Travel Agents" "Yeaaa, we good." 

Wow. That escalated fast. CoVid-19 or Coronavirus has certainly gotten all of our attention!

Early February, things first started with some of my large client groups deferring their bookings for next year. Then, I started to have other individuals or families decide to hold off on confirming travel bookings for later 2020 that we had been planning. And now we're into cancellation and re-booking the existing bookings made for the next month or two of March and April. And - folks who are abroad are trying to get home.

It's been exhausting for all of us - the travel advisors, the travel suppliers, and the traveling clients. To say we're all in unchartered waters is an understatement of enormous proportions - and this is an industry that has been through SARS, MERS, Avian flu, 9/11, H1N1, Ebola, terrorist attacks, volcanic ash clouds, snowpocalyse, tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, bushfires, and more. We know as an industry that we are resilient - and this too shall pass.

But when you're in the middle of a situation, it can seem bleak. Memories of earlier bleak times helps remind us all that we've weathered seemingly catastrophic events before. We will weather this too.

To deal with the current situation, I have been putting my clients first. I have been working 14-16 hour days helping clients cancel, change, or defer their travel plans. I've been emailing, texting, calling, facetiming, and facebook messaging clients and travel supplier partners. I've been sitting on hours' long holds with travel partner suppliers, only to be disconnected, and then have to start the process all over again.  I've been tracking news and developments, following which suppliers are still travelling, and updating clients' accordingly. I've been staying on top of travel supplier change and cancellation policies, as well as insurance company policies- which are changing sometimes daily, and sometimes hourly. And I'm working on behalf of my valued clients to do my absolute best to protect their travel investments.....

Here's just a sample of some of the work I've been doing this week