For travel agencies like Courtenay’s Square 1 Travel Plus, the last few months have been turbulent, going from one extreme to the other.
The COVID-19 pandemic has now brought travel and tourism to a virtual standstill, as an entire industry waits to see how and when parts of the economy re-open. There’s usually a team of travel consultants that work at Square 1, but on this day in May, it’s just manager and co-owner Louise DeArmond, along with fellow co-owner Sue Davies and travel consultant Diane Todd.
“Sue and Diane have been here from day one for all of this,” says DeArmond.
Davies adds, “There’s travel agencies all over that have kept one or two people on.”
Back in March it was a different story. In the early days of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, the people at Square 1 had to respond to sudden demands from clients in all corners of the globe as they faced the daunting challenge of getting people home as quickly as possible. Flights and tour packages were cancelled and airline costs rose in the mad scramble, as suddenly people everywhere were trying to get somewhere else.
“We managed to get everybody home, except one,” says Davies, adding that person is scheduled to be back next month.
In one case, they had to help a woman get out of Peru and back to Chile in order to make her flight back home, all while racing against the clock before the borders between the South American neighbours closed.
Along with the rush to get people home has come the challenge of trying to get refunds for customers. The trio at Square 1 point to the big pile of orders around the office through which they are working. More recently, the best case is usually being able to get a credit for customers, with some airlines increasing the amount of time this is available, from one up to two years. In some cases, there’s only so much that can be done for the customer though, such as if a tour company goes under.
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Even with so much uncertainty around the industry, especially for the immediate future, the fact many of their customers are fine getting the credit comes as a sign of optimism – an indicator that people will again want to pack their bags and head off for a holiday.
“I know they were already so appreciative,” says Todd.
One thing the people at Square 1 like to point out is that, while many people are booking their own trips online these days, this comes with a risk. For one thing, the travel agency is bonded, which helps provide a bit more financial security should something go wrong, as has been the case during the pandemic. Again, the Square 1 people stress it doesn’t really cost more to go through them, and they are able to provide a level of security and assistance.
“We’re just a phone call or email away,” says Todd.
It also means the staff can provide a lot of services and deal with the headaches, such as contacting the airlines in these situations for customers. The agents can help access the airlines at a time when many people who’d booked on their own have been shut out.
“Getting online was impossible,” says Davies. “All of these online services just basically shut down.”
Another one of the challenges early on was the different times and extents to which countries brought in travel restrictions. One client in India had to change flights three times because of the disruptions to flight schedules. Travel in the county halted to such an extent that there were no trains or any means of getting around, meaning some people who’d been stranded were forced to walk between towns.
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While travel comes with some uncertainty, Square 1’s team says the current situation is unparalleled, except for maybe during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 after which travel shut down completely. The difference then was that some semblance of the industry returned soon after, albeit under different conditions, whereas with the current pandemic no one knows the time frame or whether there will be another wave of cases.
“It’s a wait and see,” says DeArmond.
mike.chouinard@comoxvalleyrecord.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
