Trav Expert Limited (Ltd), based in Hounslow (London), traded under the names Best4trips, Travel Crew, and Air Waay.

The travel company offered flights and holiday packages to destinations around the world, including:

• Sydney
• Maldives
• New York
• Dubai
• Barcelona
• Bangkok
• Amsterdam
• Auckland
• Barbados

Trav Expert Limited ceases trading putting flights and holidays at risk

Trav Expert Ltd ceased trading as an ATOL holder on May 21.

Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (ATOL) is a government-backed financial protection scheme, run and managed by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), that all tour companies in the UK are required to have.

ATOL guarantees customers receive refunds if a company collapses.

A company fails as an ATOL holder if it has entered insolvency in the past six months and can’t meet its obligations to consumers, the ATOL website explains.

ATOL has warned anyone who has booked flights or holidays with any of the three companies associated with Trav Expert Ltd to check their ATOL certificate and the type of their booking on its claims information page.

It continues: “Bookings sold as accommodation only, non-flight Packages & cruise only bookings, which do not include a flight element, are not covered by the ATOL scheme.”

In this instance, travellers are urged to contact their travel insurance provider or card issuer for assistance.

If the name listed on your certificate is not Trav Expert Limited, contact the ATOL holder shown.

Despite no longer being an ATOL holder, Trav Expert Ltd remains ‘active’ on Companies House.

The company has been contacted for comment.

Who can claim a refund?

Travellers affected by Trav Expert Ltd ceasing trading as an ATOL holder can claim refunds if they meet certain criteria.

ATOL-protected packages with Trav Expert Limited (due to travel after May 21)

Travellers who booked ATOL-protected packages with Trav Expert Limited for trips after May 21, 2026, and have already received their flight tickets should first contact the airline to confirm whether their bookings remain valid.

If the airline confirms the tickets are valid, customers have two options:

1. If they no longer wish to travel, they can submit a claim for a refund through the ATOL scheme, provided they paid by cheque, debit card, charge card, bank transfer, or cash.
2. If travellers decide to use the flight but are asked to pay again for other elements of the holiday package, they may claim the cost of these replacement services through ATOL (depending on their original payment method).

ATOL warned that services, including accommodation and transfers, may not have been paid for by Trav Expert Ltd, and travellers could be required to rebook and pay for them directly.

The scheme advised confirming all costs with suppliers before travelling.

ATOL also said: “If you choose to travel and use your valid flight, you are not protected under The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 as your package travel provider has ceased to trade. 

“You will therefore be responsible for any risks arising from each individual element of your trip which would have previously been protected.”

Those who paid Trav Expert Limited directly by credit card, even in part, are not eligible to claim a refund from ATOL.

Instead, they must make a claim through their credit card issuer under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

Credit card providers are responsible for refunding customers up to the entire amount paid, including payments made by cheque, cash, debit card, or charge card.

ATOL-protected flight-only bookings with Trav Expert Limited (due to travel after May 21)

For ATOL-protected flight-only bookings without issued flight tickets, refunds are available through ATOL if payment was not made by credit card and you have been issued with an ATOL Certificate.

Customers who have e-tickets or scheduled flight tickets should confirm validity with the airline, as these are expected to remain valid for travel.

If the airline confirms the ticket is valid, customers are not eligible for an ATOL refund and should still be able to travel.

Cancelled ATOL bookings (before May 21)

For customers still awaiting refunds for cancelled ATOL bookings made before May 21, 2026, claims can be submitted through ATOL, provided payment was not made by credit card.

In all cases where a credit card was used for payment, they must make a claim through their issuer.

Travellers are reminded to keep all original booking confirmations, ATOL certificates, and payment evidence, as these may be required to support their claims at a later stage.

Claims made to ATOL must be made by May 20, 2027.

Other UK travel companies that have closed in 2026

Four other UK travel companies have already closed in 2026:

Luxury UK holiday company Salamander Voyages also shut down in April after entering administration.

Meanwhile, four UK airlines have fallen into administration or liquidation already this year:

• Ascend Airways (liquidation)
• EcoJet Airlines (liquidation)
• Zenith Aviation Limited (administration)
• European Cargo (administration)

Have you booked flights or a holiday through Trav Expert Ltd (Best4trips, Travel Crew, or Air Waay) recently? Let us know in the comments below.

KAREN JOY BACUDO

Finance Editor

GoCardless has become the exclusive integrated payment provider for Intelligent Billing, linking its payment services with a billing platform used by telecoms operators and managed service providers.

Under the agreement, Direct Debit and open banking payment services will be built into the Intelligent Billing platform, developed by PRD Technologies. The integration lets businesses trigger payment collection from a customer’s bank account when an invoice is generated, with payment status updates returned to the billing dashboard.

The setup is aimed at organisations with complex recurring revenue models, particularly in telecoms and managed services, where finance teams often handle large volumes of repeat invoices and collections. By consolidating invoice generation, payment initiation, and reconciliation into a single workflow, the system is intended to reduce the need for staff to switch between separate tools.

The integration also includes GoCardless’ Success+ payment retry tool, which, on average, recovers 70% of payments that initially fail by automatically retrying collections.

For Intelligent Billing, the partnership provides a single integrated payment supplier within its platform. For GoCardless, it extends the reach of its bank payment services into a specialist software provider serving sectors that rely heavily on recurring billing and usage-based charging.

Telecoms operators and managed service providers often manage billing structures that combine subscriptions, usage charges and service add-ons. This can make collections and reconciliation more laborious, particularly when payment processing sits outside the core billing system and requires separate manual checks.

PRD Technologies positions Intelligent Billing as a specialist platform for billing and data processing, with customers ranging from smaller businesses to large providers and resellers in telecoms and managed services. The software also supports areas such as subscription management and Microsoft billing.

GoCardless, which focuses on bank payments, says more than 100,000 businesses use its services to collect and send payments through direct debit, real-time payments and open banking. It processes more than USD $130 billion in payments annually across more than 30 countries.

Executives at both companies said the agreement addresses the operational burden that delayed payments and manual billing work can place on recurring revenue businesses.

“We are excited to continue our relationship with Intelligent Billing as their exclusive payment provider to bring automated bank payments directly into the platform. For telecoms and MSPs managing complex recurring revenue, billing admin and delayed payments are a massive burden on resources. This integration solves that pain point by connecting invoice generation straight to payment collection, helping businesses save time, improve cash flow, and focus on growth,” said Tom Metcalfe, Director, Global Partnerships, GoCardless.

Simon Adams, Managing Director at PRD Technologies, developers of Intelligent Billing, said the integration reflects PRD Technologies’ approach to the platform.

“Our goal has always been to automate every process and make billing as simple as possible for our clients. By choosing GoCardless as our exclusive payment provider and integrating them natively into Intelligent Billing, we are delivering a complete billing-to-cash cycle in one place. Telecoms operators and MSPs can now look forward to effortless, set-and-forget payments that eliminate heavy manual admin, reduce failed collections, and keep them in full control of their financial performance,” said Adams.

SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

Flexera has published research showing that every organisation surveyed uses generative AI public cloud services. It also found that 85% now see managing cloud costs as their main cloud challenge.

The findings point to growing pressure on technology budgets as companies juggle hybrid cloud estates, AI spending and limited visibility over usage. Some 17% of organisations exceeded their public cloud budgets in the past year, while estimated wasted cloud spend rose to 29%, reversing a five-year decline.

Hybrid cloud has become the dominant operating model in the survey. Flexera found that 69% of organisations now use a hybrid cloud approach, rising to 78% among those with more than 5,000 employees.

Spending patterns also point to larger, more complex estates. Among organisations spending more than USD $500,000 a month on cloud, 79% operate hybrid environments.

The report suggests AI is adding a new source of cost volatility. While all respondents said they use generative AI public cloud services in some form, 45% described that use as extensive and 30% said cost unpredictability was one of the biggest challenges in scaling AI workloads.

Chris Andersen, Chief Financial Officer at Flexera, linked those pressures to broader changes in how finance teams track technology spending.

“The conversation around cloud costs has shifted significantly. It has moved from spending more on technology to solve problems to managing increasingly complex environments that have often evolved organically over time.

“Many organisations have not intentionally designed hybrid or multi-cloud strategies. Instead, these environments emerge through acquisitions, new business requirements or teams independently adopting different platforms. As a result, finance leaders are being asked to manage technology estates that are much harder to monitor and optimise.

“The challenge is that complexity itself creates inefficiencies. The more environments organisations operate across, the harder it becomes to maintain visibility into what resources are being used, whether they are delivering value and where opportunities exist to reduce unnecessary spend,” Andersen said.

The survey also points to a more formal approach to cloud oversight. Flexera found that 71% of organisations now have a Cloud Centre of Excellence, while 63% have established dedicated FinOps teams.

Governance spread

Responsibility for cloud governance is also moving beyond specialist infrastructure teams. According to the research, business units and software asset management teams are taking a larger role in overseeing cloud usage and costs.

Managed service providers are adjusting their offerings in response to AI-related demand. Nearly half plan to offer AI consulting and SaaS management services, while two-thirds are adopting AI for cybersecurity use cases.

The data also shows a divide between larger and smaller organisations in the use of outside providers. Enterprise use of managed service providers rose by three percentage points from a year earlier, while use among small and medium-sized businesses fell from 48% to 39%.

Andersen said the shift in AI spending could change the balance of costs on company profit and loss statements.

“There is enormous pressure on organisations to invest in AI quickly enough to remain competitive, but AI costs behave very differently from traditional technology spending. Usage can scale rapidly across cloud environments, making costs far harder to predict and control.

“People costs have traditionally been the largest line item on the profit and loss statement for technology companies. If AI develops as many expect, technology spend could eventually overtake that. Yet most organisations are nowhere near as disciplined in managing technology costs as they are people costs.

“Companies know exactly who works for them and what those people cost. Far fewer can say the same about every cloud workload, SaaS agreement or AI tool operating across the business. That becomes a serious financial challenge once AI usage starts scaling.

“The organisations best positioned to succeed will be those that simplify where they can, improve visibility across increasingly hybrid environments and establish clear accountability for technology spending. Without that discipline, complexity itself becomes a driver of unnecessary cost,” Andersen said.

The research was based on a survey of 753 technical professionals and executive leaders worldwide, including cloud decision-makers and users across industries, organisation sizes and functional roles.