Dear Travel Agents/Advisors,

A few weeks ago, we talked about river and ocean cruises. Now, I want to focus on cruises vs. resorts, as travelers are getting more and more antsy to get going on their well-deserved vacations.

As we can see, other countries like Europe and the Caribbean will be open for the tourism before the US. We don’t see US ports being open to the cruise lines yet because they need to follow CDC guidelines.

But, in order to get to the river or ocean cruises in Europe, a traveler will have to fly to Europe.

I am wondering how soon and how many travelers are comfortable taking a long flight overseas, when we talk about keeping social distance, wearing masks, and especially with food, and sharing a bathroom.

Another choice is flying to the Caribbean (still overseas but not such a long flight from many US gateways). Cruises would have to start from a Caribbean island and would not need to follow the CDC’s guidance. Keep in mind that the Caribbean survives mostly from tourism generated from the cruise lines.

Another choice for those who are not comfortable with the social distancing rules of the cruise lines or the long flights overseas to catch a river cruise in Europe, is to relax in a resort.

Resorts offer the experience of the vacation one needs, while at the same time, allows guests to be socially distant from strangers.

Ultimately, resorts can be the place to go for many people who still want to have a vacation in 2020.

Many resorts offer day excursions to different areas around them, so the traveler doesn’t need to feel confined with just one place to visit. Another idea is to combine a couple of resorts and enjoy a broader area to visit.

The more options you can offer to your client, the more inclined he/she will be to find a reason and an opportunity to travel, despite the circumstances.

You, the travel agent/advisor, have the tools to make any vacation a great experience for your clients.

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Dear Travel Agents/Advisors,

Now is the perfect time to build your clientele and their bucket lists!

How?

Virtual Tours by Zoom!

Yes, you can, and this is one of the way to do it:

• Get a list of your clients and prospective client’s emails (ask for recommendations once you tell them what you are doing, no strings attached!)
• Contact your tour operators and get materials the you’ll need for different countries and different subjects (culinary, museums, beaches, etc.)
• If you don’t know much about a destination, try to get a local(s) to talk to your audience.
• Remember that pictures talk louder than any expert in any subject.
• Keep it short, a 30/40 minute presentation, and allow time for questions.
• Many tour operators will be ready to help you with a presentation.
• Give ideas for tours but mostly let clients build their own bucket lists.
• Be creative in ways to get more prospective clients to watch your virtual tours.

Tour companies and even river and ocean cruise representatives are ready to help hard working travel agents/advisors. This is the perfect time for great partnerships and creativity. Travelers are still dreaming about places to go, and with a little help from creative travel agents, they can “visit” some places and build a stronger bucket list.

Travelers have more time to dream now. Take this as your opportunity to build your business. You could sit and feel sorry for yourself, but instead, spend this downtime working on a fun and adventurous virtual tour.

Change CAN’T to CAN and just do it!

I am your cheerleader, keep me posted!

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Dear Travel Agents/Advisors,

Let me first disclose that I am a cruise lover and totally believe that the cruise industry will be stronger than before, and ready to accommodate all the requirements of the CDC and other health organizations once their ships are back out and about.

Unfortunately, science doesn’t yet understand all the details of how Covid-19 will act in the summer (northern hemisphere) or winter (southern hemisphere). No one knows how many ports will be open, and which countries will be accepting cruise lines.

It is still too early for cruise lines to announce a definitive date they’ll start sailing. Some have dates as early as August 1st. By booking those early dates, travel agents/advisors can easily set themselves for double the work (booking and rescheduling), plus spending hours on the phone and having their clients frustrated.

Cruise lovers who are concerned about crowded places but still love the freedom of having the “hotel” traveling with them without the hassle of packing and unpacking, should look into river cruises with a maximum of 200 cruisers.

Since rivers are different than the big sea, there are many short itineraries with very good prices for “tasting and trying” or like one of them is called, “Short and Suite!”

The river cruises will have the public areas disinfected, touch-free temperature checks and luggage disinfection prior to embarkation. They will strongly recommend passengers on tours use masks, which will be provided prior to departure of every excursion, along with gloves and hand sanitizing gel.

It is easier to control and check a smaller number of crew and passengers on a cruise ship, than a large one with 3,500 passengers.

Another important reason to choose river cruising is that medical services can be summoned easily from local hospitals, doctors and ambulance services, unlike ocean-going ships that must effectively act as their own hospitals until land can be reached. That can give some peace and tranquility to some cruisers.

I suggest learning more about river cruises when suggesting a vacation to your client.

As I said before, travelers are ready and eager to travel. Even the more skeptical ones just need some suggestions, opportunities, and clarification.

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Dear Travel Agents/Advisors,

What is new with you?

We have been home for over 2 months, and I have noticed some changes in the posts from many of you. In the beginning I saw a lot of funny memes and sarcasm regarding obesity by the end of quarantine, being crazy, or having gray hair; many jokes related to physical and mental aspect of being secluded from others.

Over time, I have noticed some postings of anger, political sarcasm, and from many others, very positive comments, like losing weight and exercise, learning something new, reposting good deeds from others and thanks to the First Responders.

We are going through tough times, there is no discussion about that! Many are frustrated for not being at work, many others are scared and feel safer being home. Some are afraid to lose their lives and others are afraid to lose their homes. Honestly, I don’t think there is a right answer, because we are not in everyone else’s shoes.

Personally, we lost loved ones from Covid-19, and we have loved ones in the hospital from this awful virus. There are other people very dear to us that have lost their businesses, and also some who are very close to losing them.

So, if you asked what is new with me, I’d tell you that I am exercising every day, it helps both my sanity and my body. I participate in some seminars on Zoom (never knew I would be using Zoom this much!) I read a lot of novels and thrillers, I’ve rediscovered gardening, and I try to learn as much as I can about the state of the travel industry now.

What I don’t do is also important. I don’t spend my time watching the news, nor reading or talking about Covid-19 – it stresses me out. I limit the time that I allow people to talk to me about the subject.

I try to make this time as positive as I can. The only control I have is what I can do about myself and my life. I can’t control others, nor I can control the country or the world.

As I expressed before, this is also a tough time for me and my family, but I choose to make the best of it as much as I can. Those who know me see me joking even more, some of it is just to cover up my fears. I spend more time doing things I enjoy and avoid negative (and Covid positive) people.

Again, what is new with you?

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Dear Travel Agents/Advisors,

Last week I wrote about how the American airlines are responding to protect passengers from getting Covid-19 while flying. Many other countries and airlines check passengers’ temperature before they check in.

Emirates airline administers blood tests for Covid-19, with results in 10 minutes, at the terminal before a passenger boards the plane. This test is administered by the Dubai Health Authority. This test does not substitute for the use of masks during the flight; passengers need to wear masks as well.

In terms of PERCEPTION, I personally like the proactive approach being used by Emirates, BUT we all know that unfortunately, there are some false positive and false negative results. The false negative could be dangerous for other passengers, and the false positives will not only frustrate a healthy passenger not being allowed to fly, but also give the false idea that once “recovered” this person will be immune.

Until we have a vaccine and/or medication for this horrible virus, I believe that airlines need to give us some type of protection; at least some distance, and the mandatory use of masks. But how to enforce the use of masks on a flight? I think that counting on the flight attendant to enforce this rule is not fair, nor is safe. We all know what can happen when one complains about someone kicking the seat behind, we get a viral YouTube video. How about having a marshal on each flight making sure everyone wears the mask. Since we now have more PPE, the airline could give an N95 mask to each passenger (so all wear the same protective mask) and if one is not wearing it, they’ll need to deal with the marshal plus pay a fine for violating the safety of others.

I truly believe that by doing this, and promoting these efforts through advertising, the PERCEPTION that passengers will have about the airline industry will improve.

What is your opinion?

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Dear Travel Agents/Advisors,

On May 6^th, we celebrated Travel Agent/Advisors Day. In my opinion, it was a day to focus on the light at the end of the tunnel. We’ll return brighter and stronger than before. I truly believe that now more than ever, travelers will use a travel agent rather than use a search engine or book travel themselves. (Please see my previous blogs about that!)

Now, let’s talk about the other players in the travel industry, since we know that it takes two to tango. We have all heard about the different actions the airlines are taking to protect passengers. In order to sell travel, we need to eventually sell airline tickets, right? So, they are supposed to be team players on the same court/field where travel safety is being considered.

But now we have heard that Frontier Airlines is selling the middle seat starting from $39. So right away I have a few questions for this so called “Team Player:”

• Why does the traveler need to pay to be protected?
• If I am seated in the aisle seat and pay for the middle seat, should the traveler in the window seat pay me half of the money?
• What if (in the same scenario) I pay for the middle seat and the traveler seated in the window seat wants to pay for middle seat, do you charge half each?
• Can I use the flight attendant to intervene in a dispute with the traveler seated by the window if they’re putting some of their belongings on the middle seat when I paid for it?

Actually, it is funny that we, the taxpayers, bail out the airlines yet we still have to pay to be protected and keep a little distance from another traveler that could be easily be Covid-19 asymptomatic.

Now let’s get to another so called “Team Player,” United Airlines:
“We are not mandating that passengers wear a mask, however, we strongly encourage travelers follow CDC guidance to wear a face covering when social distancing is difficult,” said Nicole Carriere, a spokeswoman for United. “By providing the masks, we’re making it that much easier for them to do so.”

How can they strongly encourage us not to get Covid-19 from asymptomatic travelers who don’t show any symptoms or fever when they come onto the plane?

How about the other Team Players? Who will guarantee that the passengers will be wearing masks during the whole flight, keep a safe distance when leaving the plane or going to the bathroom, so we will not be spreading the virus?

In my opinion, we need a stronger position from all the Team Players so we can be prepared when we start traveling again.

What is your opinion?

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Dear Travel Agents/Advisors,

Let’s talk about FEAR, how real it is, and how we can expect travelers to deal with anxiety and fear of going back to traveling after (or even before the end of) a global pandemic.

In my opinion, it will be easier for people who want to travel but have lost their jobs to find the money to travel, than for those who are scared of catching Covid-19 to find a reason to go someplace.

The good news is that most Americans are ready to travel as soon as the lockdowns are lifted. We also know for a fact that the number of bookings of cruises (not counting those rescheduled) are already greater than the same time last year.

We also know that because of different budgets for land tours and cruises, more and more people can afford to travel. They can pay in payments or they use credit cards for this. Many people believe that travel is great therapy and that they deserve it, even more so now after going through hard times like this horrible pandemic.

So how to deal with FEAR?

Fears are psychological, emotional and physical. The best way to help someone with fear is to acknowledge that it is real, and slowly give them facts that can help them believe that they should feel safe.

How? Collect information about how airlines and cruises will be proactive in protecting everyone against getting the virus. How hotels in many countries will do a good job by being totally disinfected. How buses and restaurants will be working, and so forth.

Maybe the first task for travel agents/advisors will be to focus on the ready travelers. First the ones who can afford to travel, and then making very budget conscious itineraries for those who need a break before going back to work. Not everyone thinks alike, but I can assure you that many believe that a fresh new start begins with a beautiful break from everything to reenergize and bring more positive energy to a new beginning.

Slowly but steadily gather information for the clients with FEARS, and then, when you least expect it, you have a long list of new clients, PLUS great experience in the psychology of your business.

I love a quote from Einstein and truly believe in it. Think about it when you are moving ahead with your business:

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

Every day is an opportunity to grow yourself and grow your business! You can do it, despite the pandemic, despite negative people. Believe that everything is a miracle – like you are!

Cheers!

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Dear Travel Agents/Advisors,

We are closer than we expected. We can almost taste the victory which will pay for all the hard times we have invested in this great profession.

I read many people saying, even venting, in groups about how hard it has been to spend hours and hours on the phone trying to talk to a human being on the other end, looking for answers, eager to serve their clients for a commission that is not going to happen.

The good news is that many more travelers have decided to reschedule their travels instead of asking for a refund.

The good news is that those commissions will come later on.

The good news is that so many frustrated travelers who had to spend hours on the phone trying to “find” a human being to talk to at a search engine travel company where they booked online will now be looking for a reliable travel agent/advisor for their next very much desired vacation.

Many travel agents/advisors are sharing pictures of destinations, and that is good. My suggestion is to also show souvenirs (maybe your own) from different parts of the world. Maybe write a few words about where they come from, and why you bought them. That helps to show a bit more of who you are, helps to build a relationship that this traveler is looking for, and shows that someone cares, and that you may have something in common with each other.

Another idea is to share personal pictures of your trips, maybe even of food, and talk about it.

You need to build momentum, give yourself a chance to introduce who you are, how much you care, and how you believe that each and every client counts.

We can see a bright and shining light at the end of the tunnel for travel agents/advisors, even stronger than before. Take advantage of this opportunity and show how much you can shine!

Cheers!

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Dear Travel Agents/Advisors,

What about cruises?

Well, as I could have predicted, once a cruise addict or cruise lover, always a believer in cruises. The data shows that 76% of cruises have been rescheduled for later, and only 24% were cancelled.

Also, data shows that there was an increase in bookings of cruises from last year versus this year.

These factors alone show that people believe that cruise lines will comply with CDC regulations and will do everything to make every single cruise a great experience again.

Now, I believe that new ships will be delayed so they can be better ready for new regulations and the safety of cruisers and crew, like:

• Bigger and better medical facilities, with space to isolate passengers if needed.
• More sinks throughout the ships, so passengers can properly wash their hands.
• Fewer inside cabins or bigger inside cabins in case of another pandemic, where passengers can be confined to their rooms.
• Bigger dining rooms so tables can be placed at a greater distance from each other
• Maybe even bigger entertainment rooms to maintain social distance.

In terms of existing ships, I believe, that like the airlines, they will sell fewer rooms and slowly start back to avoid Covid-19 contagion.

• The buffet rooms will not be self-service, but trained crew will be serving the food. Cutlery and cups will be given out by the crew, and many will go back to disposable (environmentally safe ones).
• No more self-service coffee, ice cream by the pool, or even water cups.
• Rooms will be deeply cleaned 2 times a day.
• Elevator buttons, and handrails throughout the ship will be cleaned hourly or even more often.
• Each room might have an alcohol gel dispenser close to the bathroom and/or door.
• Bathrooms in the public areas will have automatic doors to exit the room (not individual stalls) so after washing hands, one doesn’t need to touch the doorknob.
• People’s temperature will be checked regularly: once they arrive on the ship, when they go on every excursion, and before entering the theatre and before going to the dining room.
• Passengers over 70 years old will need a letter from their doctor certifying that they are healthy enough to go to a cruise.
• Boarding times will be more restrictive and more enforced to avoid having so many people at the port at once.
• There will probably be a 24-hour turn over, instead of less than 12 hours, so rooms and the whole ship can be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.
• Travel Insurance could possibly change. Some policies will cost more, and I believe that cruises will make it mandatory to purchase travel insurance.
• More medical staff, with better training, and rooms for isolation if needed.
• Excursions will have big buses with fewer people to allow for more social distance.
• Some destinations will be cancelled for now based on how Covid-19 cases are appearing.

These are my beliefs based on what I have read and learned from cruise lines so far.

Again, I believe this is all great news for travel agents/advisors. More and more people will be booking cruises, and first-time cruisers will soon be back once they see how safe and wonderful cruise life is.

What have you heard? I want to hear from you!

Cheers!

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Dear Travel Agents/Advisors,

I could easily make a list of all the terrible things that could possibly happen to Travel Agents/Advisors. As I have posted my strong beliefs about how travelers will be changing their thoughts in a positive way towards travel agents, I am sad to see that some people believe that nothing will change.

I am not telling you that I know it all, but I was lucky enough to love history classes in school, and by studying this subject, we understand how the world evolves. People change based on their needs and their experiences, especially the ones that have been negative.

Most travelers who had to deal with search engines and online travel agencies during the problems caused by Covid-19 and experienced how hard it was to get their money back (if they ever did) will definitely try to deal with a travel agent/advisor the next time they travel.

That is a silver lining – after this pandemic more travelers will be going back to travel agents instead of search engines.

Since airlines, hotels, cruises, tours are all down right now, they need money to survive. If you check prices right now for future travel, you can get great deals for your clients. Let me say it again, for future dates.

Present options to your clients together with a quote for Travel Insurance (CFAR) or check how flexible suppliers are in changing dates.

A lot of people working from home are dreaming of a vacation away from family, pets and even their own homes. Let their dreams become reality as soon as this pandemic allows people to travel and show them what a great travel agent/advisor you are. This is a silver lining for everyone.

What about all your clients who have lost their jobs? Please check on them. It has been a hard time and they need all the support they can get. Be your best self. People always remember who was there for them when they were down. Some are so depressed that they can’t even talk on the phone. Send them a Thinking of You card, and if you can, send an Amazon gift card or a basket of something nice. You will feel good about making a little difference in someone’s life. Trust me, those clients will remember, and they will go back to work knowing how much you cared.

That is the silver lining for you, for them, and for the history of the world.

Let’s get out of this pandemic with something positive: the way we feel about each other.

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