Vibe Software has become the latest technology provider to the travel industry to make an automated solution making it free to use for agents needing to produce new Atol Certificates.
Vibe offers free automated Atol Certificate solution to agents
Vibe Software has become the latest technology provider to the travel industry to make an automated solution making it free to use for agents needing to produce new Atol Certificates.
Reformed Atol consumer protection rules came in on Monday meaning customers must be handed the official documentation which has been produced by regulator the CAA after discussions with the industry.
Three forms of the document are available including one for packages, one for flight-only, and one for Flight-Plus, a component sale of a flight plus at least one other significant element like accommodation.
Although the implementation of the law governing the issuing of certificates was delayed from April, there remains widespread concern that agent and operators are not ready for the change.
Comtec has developed its own version of an automated solution called TravelCert+, as has Dolphin Dynamics.
The new Vibe solution automatically generated an Atol certificate, enabling agents to take a payment as per the new rules set by the CAA.
The certificates set out clearly what consumer protection the customer has through the Atol scheme and can be sent to customers as PDF’s to be printed, or printed out by the agent on their behalf.
Vibe said the product is free of charge meaning “agents will not incur hefty development fees, implementation costs or charges per certificate issued”.
It will be fully integrated in the Vibe booking engine for all customers to use with immediate effect.
Matthew Chapman, chief technical officer at Vibe Software, said the countdown to the October 1 deadline had been daunting for many agents.
“Vibe’s new technology has been designed to ease the pressure on agents and OTA’s, offering a free automated solution integrated into the Vibe booking engine.
“Agents must supply an Atol Certificate to the customer on receipt of payment for the booking so it is crucial that a seamless, simple process is put in place to allow agents to issue certificates and continue to take payments.”
