At Travel Agent magazine, we’ve been taking the pulse of the travel advisor market to see how they’re coping through these very challenging times. Over the course of several weeks we conducted two surveys and three roundtables to get up close with our audience. More than 1,000 advisors responded to our surveys and we present the findings here, along with anecdotal comments made at our virtual roundtables.
Here’s what we found:
After weeks and weeks of working for free just as the COVID crisis hit to resolve client issues, such as cancelling trips that had been months in the making, getting refunds and working virtually for free, travel advisors remained cautiously optimistic about the future.
In one of our roundtable discussions, Becky Lukovic of Bella Travel Planning, an affiliate of Travel Experts, said that travel advisors now need to take credit for what they’ve accomplished to help their clients and to shout it from the mountaintops.
“Travel advisors need to own the fact that we were travel warriors for our clients [during COVID] and they know it. And their friends and even our friends, see how hard we are working for our clients,” she said.
“It’s all about the human connection,” said Camille Holubar, Vista Travel Consultants, Inc. “The travel industry is going through hard times, but it’s going to come back stronger. People are going to make better choices and will want to be more informed as to where they’re going. It’s up to us to stay informed so that our clients can have a great vacation and great memories as they had in the past.”
She is overall optimistic: “Next year is going to be extremely busy, like 2019.”
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Maintaining Relationships
Even though there was clearly little hope of booking new business during the crisis, 95 percent of advisors surveyed stayed in touch with their clients during the pandemic. This was not to sell, but to maintain the relationship, to see how clients were coping, how their families were and to simply provide a general sense of support. Of course, travel did come up during some of these conversations.
“I’m hearing, ‘I can’t wait to get away.’ That’s the tone of anybody who has travel in their blood, who is a luxury client. They want to go, they’re just waiting,” said Robyn Knable-Potter of Robyn Potter Travel.
In fact, she sees a new sense of luxury developing post-pandemic. “The future is going to be more one-on-one, more private travel, especially for our clients going to Europe, where they’re not going to want to do tours with other people. I think that they’ll get more of an intimate experience,” said Knable-Potter.
In the luxury sector, advisors have been getting multiple requests for villas and private residences. There was an overall strong desire, understandably for private spaces with private pools.
Another sector was seeking long-term stays at hotels with children’s programs. Why? Summer camp has been cancelled for many across the country and parents are tired of being camp counselors within their own homes for weeks on end.
Domestic Travel is Booming
It’s no shock that travel advisors reported a strong influx of requests for U.S. trips since international borders remain closed for the most part. In fact, 43 percent of advisors surveyed said that domestic travel had become a new source of revenue for them, which could have long-lasting beneficial effects. Clients have tended to book short-haul vacations themselves, but now even simple trips require counsel.
The domestic travel opportunity became more challenging in recent weeks, however, as COVID began to spike in many states across the country and as New York, New Jersey and Connecticut imposed quarantine restrictions on those traveling from COVID-heavy states.
Several travel advisors also cited examples of spending long hours to find domestic getaways for their customers, only to have them cancel at the last minute if they heard the weather was going to be dicey where they were going. The ability to cancel close in was due to the fact that hotels have largely relaxed their cancellation policies to create a worry-free selling environment.
RV travel has become popular this year; it’s clearly a private way to travel to close-in destinations (see pages 18-19).
Sentiment Varies Wildly
Overall, we’re hearing that travelers’ emotions are covering a large spectrum; some are anxious to fly to wherever they can get to, simply to have a vacation (shorter flights and few connections preferable), others are still nervous to go to the grocery store. Either way, advisors are reporting that clients are looking for their guidance more than ever.
“My success has been holding people’s hands through this whole thing,” said Jolie Goldring of In the Know Experiences.
Intent to Travel
Nearly a third of advisors surveyed by Travel Agent Central said clients have been in touch with them about booking travel for the upcoming Festive Season and 45 percent said clients have contacted them for future cruise travel.
Our survey shows 72 percent of advisors said clients have contacted them for 2021 travel for the following places:
- Caribbean
- Mexico
- Hawaii
- Alaska
- Europe
Safety Is an Issue
Destinations are now being awarded “Safe Travel Stamps” if they abide by the World Travel and Tourism Council’s protocols.
We asked if travel advisors care about this. Seventy percent surveyed said they did.
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Hygiene Matters
Hotel companies across the board are releasing new hygiene protocols.
We asked advisors if they are interested in the details of these measures; 80 percent said yes.
Spending Intent Varies
Clients are willing to spend more if it ensures privacy and space, away from other travelers, said 61 percent of the advisors surveyed.
On the other hand, those who do have clients traveling this fall (58 percent), say clients are looking for travel deals.
What Have Your Fellow Advisors Been Up To?
After the chaos of helping clients cancel or reschedule future trips as the pandemic set in, many travel advisors decided to make the most of their down time.
Here are some of the activities advisors are engaging in, according to our surveys:
- Processing refunds and keeping clients feeling good about future travel.
- Keeping in touch with clients, taking courses, getting credentialed.
- Doing e-blasts with supplier updates on policies and suspensions. Hosting a podcast, doing a series of webinars on destinations for our clients.
- Establishing myself as the travel expert in my community.
Knowledge Is Power; Education Is Key
Many, many advisors said they have spent this time educating themselves, watching webinars, attending virtual events and getting certified via destination and supplier courses.
Others took the time to revamp their websites and create new online content. Cleaning up databases, updating marketing lists and learning about new technology were other key activities for travel advisors.
Multiple advisors said they were creating new client agreements with legal disclaimers and clear cancellation penalties. Others were implementing retainer fees to charge their clients and completely rethinking their service fees, not surprising, considering most advisors lost all of their revenue for trips cancelled because of COVID.
Social networking was a popular activity. One advisor said she was posting inspirational images and videos of varying destinations on Facebook and Instagram to promote 2021 travel, another had one simple goal: “I’m teaching my clients how to dream again.”
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What Advisors Want From Suppliers
In some of our Facebook groups, we picked up a sense of frustration some advisors had with suppliers, such as “When providing ‘opening; announcements, please advise if it’s being treated as a soft opening and if restaurants, pool, beach and spa are not actually open.”
“Please do not send promos out to clients asking them to book a reservation in your outlets if they are not even open.”
Others said they wished hoteliers would provide safety protocols being implemented right up front to advisors. They want to know what it will be like when the client arrives at their location. Are masks required? Will staff be wearing masks? What other measures have been put in place and how is that different from the norm?
“Please don’t make us search multiple sites for this information,” was the general outcry.
The biggest question advisors had for hoteliers was: “Are your borders open to us and are there quarantine restrictions in your destination we need to know about before making a decision on booking with you?”
Through such a time of turmoil we wondered why advisors were remaining optimistic. As noted above, 70 percent of those advisors surveyed believe the travel advisor community will emerge from this crisis stronger than ever and 80 percent said they have no intention of leaving the industry.
What’s driving this optimism? Here are some of the anecdotal responses from our surveys:
“Customers will rely on us more as there is so much information, or dubious information about the state of the world.”
“Too many people have been burned by OTAs....A lot of people got burned by do-it-yourself travel or Costco.”
“Those that booked on their own, without the backing of a travel advisor did not have the protection/assistance of those with a travel advisor.”
Several pointed out that advisors provide the human touch. OTAs do not:
“I think travelers will rely on people in the industry to help guide them to ‘safe’ places, to know how and when things are opening up, and to know what the cancellation policies are.”
“People now see the value in having a real-live person to handle their problems for them when plans change.”
Another reason for optimism? Advisors are now wiser than ever before:
“During this time I have attended many webinars so I have learned a great deal. Knowledge is key in giving your clients the confidence to continue traveling,” said one advisor.
“The industry will be stronger because those remaining are passionate about the business,” said another.
“They will use this time to clarify and polish their business model and practices, workflows, etc.,” said a third.
One advisor noted that “changes will be made to address the current situation that should have been addressed years ago, i.e. travel insurance, timing of commission payments and overall terms and conditions for suppliers and travel agencies.”
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Advisors + Travel = Wonderful Experiences
Overall, there is a strong desire on the part of clients to travel and that priceless dynamic is fueling hope.
“There is pent-up demand. People want to travel....they may stay closer to home over the next year, but they will go beyond our borders again,” said one advisor in our survey.
Another summed it up beautifully, reminding us of why we love and have faith in travel advisors to begin with:
“I have been working in the travel field since 1976 and I have seen a lot happen. We have survived. People need to travel. I love my job and will continue to make clients’ dreams come true,” she said.
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