If you are a reseller of travel, you need TRIP.

The Travel Reseller Initiatives Project (TRIP) is a not for profit industry association representing firms that market travel club membership programs to consumers.  The purpose of TRIP is to promote accountability, ethics, and regulatory compliance.  The goal is to protect consumers and maintain a stable marketplace for travel club sales.  Our members include travel club distributors, fulfillment providers and marketing companies.

For nearly thirty years, vacation clubs have delivered lifetime memories to their members. Several factors have made selling travel clubs recently more complicated.

Technology now puts seemingly attractive travel deals at the fingertips of the consumer.  TRIP works to educate the consumer and promote the value and lifestyle that come with vacation club membership.

Unethical sales practices from a few bad actors have caused regulators in some states to heighten scrutiny of the travel club industry.  TRIP works to create a level playing field in the state regulatory environment, promoting a Code of Conduct and Best Practices, so travel clubs are not overburdened with unnecessary regulation that does not make sense.

The federal government, through “Operation Choke Point” and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have specifically targeted travel clubs as “high risk”, making it difficult to establish banking relationships and obtain merchant services.  TRIP is an active part of the opposition to “Operation Choke Point”, joining several other industry associations to expose this operation and support legislation against this destructive initiative.

It is believed that the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will attempt to regulate travel clubs on a national level.  To circumvent this, TRIP is working to self-regulate the industry and establish an internal “Self-Regulated Organization” (SRO).  TRIP, through dialogue with the CFPB aims to have our SRO recognized so that we are, in effect, writing our own regulation that makes good business sense while “policing our own ranks”.  There really is no other option; involuntary regulation by CFPB would certainly not benefit travel club businesses or the consumers they serve.

Get involved now.  Be part of the future and help us work to keep your business thriving.  Things are changing, but TRIP will make travel clubs the positive part of the change.  Join TRIP today, help steer industry best practices, self-regulation, and have a voice along with other travel clubs in the legislative conversation that attempts to restrict our industry from all it can and should be.