Inspire is now operating its inhouse gift card – Travel Card by Inspire – on a new trust account model to offer full financial protection to customers.
The Cheshire-based tour operator and travel agency developed the trust account during the period of lockdown and launched it in April 2021.
Peter Pantelides, Inspire’s Group chief executive, said the trust account is the first of its kind in the UK for a gift card retailer.
“In the wake of the pandemic, consumer confidence in the travel industry has taken a knock and we wanted to find a way of reassuring our travel gift card customers that their money is completely safe in any eventuality,” he said.
“By operating our own trust account, it means that we can offer 100% financial protection.”
Pantelides said if other gift card providers fail, their gift card holders and any corporate clients holding stock will lose out too.
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“Inspire has seen a dramatic renewal in appetite for the gift cards,” he added.
“In the first two months of the new financial year, since the start of April, sales stand at more than 150% of what was sold in the whole of the previous financial year.”
The travel gift card can be redeemed for holidays, cruises, flights, UK breaks, weekend trips, and ancillaries, such as airport lounges, transfers, parking and car hire.
Inspire works with corporate customers across the UK who use the cards to reward, recognise and motivate their employees, drive third-party channel business, incentivise sales staff, and run consumer sales promotions.
Pantelides said: “Travel is a very powerful and flexible reward offering and appeals to just about everybody. We have more than 10 years of running a travel gift card, and with the new trust account model in place, we believe it’s the most trusted gift card proposition in the market today.”