The Travel Snob, David Walker, a homeworker for Not Just Travel based in Nottingham attributes a bookings bounce to progress on vaccinations
With the incredible Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals that came out from suppliers, and airlines, it really did spark lots of interest and – more to the point – lots of bookings.
I did my usual calling of people to whom I figured the offers would appeal to, did the usual Facebook posting of deals, and I even advertised on LinkedIn, which I rarely do. The phone was like a BT Telephone Exchange (showing my age there) but wow – bookings were flying out of the door left right and centre. With the latest flurry I actually feel like a travel agent again – and, I’ve had no cancellations for two weeks!
Talk of vaccinations has certainly led to a lot of people dropping their guards and finally booking something for next year.
Jack and the beanstalk
I’ve been very careful over the last few months. If someone showed the slightest bit of hesitation, I actually tried to put them off booking. After all, a holiday is something you should start to look forward to the minute it’s booked, rather than continuously worry it’s not going to happen (and it also saves a daily ‘what-if’ phone call from the client thinking up a different scenario every day – to which we never know the answer).
There seems to be more than a glimmer of hope now. If recent weeks are anything to go by, the “green shoots” people have been talking about have been more like a beanstalk for me, and I’m Jack trying to scurry to the top.
“I’ve been very careful over the last few months. If someone showed the slightest bit of hesitation, I actually tried to put them off booking.”
The Virgin Upper Class sale has really helped – it was the easiest of things to promote by calling customers. I tried to pick the ones that had plenty of cash and lots of time. Rather than booking them as their main holiday, I sold it as a cheeky weekend away, leaving them with extra holidays so we could then look at a bigger trip for them next year.
Virgin’s social media promotions have brought in plenty of new clients too – again heading to the US for a cheeky few days…so thank you Virgin.
Covid clinic
Plenty of other Black Friday deals certainly raised awareness, and I was pretty exhausted at the end of Cyber Monday. When we first adopted these American traditions I was sceptical – Black Friday, Cyber Monday, even Halloween – but this year I’ll give them a big yee-haw!
With some of my December departures, however, I do feel like I am running a private Covid Clinic. I’ve learnt so much about the virus, made so many appointments and discovered so much. But I do wish the government would stop changing the rules – one minute you’re fully up to speed – then they change again and its back to Gov.uk (second only to Just Eat on my most-popular bookmarks) to check one more time.
“I do wish the government would stop changing the rules – one minute you’re fully up to speed – then they change again and its back to Gov.uk.”
In November I hit my actual 2021 target, for the first time since March. In fact, I smashed it. I’m a happy bunny and feel I will not be as ‘Bah Humbug’ as I’d expected at the beginning of the month as we roll into December and the festive season.
Happy December to us all… and may the bookings bounce continue.
One flight, five separate NY bookings, 16 clients
For some reason I have 16 passengers on the same flight heading to New York in June, five separate bookings. There’s a group of six, a group of four, and three couples. I genuinely considered booking my own trip so I could join the party, but I have a flight to Miami leaving a few hours beforehand so hope to catch them all in the lounge.
I thought about sending them all a corporate sweater to wear on the flight so they could surprise one another, but that might just ruin my brand if one (or more) gets totally outrageous. The 16 of them are booked across only two hotels. Hopefully with the vaccine rollout there won’t be any restrictions come June, so they can continue to have a party when they arrive.