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Customers compare endlessly across platforms, mix and match products, and expect seamless experiences across flights, accommodation, and activities.
At the same time, OTAs and tour providers face intense competition, thin margins, and growing pressure to differentiate beyond price.
In this environment, one factor consistently impacts performance: booking anxiety.
Travel plans are complex and often high-value. Customers hesitate at checkout because they’re unsure about what will happen if they experience unforeseen circumstances. Can they get a refund? Will they lose their money? How difficult will it be to resolve? That hesitation leads to delayed bookings, abandoned carts, lost revenue, and weaker customer trust.
Protect Group helps you remove that friction and provides customers with a reason to book now.
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With Refund Protect and Protect Plus, refundable experiences adapts to the way customers actually book travel.
We present the most relevant service and product options based on trip value, itinerary, and customer behaviour. Whether it’s a single tour or a multi-component trip, the offer feels relevant to the purchase.
This ensures refundable bookings enhances the booking experience without adding friction, giving customers confidence across the entire journey.
Travel rarely goes exactly to plan. Delays, cancellations, and personal circumstances all impact the journey.
When this happens, customers expect fast, clear results not confusion or long support processes.
Protect Group provides a structured, transparent path to resolution, giving customers immediate clarity, reducing frustration, leading to fewer support queries, fewer disputes, and a significantly improved post-booking experience.
In travel, trust drives repeat bookings.
When customers feel supported, especially when something goes wrong, they are far more likely to return. By delivering a smooth, reliable resolution experience, Protect Group helps turn one-time bookings into long-term relationships.
This increases customer lifetime value and strengthens brand loyalty in a highly competitive market.
Beyond conversion and trust, refundable bookings also delivers commercial value.
Refund Protect and Protect Plus act as high-performing ancillaries that align with real customer needs. By offering meaningful upgrades, you increase attachment rates and generate incremental revenue without compromising the booking experience.
Stephen is a 25-year veteran of the travel industry primarily focused on online retailing, e-commerce, and reservation systems. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Rezgo, a pioneer in the experiences reservation space and most recently was Head of Product at Holibob, and VP of Content at Arival.
Stephen continues to be active advocate for industry standards and is a current Board Member of OCTO, the distribution standards body for the experiences sector. He also served as the Board Chair of the Open Travel Alliance for five years.
Stephen brings his expertise of travel technology and retailing strategies to Protect Group and its partners by offering creative solutions rooted in proven technical and e-commerce strategies.
With the Pulse Platform, you can launch Refund Protect, add Protect Plus products, and manage performance across brands and markets from a single platform.
Protect Group helps OTAs and tour providers turn booking anxiety into confidence, giving customers the reassurance they need to commit.
Because when travellers feel safeguarded, they don’t just browse; they book.
