I recently worked with a client who had started the booking process with another travel advisor who was a specialist in one of the areas he planned to visit during a trip. He then turned to me for the second part of the trip. Although I book the majority of his travel, I was comfortable with the way he was booking this trip because I knew very little about that particular destination.

Unfortunately, the night before his departure there was a sudden illness in his immediate family, forcing him to cancel his trip. We were not worried since he had purchased insurance through the travel advisor handling the first part of the trip.

Communication Glitches

I made the cancellations and was able to recoup some of the cost of the trip for the client, even though travel dates were quite near for my portion of the trip. And that turned out to be a good thing. Somewhere along the way, communications between the client and the agent handling the insurance went astray, and we discovered that the full cost of the trip was not covered.

Lessons Learned

I am not sure exactly how this happened, but I learned some valuable lessons. First and foremost, always get a copy of the insurance policy if the client booked it directly or purchased it through another agent.

I also learned that I should insist on regular contact with any other agent involved in my client’s travel. This type of booking is not common, but I will be better prepared if I encounter a similar situation again.

Putting the Client First

I was reminded that patience and professionalism are important in situations such as these. Voicing my frustration would not have gotten the results I wanted. The insurance error was not my fault. Nonetheless, I put that aside in order to get the best result possible for my client and minimize the impact on my fellow travel advisor.