ABTA is the UK’s largest travel trade association, representing travel agents and tour operators. It sets a Code of Conduct for its members and is one of the approved bodies for protecting package holidays without flights.

An agent for an ATOL holder sells flights or flight-inclusive packages on behalf of a named ATOL holder, under a written agency agreement, so it does not need its own ATOL.

An allocation, or allotment, is a block of hotel rooms or airline seats that a supplier holds for a tour operator or wholesaler at contracted rates. Unsold units go back to the supplier on the release date.

ATOL is the UK’s financial protection scheme for package holidays with flights and some flight-only bookings, run by the Civil Aviation Authority.

The ATOL Certificate is the document a customer must receive as soon as they pay anything, even a deposit, for an ATOL-protected booking. It shows what is protected, who is protected and which ATOL holder protects them.

A back office is a travel business’s financial and administrative system, covering invoicing, receipts, supplier payments, reconciliation and reporting.

A bed bank is a business-to-business accommodation wholesaler that contracts or gathers hotel rooms, usually at net rates, and sells them to the travel trade rather than to travellers.

Board basis, or meal plan, is the level of meals included with accommodation, from room only to all inclusive.

A booking engine is software that lets customers or trade users search live availability and prices, choose, pay and receive a confirmed booking, usually on a travel company’s own website.

Commission is the payment a supplier makes to a travel agent for selling its product, usually a percentage of the selling price.

A consolidator is a flights wholesaler that sells airline seats and fares, especially negotiated, private and group fares, to other travel businesses, usually issuing the tickets itself.

In UK package holiday practice, the deposit is the part payment taken at booking to secure the holiday, and the balance is the rest of the price, due by a date set in the booking conditions.

Dynamic packaging means building a holiday from separately sourced parts, such as flights, hotels and transfers, chosen to the customer’s requirements and sold at one total price.

An escorted tour is a group holiday following a set itinerary, usually visiting several places, with a tour manager travelling with the group to look after the arrangements.

A global distribution system (GDS) is a computerised reservation network that lets travel sellers search, book and, if accredited, ticket the products of many suppliers, above all airlines.

A gross rate is the full selling price a supplier sets for the customer. When it is commissionable, the supplier pays the selling agent an agreed commission on it.

A homeworking travel agent is a travel professional, usually self-employed, who runs a travel-selling business from home, often through a homeworking company that provides trading arrangements, supplier agreements and booking technology.

IATA accreditation lets a travel agency sell and issue tickets for airlines that give it ticketing authority. BSP, IATA’s Billing and Settlement Plan, is the system accredited agents use to report those sales and pay for them.

A linked travel arrangement is a lighter category under the Package Travel Regulations, for travel services bought separately for the same trip with help from a business. It is being abolished for bookings made from 6 April 2027.

A mark-up is the amount a travel business adds to its net cost to arrive at the selling price, expressed as a sum or as a percentage of cost.

A mid office is the software that manages bookings once they have been made, sitting between the front office, where bookings are made, and the back office, where they are accounted for.

NDC (New Distribution Capability) is an IATA data standard that lets airlines send their own offers, fares and extras to travel sellers and take orders back, rather than relying only on GDSs to build offers from the fares and schedules the airline has filed.

A net rate is the price a supplier charges a travel business with no commission built in. The seller adds its own mark-up to set the price the customer pays.

In UK law, a package is two or more different types of travel service for the same trip, such as a flight and a hotel, combined in one of the ways set out in the Package Travel Regulations 2018.

A PNR (passenger name record) is the reservation record created in an airline or GDS system for a passenger’s journey. It is found using a record locator, usually six letters and numbers.

The Tour Operators’ Margin Scheme (TOMS) is the compulsory UK VAT scheme for businesses that buy in travel and resell it in their own name. VAT is due on the margin rather than the full price.

A tour operator puts holidays together and sells them, while a travel agent sells other companies’ travel products. Under the Package Travel Regulations, what counts is the role you play in each booking: organiser or retailer.

Transfers are the ground transport between the arrival airport, port or station and the accommodation, and back again, either shared or private.

A trust account holds customers’ money with an independent trustee, separate from the travel company’s own money, until the holiday has been provided. It is one of the ways to protect package holidays without flights.

White label describes a product built and run by one company but sold under another company’s brand. In travel, it usually means a ready-made booking website or engine that a travel business brands as its own.