The consumer view of the travel industry’s conduct during the coronavirus crisis has “taken a turn for the worse” this week, according to a PR and communications expert.
Consumers have railed against travel firms over the issue of delayed refunds, with #RefundPassengers trending on Twitter on Wednesday night following a report by consumer group Which? that said the UK’s 20 biggest travel operators were ‘breaking the law’ and was picked up by national newspapers.
Speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast about reputation and trust in the travel industry, Danny Rogers, editor-in-chief of public relations title PR Week, said: “Until yesterday (Wednesday April 22), because it seemed travel and hospitality had been hit harder than almost any other sector, consumers were somewhat sympathetic to the plight of travel companies.
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“But in the last 24/48 hours, things have taken a turn for the worse. The Which? report, published this week, showing that many big operators are not giving refunds, was damning. Indeed, a lot of operators don’t even seem to be answering the phone or responding to consumers who, rightly, are asking for their money back because they haven’t taken the holiday. They may be out of work and they may need that money.
“So I sense a growing frustration among the public, within the media, for a lot of operators and airlines, who seem to be just stonewalling consumers at the moment.”
Paul Charles, founder and chief executive of The PC Agency, said there were two sides to the story.
“The tour operators are desperate for money. They need to conserve their cash for as long as possible, as indeed do airlines, hotels, and everyone wrapped up in the in the travel sector,” he said.
“That’s why they’re trying to convince consumers to take vouchers or to rebook, ideally.
“But obviously, from a consumer perspective, you’ve got a lot of people now being furloughed, who are nervous about whether they’re going to get their jobs back. Consumers have no visibility on what’s going to happen past the next two or three months. They are desperate to get cash back because they’re not sure their travel companies will be around in a few months’ time to be able to pay them back.”
Rogers pointed out that consumer anger was exacerbated by reports of large companies not paying their taxes or having huge profits.
“You’ve got companies like Virgin Atlantic, for example, who are, possibly quite justifiably, calling for a government loan, but the trouble is that the media start looking at the amount of tax Richard Branson has paid in the last 10 or 20 years.
“Or they start looking at the profitability of IAG, the parent company of BA, which made £10 billion worth of profits in the last year and the public thinks ‘well hang on a sec. I understand your plight, but you seem to be very profitable and not entirely benevolent in the good times’. So it’s that increased scrutiny that puts companies under pressure, I think.”
Rachel O’Reilly, director of communications at Kuoni, which was praised by Which? for offering refunds where customers really couldn’t rebook, said: “There’s no textbook to follow with this kind of crisis. It’s a first for all of us, but we felt that trust from the outset was going to be absolutely critical and keeping our reputation intact. We’re a brand that’s been around for 50 years and we want to be around for the next 50 or 100.”