Update - last 2 months

I hope that this communication finds you well and that you are all coping with these unusual times. It's certainly been a strange few months. I thought it might be useful to give you an insight into what has been happening in this industry over the last 8 weeks or so. As you can imagine, it has been far from business as usual and extremely challenging to say the least.

When this outbreak first started to impact on the travel industry in mid-February I had multiple clients who were about to depart on their holiday or adventure. Some of these were once in a lifetime experiences and others for clients who travel every month. Each was as important as the other and at that point we were giving out advice as given by the relevant international governments and many clients decided to travel as the situation was evolving. I kept in touch with them on a regular basis whilst abroad and gave updates where necessary if advice was changing. I also had clients away on longer trips who had departed before anyone was aware of what was starting to unfold.

As a Travel Counsellor, I have always worked from a home office. This turned out to be a massive benefit. Our fantastic IT infrastructure was already set up to work in this way. There was no need for a change of working arrangements and therefore we were perfectly placed to service our clients need unlike the majority of other travel providers

Once we got to a situation where it was becoming more and more obvious that things were getting more serious, our first concern was getting people home as soon as they could. As a company we had thousands of clients all over the world but keeping in touch and understanding each individuals circumstances meant that we repatriated customers with little fuss and delay. My clients can contact me at any time of the day or night by phone, email, text, WhatsApp etc and we have a 24 hour emergency team available. This means that we could hold options on flight seats whilst local arrangements were made without obligation. I know that customers of the bigger on-line travel agencies had no such guidance and help and many were left to their own devices and paid thousands to get back. I also have clients based in foreign countries who needed to get home from the UK and again they were rebooked as soon as was practical

The bigger issue was forward bookings going into April (covering Easter) and May. Foreign office advice was changing daily if not hourly. Visa requirements, airline schedules were in a state of flux and advice given one day was not valid the next. This gave us a huge challenge and one not helped by the chaos in the airline industry. It wasn't always possible to give an immediate answer as to whether a trip could be rebooked for a later dates, or cancelled completely. The majority of my clients did not want to completely miss out on a trip which they may have saved for and looked forward to over many months. I have rebooked many of these for late 2020 or 2021 and in most cases at no additional costs and I thank you for your patience whilst we sort these out.

It's now likely that the majority of bookings in June will also be impacted, but rest assured I will be here to give advice and reassurance should your plans have to change. It's going to take time to work through. The logistics are previously unimaginable but we are working around the clock. Some providers (tour operators, airlines) are not helping by rapidly changing terms and conditions or back tracking on rebooking and refund commitments. This has sometimes lead to difficult conversations with clients but in each case we have your back

It's still uncertain times and a constantly evolving and fluid situation although there is definitely still confidence and determination for us all to get travelling again. This week I have booked a river cruise, a holiday to the Caribbean and a trip to Peru all for either Christmas or for 2021. If you're dreaming of a trip when this is all over, why not get something in the diary. I'd be delighted to start making bookings for you and helping to give you something to look forward to

There are always challenges in this industry - terrorist attacks, natural disasters, airline failures etc and this is when a professional travel agent rises to the fore and becomes an essential ally to the customer. We will survive and be better for it in the future because ultimately we care about our clients, their experiences and outcomes and will try harder than anyone else

Thanks for being a client (or a potential client if you're reading this) and don't hesitate to get in touch at any time. If you family friends or colleagues that may benefit from my service please shout it from the rooftops Stay well