His philosophy is that loyalty is rewarded by travel providers which in turn generate enhanced perks and services for those consumers who are loyal.

Still, the site does not guarantee that the experience provided by course operators will live up to their billing, so use the same caution reserved for any travel provider.

Maritz Travel is one of the companies benefiting from this largesse; the travel provider said its incentive business had grown 28 percent over the last two years.

It claims to be the first carbon-neutral travel provider in the country.

Sabre Airline Solutions provides software and services to airlines and other travel providers.

You should contact your travel provider before you travel (a list of ferry operators can be found here).

Of those, an estimated 2 million have access to the World Wide Web services that are increasingly popular with travel providers.

Get exclusive offers from some of the world's finest travel providers.

If your travel provider goes bankrupt when you're abroad on holiday you need to know you won't get stranded without a refund.

Such happy endings are rare in an era when travel providers - airlines in particular - have earned ever lower marks for customer service.