Hays Travel unveils new payment system to combat bogus bookings

Chief operating officer Jonathon Woodall-Johnston said the new system will prevent chargebacks by doing all address checking at the point of sale.

Launched earlier this month, the technology will be available also for Hays’ network of homeworking agents, who are part of the Hays Travel Independence Group (IG).

“Even when customers go into shops, we can now transact everything on a secure payment,” Woodall-Johnston told TTG during the group’s annual conference on Sunday (5 March). “We have not really shouted about it but all homeworkers get the benefit of that.”

According to a recent poll carried out by TTG, 74% of travel agents said they were more concerned about fraudulent bookings than they were in pre-pandemic times, while 61% said they had successfully thwarted a scam in recent months.

’Safeguards’

Fraudulent transactions are not the only issue plaguing the industry right now, as upcoming regulatory changes as well as staff shortages remain on many businesses’ minds, Hays’ owner and chair Dame Irene Hays added.

Agents will have to deal with a raft of regulatory changes over the next few years, from new ways to safeguard payments for Atol-protected travel to a reform of Package Travel Regulations. 

The UK government is also looking at increasing the power watchdogs such as the Civil Aviation Authority and the Competition and Markets Authority have to crack down on anti-competitive behaviour.