You’ve spent seemingly endless hours creating what you believe to be the perfect trip for your clients – and then they cancel. What should you do? Three expert veteran travel advisors offer advice on how to proceed.
“Cancellations are bound to happen and they happen to all of us at one point or another. However, more often than not you can save a booking by simply working with your client to move their travel dates,” said Lindsey Holmes, owner of Kingdom Destinations.
“Communication with your client is critically important. Understanding the reason why they are reaching out to cancel is vital, as they may believe their only option is to cancel. As an advisor, your job is to advise, not simply be a booking engine,” she added. “Therefore, understanding your client and their situation can help you to best advise them on their options and best course of action."
“For instance, some cancellations may be in regards to a family emergency, sickness or another unforeseen event. In these cases, suggesting moving the trip out may be an option for them as they are being prevented from traveling on a trip they would have otherwise been taking – and we can only assume they still want to go on.”
In other cases, a client may cancel a trip because they believe it has become cost-prohibitive. “Instead of losing the business altogether, finding more budget-friendly options would be a better choice than simply cancelling,” Holmes said.
“A third scenario may be that the original destination no longer interests them for whatever reason that may be,” she added. “You can offer alternative destinations that they could visit instead of simply cancelling altogether.”
Weather and US State Department advisories also play a role in cancellations. “In these cases, we talk through clients’ options and the actual facts and risks and rely upon our first-hand experience to address their specific concerns,” said Tom Brussow, owner and president of Sunsational Beach Vacations.
“This helps to balance what they are hearing in the media or on social, which can be inaccurate and/or sensationalized. Following these conversations, in the vast majority of cases, we are able to instill confidence where it is warranted and the clients elect not to cancel.”
Cancellations are arguably much less of a hassle when clients opt for travel insurance. “It is very rare these days to book anyone without trip cancellation insurance, which is almost always Cancel for Any Reason, as we are booking primarily Travel Protection Plus with ALG Vacations,” Brussow said.
“And, with this, more than 50 percent of our clients chose the ‘travel credits back’ version of the insurance,” he added. “This means that they will have 13 months to book a new trip with their credits, which allows us to retain the booking, albeit down the road.”
For her part, Niki Rakowitz, owner of CARE Travel, requires clients to complete cancellation request forms. “This puts in writing that the clients have made this specific request, along with providing a reason for the cancellation,” she said. “Once we have this form returned, we then reach out to our supplier to gather all options to completely cancel and options to move travel dates.
“Within 24 hours of this cancellation request, we send clients their options, along with the insurance policy/contact information should they have insurance.”
“Our goal is to always try to move the clients’ trip dates versus completely losing them,” Rakowitz added.
In the post-pandemic world, cancellations have become increasingly rarer, advisors agreed. “Cancellations happen to all of us, but we don’t have many as a whole, thankfully,” Holmes said. “It’s not often, but it happens.”
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