HELPING FROM HOME
THE DOORS ARE LOCKED, BUT...
WE ARE OPEN FOR BUSINESS
By Nicola Palmer, Perfect Getaways
With the COVID-19 pandemic worsening, the government
announced on 23rd March that all non-essential shops should close
their doors until further notice.
Many shops locked their doors and furloughed their workforce in the
hope that normal times would resume soon, however, for us at Perfect
Getaways it wasn’t that simple. With all non-essential travel also
cancelled indefinitely we were left with hundreds of customers looking
for advice on imminent holidays that wouldn’t be taking place.
We took the decision to set-up our staff to work from home and pro-
actively contact our customers to help them find a suitable alternative
holiday or request a refund.
We very quickly arranged for our work telephones and our work
computers to be installed at home so that the service our customers
received was not interrupted. They could telephone our normal
telephone lines and our staff were able to login to their normal systems
and amend holiday details.
In the first couple of weeks we dealt with literally hundreds of customers
whose holidays had been cancelled by the operator and who were
looking for help and advice on what to do. We had 12 staff working from
their homes with the only staff furloughed being those that were unable
to work because of childcare responsibilities. Living rooms, kitchens,
bedrooms and conservatories were transformed into work areas. In our
own house the dining room table became our work space and we were
eating off our knees in the front room instead.
After the first initial two-week period of pure cancellation queries, we
saw the beginning of customers starting to look for new holidays again,
primarily in 2021. With holiday prices at a recent-time low and lots of
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availability (and people now stoked up in their houses for a couple of
weeks) it obviously seemed the ideal time to book something to look
forward to. What was noticeable was that people wouldn’t be deterred
from their holidays and they were, in fact, looking at further afield next
year to make up for potentially missing out on their holiday this year.
As I write this, we are entering into May and have been in lockdown for
nearly six weeks. Over the last two weeks we have seen a huge increase
in the number of bookings for 2021. We have also seen tour operators
constantly releasing more availability and offering incentives of lower
deposits, extra free-child places and later final payment options. Tour
operators have also made their holiday packages more flexible than ever
to give complete piece of mind that your holiday can be easily amended
should you feel worried about taking your holiday nearer the time.
The big question we are being asked now is ‘will holidays be going this
year?’ This is something that we honestly can’t answer. The major tour
operators, Jet2 and TUI, have currently only cancelled holidays up until
mid-June, however, this may well be put back again. The thought of not
having a summer holiday this year seemed unthinkable a few months
ago, but this is now a very real possibility.
What I would say is, whatever you are looking to book, ensure your
holiday is fully packaged and ATOL protected. I have seen our staff
constantly helping customers in these uncertain times and giving them
expert advice to find the best possible solution. A friendly expert is
invaluable in these times.
Our customers may not be able to come in through our shop doors and
enjoy a drink with us while we find their perfect holiday, but we are
definitely here and open for business.