File under Something We Never Thought We’d See. Struggling to keep up with strong demand, long hold times and cranky customers, many travel advisors are turning business away for the rest of the summer—or maybe the rest of the year.
It’s just one of several unlikely strategies in the works in, arguably, the craziest year ever in the travel industry. Jumping right from famine to feast, many advisors are finding that even charging fees is not enough to keep their workload acceptable.
So, if you are a chronic complainer or a low-budget traveler, you might have a hard time finding someone else to help you plan that last-minute trip to Europe.
“Seriously, it is tough out here and, while so much is not in our control, it lands in our laps,” says Teri Hurley at Endless Love Travel in Austin, TX. “Sometimes, to appease the client, we do more than we’ve ever done before. Other times, it has pulled back the curtain to reveal a side to some of our clients that is quite unpleasant and certainly unreasonable. And they are fired unknowingly. We get through their travel booking as best as we can. However, we now will carefully weigh whether our relationship with that particular client has any future. I have told them we are no longer taking on new bookings for that period of time, or that I am not an expert in their area of travel.”
“I’ve stopped taking any new clients for the next two months, and I’m considering taking a sabbatical,” says one travel advisor who asked that I not use her name. “Clients have been rude and entitled. It’s not fun anymore. I don’t feel like I’m anything more than a glorified punching bag.”
“We are now picky about whom we deal with—only existing and good clients make the cut, and wedding groups that understand travel is not inexpensive or easy,” says another.
At the Peacock Group, too, “we are vetting new inquiries more than in the past. We have built a solid reputation and want to make sure our advisors do not over-commit to requests and have the level of service our clients deserve and expect to suffer as a result. We are also living by appointments, as many days there are not enough hours to return all text messages, voicemails, and emails,” says VP Heather Bull. They are also adding staff and asking some newer advisors to double up in admin and support roles, “which is not only putting more money in their pockets but, more importantly, providing a wonderful opportunity to mentor and train.”
Other Coping Strategies
Take a day off. Take a yoga class. Take a vacation. Do what you have to do to get by for just a few more months, travel advisors say.
“This is the most bipolar, schizophrenic, multiple personality disorder year ever. And now add Monkey Pox and an election cycle onto everything. I’m doing the best I can. One day at a time. One hour at a time. One minute at a time. Rolling with the punches. Excited. Exhausted. Stressed. Happy. Ready to pull my hair out,” says Erin Stennett at Majestic Memories Travel & Vacations in Paoli, IN. “Coping by taking care of me. I take Sundays off, but I work long hours every other day. This past weekend, I didn’t work all that much. It was amazing, but now I feel like a hamster who will never catch up.”
Adding to all the usual stress is one new wrinkle: being an IT consultant for customers, says Bernice Bakley at Huntley Travel, Huntley, IL. “We not only need to be travel experts, we also have to be phone tech savvy. The struggle is very real. I have many cruise clients that get to about two weeks prior to departure and suddenly feel anxiety due to all the apps they have to download. Thankfully, we have agents that know iPhones and others that know Androids. We spend a fair amount of time just helping clients get all the Apps downloaded and then accounts set up. Airline App, Cruise line App, ArriveCAD App, VeriFLY App, NAVICA App for Covid-19 testing. Yes, we are all feeling the stress and are exhausted. Looking forward to when things level out…”
“If I wasn’t making a lot of money right now, I’d QUIT,” says Diane Mason at Cruise & Travel Planner in Gulf Breeze, FL. In the meantime, she might just stop booking mass-market cruises that “are making money on the NCFs, while we are doing all the work. They aren’t paying crap on bookings. Let them deal with the sh*t storm of calls directly!”
But Valerie Gossett at Premier Worldwide Vacations in Ellijay, GA, is doing just the opposite; most of her customers are in Florida, within driving distance of those mass-market cruise ports and she’s focusing on those. “I’m booking cruises like there is no tomorrow,” she says. “It takes me very little time to look up and book cruises. I’m booking suites and balcony staterooms, mostly on Royal and Celebrity, and making decent money.”
Sometimes you have to just say “no,” says Ashley Bennington at CoTravel LLC in Rochester, NY. “I’m worrying about what I can control, and making family time a priority. My clients have the tour operator emergency numbers for issues after hours and on weekends, and I’ve started having clients book flights on their own. I’m not going to lose sleep because someone’s luggage is missing or their flight is delayed. There is no amount of money that will let me go down the burnout path again, especially for something that isn’t life or death.”
And still, mindful of how quickly booms can turn to busts in the travel industry, some advisors are keeping a watchful eye on future bookings—and holding tight to the clients they have.
“For now, we are doing as many requests as we can,” says Corina Johnson at All Points Travel in Utah. “I feel like we are headed to an edge with a dangerous drop. Q4 might be scary.”
In the meantime, says Mandee Migliaccio at Stepping Out Travel Services in Brick, NJ, “I cry in the shower.”
Cheryl’s 40-year career in journalism is bookended by roles in the travel industry, including Executive Editor of Business Travel News in the 1990s, and recently, Editor in Chief of Travel Market Report and admin of Cheryl Rosen’s Group for Travel Professionals, a news and support group on Facebook.
As an independent contractor since retiring from the 9-to-5 to travel more, she has written regular articles about the life and business of travel agents for Luxury Travel Advisor, Travel Agent, and Insider Travel Report. She also writes and edits for professional publications in the financial services, business, and technology sectors.
