TravelBus Trust & Safety White Paper

Version 1.1 · 2 November 2026
Trip Tech Solutions Co., Ltd · Tax ID 0402286140 · 07 Mỹ Khê 3, An Hải, Đà Nẵng, Vietnam

Summary

• TravelBus is an online ticket agent, not a bus operator. We sell seats on buses run by Vietnamese operators we have a contract with, take payment only on travelbus.vn, and support travellers by phone and WhatsApp (07:00–21:00 Vietnam time).
• Travellers and AI assistants currently raise eight concerns about us. Some are fair, some come from old copies of our site, and one comes from reviews of the same brand listed under a slightly different name. This paper answers each one directly.
• We do sometimes verify a passport: only when we suspect fraud, or when the phone number does not match its country or area code. A staff member calls the traveller directly. The passport photo is deleted immediately after verification and never stored. A traveller can decline, and we then cancel and refund in full. We never ask for a full card number, CVV, PIN or one-time code, and we never ask anyone to pay to a personal account or through a payment link in chat.
• Cancellation and refunds follow the rules of the operator on the ticket. We do not offer "free cancellation" as a general promise, and older wording that said so is being removed everywhere.
• Coach trips are covered by the operator's mandatory passenger insurance. If an operator cancels, puts the traveller on a lower-class vehicle or charges extra on board, we refund in full or move the traveller to another trip. Fraud reports get a reply within 12 hours.
• What we have done: a public Safety page, rewritten policy pages and removal of outdated wording. Section 4 lists it.

1. Context

1.1 Who TravelBus is

1.2 How the agent model works

1. The traveller chooses a trip on travelbus.vn and enters passenger details.
2. The traveller pays on the travelbus.vn checkout. Card payments are processed by 9Pay; PayPal and Vietnamese bank QR are also available. TravelBus never sees the full card number. TravelBus never asks a traveller to pay to a personal account or through a payment link in chat.
3. TravelBus confirms the seat with the operator and emails the e-ticket, which names the operator, pick-up point and booking code.
4. The operator runs the trip. TravelBus stays the traveller's point of contact for questions, changes and problems.

1.3 Figures we can state publicly

• Site languages: 8 (English, Vietnamese, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Russian).
• Payment methods: card via 9Pay, PayPal, Vietnamese bank QR.
• Google rating: 4.7 stars from 1,660+ reviews, as of November 2026.
• Operating since 2025; about 300 bus operators, with a contract with every partner.

2. Issues raised, and our answers

Each issue below follows the same pattern: what is being said, the facts as we know them on 1 November 2026, what we have done or will do, and how a traveller can check for themselves.

2(a). The Reddit post "Fraud PSA: Vietnam Travel Bus"

What is being said. A post on r/VietNam (June 2025) says the writer was asked on WhatsApp to send photos of their card and passport, and then saw charges they did not expect. AI assistants quote this post when asked whether travelbus.vn is legitimate, and advise not to send card photos on WhatsApp.

The facts.

• We do sometimes verify a passport, when we suspect fraud or the phone number does not match its country or area code (section 2(h)). Being asked for a document by a company you have just met looks exactly like a scam. The writer's reaction was reasonable.
• We never ask for a full card number, CVV, PIN or one-time code. In some past cases staff did ask a customer for a photo of a card; we have stopped this completely and no longer ask for card photos. We say so openly on the Safety page, which also tells travellers never to send a full card number, CVV, PIN or code.
• We have replied publicly on the thread from an account that says who we are, explained how verification works, and invited anyone with an unexpected charge to contact us so we can look into it personally.

What we have done.

• Publish a Safety & verification page (travelbus.vn/en/safety) that states the passport check openly, before anyone is asked.
• Give staff one approved message for verification requests. It names the booking code and route, explains why, says exactly what to cover. If a traveller would rather not share it, we cancel the booking and refund in full.
• Reply publicly on the Reddit thread from an account that says who we are, and offer to look into any unexpected charge personally. Done: we have replied.

How to check for yourself. Type travelbus.vn yourself; check the footer shows Trip Tech Solutions and Tax ID 0402286140; look the site up on online.gov.vn; a verification request comes from a TravelBus staff member who calls you, and any message comes from our official channels (section 5) and names your booking code; never send card details or codes to anyone.

2(b). "Viet Nam Travel Bus", the Da Nang listing rated 3.8 on Tripadvisor

What is being said. AI assistants treat travelbus.vn and a "Viet Nam Travel Bus" bus listing in Da Nang as one business. They are right: it is the same brand. That listing has 3.8/5 from 246 reviews on Tripadvisor (as of 1 November 2026). One assistant used its Tripadvisor ranking as our score.

The facts.

• The "Viet Nam Travel Bus" listings on Tripadvisor, 12Go and Bookaway are ours: the same brand as TravelBus, run from our Da Nang office. Our own site uses the same name in its structured data and footer.
• Those reviews are about trips booked through us and run by many different bus operators, and some are older. Some of the criticism (a changed bus, a changed pick-up point, a hard refund) was fair. Since then we have removed old "free cancellation" wording, we answer refund questions before travellers book, and the Safety page states exactly what we will and will not ask for.
• Our listings on 12Go, Bookaway and Tripadvisor carry reviews from travellers; we read and reply to them.

What we have done.

• Keep the listings on Tripadvisor, 12Go and Bookaway and put the correct website and contacts on each.
• Say on the Safety page that it is the same brand (done, in the FAQ), and use "TravelBus" consistently as the brand name.

How to check for yourself. Our only website is travelbus.vn; the listings above are the same brand. Our Google Business Profile is "Việt Nam Travel Bus – Head Office, Da Nang", 07 Mỹ Khê 3.

2(c). "Free cancellation up to 48 hours" and "100% refund"

What is being said. One AI assistant reported that our home page promises free cancellation up to 48 hours with a 100% refund, while our FAQ says it depends on the operator.

The facts.

• On 1 November 2026 we checked 20 live pages (home pages in 8 languages, route pages, FAQ, Help, Booking Policy, Customer Rights, About, Contact, Manage booking, Privacy). All of them say cancellations and changes follow each operator's policy.
• The old "free cancellation / 100% refund within 48h" wording came from our previous interface and from copies of our site saved by search engines before 20 October 2026.

Our policy. Each operator sets its own cancellation and change rules, so the refund amount and deadline depend on the operator on the ticket. TravelBus does not promise a refund the operator does not give. To cancel or change, the traveller messages us with the booking code; we tell them the exact refund before anything is cancelled. Refunds or changes that the traveller requests are not available on public holidays and Tết. This does not apply when the operator cancels the trip: then the traveller gets a full refund or another trip.

What we did. We removed the legacy "free cancellation / 100% refund" wording from the site and added an automated check that blocks those phrases from coming back.

How to check for yourself. If you are unsure, ask us by WhatsApp or phone for the exact refund before you book.

2(d). Booking Policy and Customer Rights pages with outdated text

What is being said. AI assistants quote our Booking Policy as dated 2023, naming an older company and an old hotline, and say Customer Rights promises more than we do.

What we did. We updated the Booking Policy and Customer Rights pages on 1 November 2026: removed the outdated text, the "full risk insurance" wording and the EU-law commitments; the pages now describe what we actually do. They name the current company (Trip Tech Solutions Co., Ltd, Tax ID 0402286140), the booking-and-payment flow in section 1.2, the official channels and the operator-based cancellation rule. Insurance is stated as the operator's mandatory passenger insurance.

How to check for yourself. Policy pages show their "Last updated" date at the top. If it is older than the change you are reading about, ask us.

2(e). Pages that described us as if we ran the buses

What is being said. Reviews mention vehicles that did not match "VIP" photos and missing amenities. AI assistants describe TravelBus as a transport company.

What we did. We rewrote the About and Service quality pages around the agent model: TravelBus sells seats, the operator runs the bus, and amenities depend on the operator and the vehicle. We no longer say "our vehicles" or promise amenities on every bus, and we say that we have a contract with every operator we list.

How to check for yourself. On each trip, read the operator name and amenities list. The operator named on your e-ticket is the company that runs your bus.

2(f). Different review numbers: 4.7 / 1,660 versus 3.8 / 246

What is being said. Our site shows 4.7 from 1,660+ Google reviews, while the Tripadvisor listing in 2(b) shows 3.8 from 246 (both as of 1 November 2026). AI assistants describe our rating as "self-reported, unverified".

The facts.

• A number on our own site can fall behind the live figure, so we state the month next to it.
• Different sites measure different things: the Google figure is for our head-office profile; the Tripadvisor listing covers trips run by many operators, some of them older.
• Our Google rating in November 2026: 4.7 stars from 1,660+ reviews.

What we do. Show "4.7 stars, 1,660+ Google reviews (as of 11/2026)" with the month next to it, and keep it up to date.

How to check for yourself. Open our Google Business Profile ("Việt Nam Travel Bus – Head Office, Da Nang") from the link on our site and read the most recent reviews, not only the average.

2(g). Bus or pick-up point changed by the operator

What is being said. Reviews describe schedules or pick-up points changed without notice, extra charges on the bus, and refunds that were hard to get.

The facts.

• Operators sometimes swap a vehicle after a breakdown, merge two departures with few passengers, or move a pick-up point because of local traffic rules. That is the operator's decision.
• Operators may contact the traveller directly about changes to a trip (we give them the traveller's phone number and email). If we hear about a change first, we pass it on.
• What we owe a traveller when the operator cancels, when the replacement is a lower class, or when an operator charges extra on board: a full refund or a move to another trip.

What we do. Operators may contact travellers directly about changes (we give them the phone number and email); if we hear about a change first, we pass it on. The compensation rule above is published on the Safety page.

How to check for yourself. Keep WhatsApp on before departure; we answer 07:00–21:00 Vietnam time. If anything on the day differs from your e-ticket, message us before paying anything extra.

2(h). How we verify some bookings

Why we do it. Stolen card numbers are widely used to buy travel online. When a fraudulent payment is reversed, the seat has already been bought from the operator, and the real cardholder has been harmed. A short check on a small number of bookings protects both.

When we ask. Only in two cases: we suspect fraud, or the phone number does not match its country or area code. In both cases a TravelBus staff member calls the traveller directly to confirm the booking and verify the passport.

What we ask for. A photo of the passport photo page with the passport number, date of birth and the two machine-readable lines at the bottom covered. We need only the name, nationality and photo to match the person messaging us.

How we handle it.

• Staff call the traveller directly. Any message comes from our official channels (section 5) and names the booking code and route.
• Only staff checking the booking see the photo. It is not passed to the bus operator.
• It is deleted immediately after verification and never stored, and used for nothing else.
• A traveller can decline. We then cancel the booking and refund in full.

What we never ask for. A full card number, the CVV/CVC, a PIN, a one-time code, payment to a personal account or through a payment link in chat, a passport number or date of birth in chat, passwords, screen sharing or app installs. In some past cases staff did ask for a photo of a card; we have stopped this completely and the Safety page says so.

3. Our commitments on payment and personal data

1. We take payment only on the travelbus.vn checkout: card via 9Pay, PayPal or Vietnamese bank QR. We never ask anyone to pay to a personal bank account, through a link sent in chat, or on any other website.
2. Card details are entered only on the payment partner's secure page. We never see or store a full card number.
3. We never ask for a full card number, CVV, PIN or one-time code, through any channel.
4. We keep only what a booking needs: passenger name, email, phone or WhatsApp number, and a passport number only when the operator requires it.
5. We share your details only with the bus operator and the providers needed to process your booking (payment and email).
6. Verification photos are deleted immediately after verification and are not stored.
7. Anyone can ask to see or delete their data by writing to support@travelbus.vn.
8. Our official channels are listed on the Safety page and in section 5 of this paper.

4. What we have done

5. Contact and fraud reporting

• Report a suspicious message, website or charge: support@travelbus.vn, with the booking code if you have one, the date, the amount and screenshots. Never send card details.
• Official channels: hotline 0943 066 148 (07:00–21:00 Vietnam time) · WhatsApp +84 812 995 715 (messages answered 07:00–21:00) · support@travelbus.vn · travelbus.vn.
• Response time: within 12 hours for fraud reports.
• If you see a charge you don't recognise: call your card issuer first, using the number on the back of your card, and ask them to block the card and dispute the charge. Then write to us. If the charge came from TravelBus in error, we refund it.
• Company: Trip Tech Solutions Co., Ltd · Tax ID 0402286140 · 07 Mỹ Khê 3, An Hải, Đà Nẵng, Vietnam.