ABTA Audit Explained: What Documents Are Requested at Hotels

Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) is the UK's largest association of tour operators. Almost every UK agency working with Turkish hotels expects ABTA Audit Familiarisation before listing the property.

What is the ABTA Audit?

A site audit covering guest safety, hygiene, fire safety, and pool/activity safety. Each topic has its own check items.

Within fire safety:

• Up-to-date escape plan behind every room door (TR + EN)
• Clearly marked assembly points
• Staff certificates (Level 1/2 fire)
• Drill reports
• Fire-extinguisher maintenance records
• ISO 7010 symbol compliance

The 12 Most-Asked Questions

From real walkthroughs:

1. "When was this plan dated?"
2. "How many minutes to fully evacuate guests?"
3. "What's your protocol for disabled guests?"
4. "Did kitchen staff complete Level 1 training?"
5. "When was the last fire-extinguisher service?"
6. "Is the assembly point outdoors?"
7. "Are lift rules shown on the plan?"
8. "Separate kids' club evacuation procedure?"
9. "Who owns evacuation duty on night shift?"
10. "English signage everywhere?"
11. "Do you use QR-coded digital plans?"
12. "Do you have an ABTA-compliant report file?"

Prep Cycle

Bringing a property to ABTA-ready typically takes 5–7 working days, depending on existing plans and training records.

Recommendation

Run a mock audit 14 days before the real one. From our data, a mock raises the real score by an average of 3-5 points — the difference between "acceptable" and "full marks".

See Quality Manager Solutions for the full ABTA prep checklist.