quarterly ABTOT renewals.  However, there are also a high number of new enquiries from Travel Organisers exploring their financial protection options.

We are receiving many new applications for ABTA and ABTOT Bonds from brokers, Introducers, and direct clients.

These new applications are looking for insurance backed bonds instead of their current arrangements (Trust Accounts or Bank Bonds), as Travel Bonds by Insurance tend to be unsecured, meaning other business assets are not tied-up as they would be normally to guarantee a Bank Bond.

Another factor is that a large number of clients who renewed in March, just after the  UK Govt’s travel restrictions were lifted, are having to apply for a variance to their bond as sales are much higher than they originally forecasted.

All our applicants and existing clients benefit from:

• speaking directly to our underwriters, which increases efficiency and transparency, reducing application and renewal times,
• working with a specialist Insurer that has consistently focused on providing Travel Bonds, Travel Industry guarantees and Financial Failure Insurance products for the Travel Industry for the past 40 years,
• our strong relationships with Industry bodies including ABTA, ABTOT, ATOL, CAR and ITAA, which has helped our clients navigate through their compliance requirements.

To find out why more Travel Organisers are using t&g see  Travel & General Travel Bonds | Why Choose Us (travel-general.com)

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5 new ABTOT Members and 10 new BCH ABTOT Members ranging from start-ups, charities, specialist tour and coach operators joined the association for their non-licensable (non-ATOL) protection. They are:

• JRoots Limited
• Gusto Cycling Limited
• On Foot Limited
• Planet Festival Limited
• Tartan Travel Tours Limited
• Alfa Travel and David Urquhart Holidays limited
• Jewels Tours limited
• Coopers Tours Limited
• T A Scotland Limited
• Theobalds Coach and Holidays Limited
• Chalkwell Coach Hire Limited
• Ridleys Coaches Limited
• Reays Coaches limited
• Cairngorm Ski Services Limited
• Avanti Coach Travel

ABTOT is a Membership Association with over 250 Members and is recognised and respected by the UK Travel Industry.

To find out more email enquiry@abtot.com

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Arcus Solutions is established in France and is recognised by regulators in Ireland, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Norway providing much needed insurance capacity to these markets. 

The Arcus Solutions underwriting team have extensive experience working for specialist Insurers in the travel Industry. They are multilingual and are based in France, Germany, and London.

“We are pleased to announce the expansion of our travel bonding activities in Europe through Arcus Solutions. The Arcus Solutions product and team builds on our travel bonding experience and expertise in the UK and Irish markets and the location of the underwriters in France, Germany and London provides an accessible solution for Travel Organisers who want to trade in Europe and have to meet the EU regulators’ bonding requirements.”

Richard Watson CEO Assured Underwriting Group  

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Assured Underwriting Group (AUG) brings together leading businesses in their fields with over 30-year history, as well as start ups, united under a banner of innovation, expertise and entrepreneurialism, with a strong focus on service and profitable underwriting.

AUG breath of activities across the full business cycle spans distribution, wholesale, underwriting and services. As such, AUG forms a diversified and independent Managing General Agent and underwriting group in the UK.

Our understanding of the segments we serve allows us to work with our insurer partners to deliver solutions that meet our customer needs.

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