The Value of Agents on Display During COVID-19 Travel Nightmares

Like many travel advisors, the team at Travel Time Inc., a member of Ensemble Travel Group in Calgary, Alberta, found themselves working long days to get clients home as COVID-19 travel restrictions around the world were quickly set in motion.

Two couples were in Vietnam for a Mekong river cruise, when advisor Ashley Wolbeck got an email saying they had been taken to a hospital to get tested, after being in a small group tour that had contact with a UK couple who flew on a flight where one of the crew members had been diagnosed with the virus.

Although they tested negative for the virus, they were taken to a quarantine detention facility and had no idea when they were going to be released, Wolbeck told Travel Market Report. It was a difficult situation for her clients, they didn’t speak the language, they were concerned about clean water, and under stifling heat.

Wolbeck had arrange a flight in order for them to be released, and she took advantage of waivers so they weren’t charged an arm and a leg to return home. Because of the time difference, it was usually 3-6 am when her clients would be email her, and it was “a sleepless week.”

“Through it all Ashley was in touch with them morning, noon, and night – going into the office early and staying late to keep them reassured,” Terri Jo Lennox, president of Travel Time, said.

Wolbeck was able to secure the tickets and the clients were grateful and appreciative to be making their way home.

As Wolbeck rescued her clients from Vietnam, Lennox was dealing with clients stuck in a hotel in Spain.

“My clients don’t fly, and the unfortunate part is I worked almost a year on this trip. They were going to be gone about four months, on a transatlantic sailing, and a multitude of tours and train travel, one of the most challenging customized itineraries I have ever done.”

They arrived in Spain on March 13, a day before Spain put the lockdown in place.

“Part of our job, in addition to being travel advisors, we also end up being counselors, support systems, and therapists,” Lennox said.

The borders were closing, and Lennox’s clients were realizing they were trapped in Spain and needed to get out. With a lot of talking over the course of four or five days, sometimes in the middle of the night or early in the morning, Lennox convinced them to take a flight home. She got them booked with premium economy tickets, so they could have a little better service, and checked them in since they had never flown.

“I watched the flight take off, and I was almost as relieved as they were.”

Now, thankfully, all of Travel Time’s clients that were out of the country are home.

Lennox said the agency is encouraging as many people as much as possible, to postpone and don’t cancel, “we are trying to do that as much as we can while still being mindful of people’s anxieties.”

One of the biggest challenges during all of this, Lennox said, has been the changing policies, in some cases day-by-day.

“I’m not sure how a layperson would understand that, all the policies and fine print. It shows how vital a professional advisors really is,” she said. “Just like anything, a car repair or taxes, we can all do things on our own, but if you get yourself into a bind you need a professional. We have their backs through it all and help them navigate through good times and the bad.”

When travel eventually gets back on track, Lennox hopes there’s a shift in public opinion about travel advisors, and maybe some of the experiences, like her clients had, will help change them.

“I think there’s a lot of misinformation about using a travel agency, especially a brick and mortar one, that it’s generally no more costly than doing it on one’s own. The appreciation will be viewed very differently once people do start traveling again – they’re going to want that security that we provide.”