COVID-19 UPDATE

To all our valued clients present, past and future 🙂 

 

Firstly I want to thank you all for your patience and kindness. While I appreciate the effects of the pandemic are now far reaching, our industry was hit hard and with such ferocity, it has felt like we were the front line of an invisible war. I describe most days as brutal so thank you to those who have reached out with kind email and text messages, bottles of champagne, chocolates, flowers, coffees and toilet paper, these kind and generous acts have made such an incredible difference!

The travel industry as a whole is facing an uncertain period of time and we know that this uncertainty extends to you, our loyal clients. We understand that your arrangements for travel are being seriously affected by the constantly evolving and changing situation due to COVID-19 and we are empathetic to your situation. We experience great sadness as we “undo” all the amazing holidays we have created together and we appreciate the disappointment you must be experiencing. We will continue to offer our assistance in managing your arrangements for you during this time. Travel policies are changing day to day and in some cases hour by hour and we will do our utmost to communicate and update you as that information comes to hand. Please take into account that we are working to assist all of our clients as quickly as possible. We need to prioritise our clients with the more urgent needs and those scheduled to depart in the coming weeks. It has taken us months and in some cases over a year to create these holidays and we need time to process the volume. Whilst some airlines and other travel providers are waiving amendment and/or cancellation fees, the current protocol is that these suppliers are offering this as a credit to be used towards future travel and not offering refunds. We appreciate this suits some and is not ideal for others but please understand this is out of our hands.

As is the case with many agencies, I am now working solo. I appreciate that many of you have not heard from me and I ask for your patience once again and I assure you I am working diligently on your bookings primarily in date order unless a policy dictates that I should reach out sooner. Supplier policies are still changing constantly and I am often having to do the assessments on cancelling or amending a trip as often as three or four times. With many call centers closed worldwide and many suppliers having stood down staff or they are working from home, it can take hours, even days to manage one cancellation. I am working on files where supplier policies are offering viable options.

Refunds are taking a very long time and again I have to ask for your patience. I am chasing these regularly but if you can imagine the millions of customers that have been impacted you can begin to understand the enormity of processing these.  An airline refund ALWAYS took 6 to 8 weeks and these can now take up to 6 months. 

I hope this offers insight into our current position and please be assured that I am working towards the best possible outcome for all of you and will contact you as options become available.

Global Travel Solutions remain committed to providing service as best we can to our valued clients throughout the COVID-19 global pandemic.

My thanks and best wishes
Jo

Last updated 12 May, 2020

 

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