Posted 04 October 2017
Well, what can I say? The last 48 hours have been quite a roller coaster for many of us!
As an industry, we have just experienced what is being lorded as “the biggest UK airline failure in history”. Sadly, we have been positioned for this potential failure several times over the last three years and I, like many, believed (and hoped) that Monarch would pull through. As events progressed over the weekend it became apparent that a failure could genuinely happen.
Here at Travel Counsellors we have spent the last few years studying and learning from industry failures of this nature. We’ve developed our technology so that our global Head Offices, and Travel Counsellors, are equipped with the correct tools, knowledge and support in the event of a failure. This was always going to be a challenging one, as this failure meant we would have several different scenarios - their packages, our packages, flight plus, flight only, and retail packages, alongside numerous bookings in resort. We knew it would be a trying test!
At 2pm on Sunday we made the decision to invoke our emergency crisis plan and by 4pm we had over 30 volunteers in our office in Manchester, with more due to make their way in throughout the evening. We started the process of prepping Travel Counsellors, making and answering hundreds of calls and emails to get ourselves in the strongest possible position. We made some commercial decisions early, acknowledging we wanted customers, wherever possible, to still be able to travel on imminent departures.
As the night progressed and because we felt comfortable with all of our preparation, we encouraged the teams to go home and rest and wait for a call to come back in if the worst happened– they refused, insisting that they would be here throughout the night to do whatever was needed. Admittedly, by the early hours we were getting a little jaded, but with pizza, red bull, sweets and crisps and some gold old northern humour, spirits were kept high. We got the news at just after 4am and our priority was to ensure customers, both in resort and those due to travel, were kept fully informed as the situation developed. With almost 2,300 passengers affected, we had many of those rebooked within minutes of the announcement and by 7am, 70% of our bookings were acknowledged, meaning their Personal Travel Counsellor was already dealing with the situation.
In times of crisis, this business is awesome and it’s when we really come into our own. The value of what our Travel Counsellors do for their customers is never more paramount that in these situations. It’s fortunate for Travel Counsellors customers that we have the most comprehensive financial protection in place, however, in the wider industry, more needs to be done to safeguard customers in events like this especially where an airline ceases trading. Whilst tour operators are legally required to have ATOL financial protection in place, there are no such obligations for airlines, with the responsibility and associated costs having to be met by the operator.
The collapse is such sad news for the many thousands of Monarch customers and also the 1800 staff that have been made redundant, and as an industry we must focus on helping those affected and ensuring every traveller is aware of if and how they will be covered financially for their booking.
Here’s some feedback from our Travel Counsellors and their customers, which really highlights that in situations like this it’s the care we show to our customers that really makes the difference. Claire Bottone, Travel Counsellor, received this lovely message from one of her customers following the news…
“We wanted to write to say a huge thank you to Claire Bottone for instigating this incredibly quick resolution to our flights with Monarch Airways. This is an example why we have regularly booked with Claire over the last 10 years, recommended her to friends and business and why we will continue to do so. When we heard the news on TV this morning that Monarch would cease trading, we feared the worst for our holiday which is only three weeks away. We then checked our emails to see that Claire had anticipated the issue and booked us onto another airline, at an airport much nearer to home. Not many agents would have done this at 4am!! Absolutely brilliant service! It’s not the first time Claire has gone over and above what we would expect form a high street agent. We are so grateful that she has fixed the issue before we were even aware of it. There are people on TV this morning that have no idea where they stand with regards to their bookings. If only they had booked with Travel Counsellors!”
Andy La Gette, Travel Counsellor, said: “What a night for the UK travel industry. Firstly, my thoughts go out to all the staff and their families affected by the situation with Monarch Airlines. My thoughts also go to those customers currently on or about to travel on Monarch holidays and flights. The next few days will be filled with uncertainty for you. On a personal note, I want to pass on my huge thanks to our Commercial Director Kirsten Hughes and the crisis team at Travel Counsellors who worked tirelessly yesterday (Sunday) and through the night, ensuring that we had all the best support to keep customers informed and have contingency plans in place, should the CAA withdraw Monarch's license. When the decision was eventually announced shortly after 4am this morning, they alerted us and our contingency plans were put into action. Travel Counsellors is an amazing organization to work for at the best of times, but when the going gets tough, there’s nowhere I’d rather be. It’s odd, but I was happy to jump out of bed at 4.15am when my head-office alert beeped on my phone, to press the button to rebook my affected customers to an alternative airline. I’ve just looked at their new flights now – had I waited even until 08.00, the new flights would have sold out. Swift, effective planning making the best of a difficult situation.”
I have had an abundance of emails and text messages all saying the same thing, “thanks for caring” and that is why I wanted to capture our story in this blog. I had the honour of watching the team at Head Office in Manchester selflessly pull together and help ensure that the holidays of thousands of people would go ahead with as little interruption as possible. They left their families and homes for almost 24 hours and worked tirelessly to get the job done. We recognise that the Monarch family has faithfully served the travel industry for many years and so now that our customers are all taken care of, we want to do what we can to support our friends at Monarch too. Our recruitment and training teams proposed that we open our doors by sharing our current vacancies direct with the Monarch team, but to also help with CV writing, agency and industry contacts and even running workshops to help understand the changes that are taking place and to understand simply, what to do next.
To say I am proud of the Travel Counsellors team both here in the UK but also around the world, is an understatement. I am very grateful that I get to do what I love to do the most, more so that I get to do it every day as a part of such a caring and inspirational group of people.
#WeAreTravelCounsellors
