It
has been 9 years since I have worked with the comfort of a salary. After
having our Daughter, I decided to leave the Corporate World and venture into
the World of Self-Employment. It can be a scary place to be, working
without the guarantee of an income, but working for myself had always been a
dream of mine, and what better industry than the Travel Industry!!
I have always enjoyed traveling, and prior to working in Travel, I had been to many destinations: Thailand, Maui, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, France, Amsterdam and many States throughout the US. Since joining travel, the list of destinations I have had the opportunity to travel to has grown considerably, some highlights including Puerto Rico, Croatia and Peru. In Peru, my husband and I were fortunate to have the opportunity to do a 1-day Inca Trail Trek to Machu Picchu. My husband and I have also had the opportunity to expose our Daughter to the World of travel, teaching her how different cultures live, the foods they eat and the languages they speak.
Working in Travel can be extremely demanding. My role is one where I am essentially on call to work when my Clients need me. I am 100% Commission based and can put many hours in up front on good faith, in hopes that my Clients will book the trip we have been working on with me. My Commissions are paid to me by the Suppliers once my Clients have paid for their travels in Full and more often than not, once they have completed their travel. What many people do not know is that my Commissions do not affect the prices Clients pay. The prices are the same for Clients whether they book directly with the Supplier, or through me. The benefit of working with me is that Clients receive my knowledge and expertise through the whole planning process. Historically this additional service has been complimentary for Clients, however we are starting to see a shift in the Industry where Agents are starting to seek compensation for the expertise they provide.
It can be difficult to maintain a work-life balance in this industry at times, especially when kids are off school and need to be occupied. My family and I don’t typically travel over school breaks and holidays. There have been many breaks where my Daughter has been left to entertain herself while I am busy working. Back in May 2019, a good friend and I decided that we would take our kids away for March Break 2020. She is also a Travel Agent. We thought that the kids could have a great time playing at a couple of amazing resorts in Mexico, even if we did have a bit of work to do. We booked 3-Nights to stay at The Grand at Moon Palace followed by 4-Nights at The Fives Beach in Playa del Carmen. We booked to leave on March 12, 2020.
In January, we started to hear more about the COVID-19 virus, though admittedly, Wuhan seemed a World away. I continue working and booking trips for January, February, March Break and April. I worked planning an amazing honeymoon for Clients who were to be married in August of this year (2020). We booked their honeymoon to Peru, including the 1-day Inca Trail Trek to Machu Picchu that I had also done. After Peru they were heading over to the Amazon. As the Winter progressed, the COVID virus progressed along with it, with some cases popping up in North America. However, reports weren’t indicating that it would be anything serious. My Clients were still heading off on their travels, having a great time and getting a much needed break from the cold winter weather. As March Break approached, reports became a little more serious…
On March 11th, the NHL announced that they were going to be pausing the season due to Coronavirus. The NBA following suit. This was the night before we were scheduled to leave for our March Break vacation to Mexico, a trip that had we cancelled would be 100% non-refundable (yes, even for us Travel Agents). We did not have the same pre-night vacation excitement that we usually feel, instead our nerves were a bit on edge. We woke up the morning of March 12th, all packed and ready to leave. Our flight was still scheduled to depart as usual and The Grand was expecting us. I connected with my friend who was joining my husband, Daughter, and I, with her two boys, asking if they still wanted to go. We all agreed to continue with our trip as planned.
We had a pleasant travel experience, the airport and plane were the cleanest we had ever seen. We had a great flight complete with all of the in-flight services and headed off to the resort, which was amazing.
On March 13th everything changed… The Government of Canada issued a Travel Advisory and the thousands of hours of work I put into building my business came crashing down around me, like having a rug pulled out from under my feet. There I was in Mexico, at an amazing resort with my family, a very good friend and her two boys. It was our first March Break away and I was in my room, on my computer, on hold on my phone, working to help Clients who were in destination, Clients who wanted to proceed with their March Break travels, and Clients who wanted to cancel their upcoming vacations. The Travel Industry was not equipped to deal with what was happening. The Suppliers did not have any policies or procedures in place to deal with something of this magnitude, the World was literally shutting down.
That period of time also highlighted how antiquated the Travel Industry was, we were required to call into each Supplier to make changes and cancellations, hold times to get through to Suppliers were 8, 10 even 12 hours long, to connect about 1-trip, maybe 2 if we were ‘lucky’ to have multiple trips booked with the same Supplier. I was so fortunate to have one of our key team members back home in Ontario who was able to help me, another good Agent Friend also jumped in to help where possible. Thank Goodness my Husband was there to look after all 3 kids. My friend and I had to keep putting out fires at home and kept getting pulled back to our phones and computers. Our Clients needed us and it was our responsibility to make things right for them, to the best of our availability. I felt so bad for everyone, I felt bad for my Husband and Daughter because I wasn’t able to be with them. I felt bad for my Clients because none of what was going on was their fault, and my hands were tied by what the Suppliers were telling me. I also felt bad for myself, seeing my hard work dissolve before my eyes while mountains of work lay ahead of me.
What many people do not realize is that my income virtually stopped on March 13th. As I mentioned above, Suppliers pay us commissions for booking their products when our Clients Travel. If Clients are not traveling, Suppliers are not paying out commissions… However I have spent the past several months continuing to work on my Clients behalf to help make them whole. In some cases where the Supplier had paid out commissions before travel, and the travels had been cancelled, I was required to repay the Commissions to the Supplier. I had done the work to research and book the travel, to cancel the travel and was not paid one-cent for the time I spent doing the work. It was a tough blow, a part of the Industry that definitely needs to be rectified.
It is not only the trips in March, April, and May that were affected, all of the trips that I had booked out to May 2021 have been cancelled. It has been an ongoing process since March. As the Pandemic evolves, Suppliers continue to change their policies. We are advising our Clients based on the current scenarios, not knowing what the future will hold.
Many Agents and Agencies have implemented nominal fees to help compensate for the time they spend working with their Clients. They have experienced firsthand the number of hours it takes to connect with a Supplier over a trip that needs to be cancelled by the client, or has been cancelled by the Supplier. It is not uncommon to spend many hours on hold speaking with multiple people with the issue left unresolved. Do you really have that time to spend? Most people do not… Working with a Travel Professional means they will be the ones working directly with Suppliers on your behalf.
It is no surprise that COVID has had a devastating effect on the travel industry, Exclusive to You Travel is fortunate in that we are all home based and as such our overhead is relatively low. While we are currently not producing any revenue, we are able to stay afloat and ride this out.
Exclusive to You Travel was launched in 2014, we have 7 Agents who are Stouffville locals. We also have agents in Milton, Oshawa and Ottawa.
Our Agents each have their own area of expertise which enables us to operate as a full-service travel agency. With a combined working experience of over 80-years in the Travel Industry and hundreds of stamps in our Passports, we are able to help our Clients design the perfect travel experience suited to what they are looking for. We are always looking to grow our agency with the right people, if you have a passion for travel and sales, we would love to hear from you.
We are using this down time during the COVID Pandemic to strengthen our position in the industry. We recognize that our Clients want the safety and knowledge that they are being taken care of while traveling. We are working with our trusted suppliers on hosted group space for 2022 and beyond where many of our groups will be personally hosted by 1 or 2 of our experienced Travel Designers.
While this year has been emotionally and financially devastating for each of us as Individuals, our passion for planning and promoting the benefits of travel has never wavered. We continue to be here for our Clients. We will be here for you once International Travel has been more clearly defined and it is safe for you to travel again. We hope that you think of us when you’re ready to start planning!
Written By: Steph Switzer, Agency Owner & Senior Travel Designer
sswitzer@exclusivetoyoutravel.com