HOW TO HIRE · PERSONAL & LIFESTYLE

How to hire a travel planner in the UK
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.

If a travel planner sells you a package, the 2018 Package Travel Regulations make them responsible for it and require insolvency protection. Here is what to check.

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THE 60-SECOND VERSION

Hiring a travel planner in five steps

  1. Ask: advice, or a package?A planning fee for an itinerary you book yourself is advice. Flights, hotel and more sold together can be a package.
  2. If it is a package, ask about protectionThe organiser must protect your payments against insolvency under the 2018 Regulations.
  3. Get the fee in writingPlanning fee, commission, and change charges.
  4. Book with your own name and cardSo bookings and refunds come back to you.
  5. Buy travel insurance yourselfSeparate from the planner's fee; check what it covers.

BEFORE YOU BOOK

Check before you book

No register applies

No licence or register applies to travel planners giving advice in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. What changes the position is selling you a package.

Ask whether you are buying advice only, or a package they will book.

Package travel organiser (Package Travel Regulations 2018)

When a travel planner puts together and sells a package, regulation 15 of the 2018 Package Travel Regulations makes the organiser liable to you for every travel service in it, whoever provides it, and requires faults to be put right.

Ask whether the travel planner is the organiser, and get the package contract in writing. legislation.gov.uk →

Insolvency protection for your money

Regulation 19 requires a package organiser established in the UK to provide security that refunds your payments, and gets you home if transport is included, should the organiser become insolvent. For trips that include a flight there is also ATOL, the CAA's financial protection scheme: you should be given an ATOL Certificate naming the ATOL holder, and if that holder fails while you are away the CAA helps you finish the trip or get home.

Search the business on the CAA's check-an-ATOL service before booking a trip with flights, and keep the ATOL Certificate. legislation.gov.uk →

Trader status (Consumer Rights Act 2015)

Your rights — a service done with reasonable care and skill, and a repeat or a price reduction if it is not — apply when the travel planner trades as a business. That includes the advice and the itinerary itself.

Look for the trader badge on the Locufy profile and ask for a written quote and an invoice.

VAT

A travel planner's planning fee is standard-rated at 20% when the planner is VAT-registered. A planner over the £90,000 threshold must charge VAT on their own fee and show it separately from the cost of the trip.

Ask the travel planner for a VAT number, and whether VAT applies only to the planning fee or to the trip too. gov.uk →

“Are you selling me a package, or advice I book myself?”

A good answer: A clear answer. If a package, the travel planner is the organiser.

“How are my payments protected if your business fails?”

A good answer: Named insolvency protection, and for a trip with flights an ATOL Certificate naming the ATOL holder — which may be another firm the planner sells for.

“How is the travel planner paid — fee, commission or both?”

A good answer: Both stated, so you know why options are recommended.

“What happens if I need to change dates?”

A good answer: Change fees from the planner and from suppliers, both listed.

“Who do I call if something goes wrong while I am away?”

A good answer: A named contact and hours, or the organiser's emergency line.

“Whose name and card are bookings made in?”

A good answer: Yours, wherever possible.

“What is not included that I should arrange myself?”

A good answer: Travel insurance, visas, transfers — a list.

Getting the quote right

  • The planning fee, and any commission the planner earns
  • Whether it is a package and who the organiser is
  • Insolvency protection for packages, and the ATOL holder's name for trips with flights
  • Change and cancellation fees, the planner's and suppliers'
  • What is not included: insurance, visas, transfers
  • Who actually attends to your trip: the travel planner you met, or a colleague or a supplier's agent, and whether they are employed or subcontracted
  • The planner's VAT number, with VAT shown on the planning fee as its own line

Walk away if

  • Unclear whether you are buying a package
  • No answer on how your money is protected
  • Bookings in the planner's name, not yours
  • Commission hidden behind a 'free' service
  • No written itinerary or contract
  • Pressure to pay everything by bank transfer
LOW
£50
TYPICAL
£75
HIGH
£300

What a travel planner costs: £50–£300 per trip

Travel planners charge a planning fee per trip, sometimes with commission from bookings; flights, hotels and insurance are paid separately. Travel Planner price guide →

Guide prices compiled by the Locufy team from published Irish and UK provider price lists and 2026/27 cost guides. Updated 2026.

KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR? NOW FIND ONE

Travel planners near you, with the badges that matter shown

ID checked, trader status and one score from every review — on the card, before you message anyone. Nearest first. No account needed to look.

Or post the job free and let them come to you.

  1. ConsultationDates, budget, style, travellers, any needs.
  2. ProposalItinerary options with prices and fees.
  3. BookingIn your name; package contract and protection if a package.
  4. DocumentsConfirmations, tickets, itinerary, emergency contacts.
  5. SupportHelp with changes before and during the trip.

Package
Two or more types of travel service sold together, such as flight and hotel.
Organiser
The business legally responsible for a package.
Insolvency protection
Security that refunds you or gets you home if the organiser fails.
ATOL
The CAA's financial protection for package trips with a flight; it is not travel insurance.
Linked travel arrangement
Services booked separately but linked; less protection than a package.
Planning fee
The charge for designing the itinerary.

AFTER

When the job is done

Keep the contract and protection detailsPackage contract, insolvency or ATOL certificate, booking references.
Check every booking directlyWith the airline and hotels, in your name.
Note the emergency contactBefore you travel.
Review the bookingSay how the planning and the trip went: only booked jobs carry reviews. Under four stars, you can send the problem to them first to put right.

STEP 1Write to the travel planner firstDescribe the problem with the trip, the date, and the fix you want. Because every service contract carries a term of reasonable care and skill under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, you can require a free repeat or a cut in the price.
STEP 2Ask Locufy to help put it rightWhen you score a booked travel planner below four stars, you choose whether the travel planner sees the problem first. We follow it through, then you review.
STEP 3The organiser, then adviceFor a package, regulation 15 makes the organiser responsible for putting faults right, so complain to them first while you are away. Advice and a route to Trading Standards come through Citizens Advice on 0808 223 1133 in England and Wales, Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 800 9060, or Consumerline on 0300 123 6262 in Northern Ireland.
STEP 4Small claims, as a last stepIf the travel planner still will not refund or put it right, a small claim needs no solicitor: £10,000 is the limit in England and Wales, £5,000 for simple procedure in Scotland, £5,000 in Northern Ireland.

Hiring a travel planner: questions people ask

No licence applies to giving travel advice. A planner who sells packages is an organiser under the Package Travel Regulations 2018, with duties and insolvency protection.

For a package, regulation 19 requires the organiser to protect your payments. For advice only, your bookings are with the suppliers you paid.

A package is travel services combined and sold together; the organiser is liable for all of them. Separate bookings are each their own contract.

£50 to £300 a trip, typically around £75. Trip length, destinations and occasion make the difference. Planning fees by trip type are compared in the travel planner price guide; enter your town above for planners near you.

ATOL protects package trips that include a flight if the ATOL holder fails: the CAA helps you stay on, refunds replacement costs or brings you home. It does not cover a flight-only ticket issued straight to you, cancellations by a firm that has not failed, or medical costs. Check the holder on the CAA's ATOL search.

For a package, tell the organiser at once; regulation 15 requires them to put it right. Otherwise, raise it in writing under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

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Travel planners near you

Travel planners in LondonTravel planners in ManchesterTravel planners in BirminghamTravel planners in GlasgowTravel planners in BelfastAll travel planners on Locufy →

Sources — checked October 2026

  1. Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, regulation 15 — organiser's liability
  2. Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, regulation 19 — insolvency protection
  3. CAA — what is ATOL protection?
  4. CAA — check an ATOL
  5. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 49 — reasonable care and skill
  6. gov.uk — VAT registration threshold
  7. Citizens Advice — more help with a consumer issue
  8. gov.uk — make a court claim for money: court fees
  9. VAT rates — VAT rates for goods and services: standard rate 20% on most goods and services
  10. GOV.UK — Register for VAT: when to register