Discover What Our Industry-Leading Accreditations Mean

Last updated: May 29th, 2024


As a tour operator for school groups, we’re extremely proud of our accreditations, after all, they’re a sign you can be certain we’re operating at the very highest standards of safety and quality.

But what do they mean and, more importantly, how do they benefit your school trip?

Here we simply explain our 5 rubber-stamps of approval from five separate governing bodies within the school tour operator and travel industry.

Scroll on.

ABTOT

ABTOT stands for the Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust and their focus is to protect your school tour finances for future non-flight-based trips you’ve already booked and paid for.

So, if an ABTOT member went out of business before your school trip took place and you’d paid the funds entirely for the tour, you may receive a refund or compensation. If you’re abroad at the time, you’d be repatriated to UK shores.

ABTOT membership is a sign Rayburn is a robust and reliable tour operator, and we’re incredibly proud to hold the certification.

ABTA

The Association of British Travel Agents represents tour operators and travel agents, and they promote the very highest standards of service, quality, and professionalism in the UK travel industry.

ABTA don’t give out their stamp of approval easily, as our membership shows Rayburn are held to account for the delivery of our tours and gives customers peace of mind.

ATOL

The Air Travel Organiser’s Licence protects your school trip funds if the company organising your tour goes out of business whilst you and your students are touring.

It only covers tours and offers potential refunds or compensation where the mode of transport is by plane.

Because Rayburn Tours is an ATOL holder, it shows we passed robust financial checks to ensure your funds are protected if you choose to fly to your destination and your trip is cancelled before, or during, your school tour.

STF

The School Travel Forum has created a set of high standards we are proud to stand by and to be a member you need to show you have substantial safety, security, financial, and quality measures in place.

They make sure we’re using the correct methods to risk assess our suppliers, like our hotels, transports, and excursions.

They make sure we make the necessary DSB checks for student-facing staff.

They ensure we have the right way to measure the quality of our school trips, like our post-trip questionnaires and phone calls.

Plus, to confirm our educational tours meet the learning needs of your students, they need to see we have the LoTC Quality Badge, which they are the awarding body for.

LOtC

The Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge is the only national leading award of its type and shows our educational tours and excursions have been assessed by an independent expert, with the LOtC working closely with the STF.

This is what they look at and inspect:

Basically, they make sure your entire school trip experience is top-notch in every way.

 

School Tours You Can Trust

These 5 accreditations are extremely vital in showing Rayburn Tours is a tour operator you can trust to provide a safe and quality trip for your school.

Whilst we’re keeping up these high standards, we’re also tailor-making school trips to destinations all over the world, so call us today and let’s get the ball rolling on your next learning experience outside of the classroom.

 

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