The Advantage Travel Partnership has launched the ?The Flexi Pledge ? Book with Confidence? campaign, to encourage travel operators to offer greater flexibility and a renewed confidence to book a trip this summer.
Advantage has called for a ?48-hours Flexi? policy for consumers to change a booking, at no extra fee when their holiday is impacted by the latest government advice. The consortium has also asked the UK government to provide the industry with 48 hours' notice, when it seeks to remove destinations from the quarantine-free list.
Last week?s sudden removal of Spain from the quarantine-free list, along with the FCO?s urgent advice against non-essential travel, saw a surge in cancellations, affecting consumer confidence.
In response to the decline in consumer confidence, Advantage undertook an audit of several of its supplier partnerships, including airlines, hotels, tour operators and ground transportation. It analysed their flexible booking policies and found that, most of the options available to consumers, vary largely due to confusing terms and conditions, which depends on factors such as, time frames and additional charges for making changes to a booking.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of The Advantage Travel Partnership said, ?This is a make or break time for the travel industry. There is a huge degree of flexibility available, but consumers just don?t know about the options. We need to come together to communicate to the consumers, that there are flexible options that won?t dent their pocket. We are issuing a rally call today for all travel suppliers, whether they are focused on leisure or business travel, to consolidate and simplify their flexibility policies. We want to speak as one industry and tell the consumers that we are on their side; that we have upped our game to make it easier and stress free, to change the booking; in case the destination they chose becomes unavailable due to the pandemic.?
She adds, ?We believe, if consumers had a 48-hours notice to change their bookings to an alternate destination or time, they would be more inclined to retain their bookings instead of cancelling it. If the UK Government commits to provide the industry with a 48-hours notice, instead of four-hours, the industry will be better equipped to engage with clients and rebook their trips to retain all the important booking for this year.?
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