4 Tips Professional Travel Planners Must Know Post-COVID

When will the travel industry recover? How will the travel insurance coverage change? What new rules will apply to international travelers? Will travel become more expensive?

This article is created by YouLi – travel management software for group trip leaders to ditch the spreadsheets and organize people, payments, tasks, documents and itineraries, all in one place.

These and many more questions arise as the international borders are slowly opening up. While many aspects of the new travel industry are still unknown, here is what we do know about the recovery:

• More domestic travel – social distancing rules will lead to travel in smaller groups within a smaller distance from the home base.
• More conscious travel  – according to travel statistics, 72% of travelers think people ought to make more sustainable choices when traveling.
• More guided experiences, less independent travel — more travelers will rely on the support of travel designers and local guides to ensure safe experiences.
• More virtual experiences  – remote technologies are becoming the new norm in communications leading to new kinds of virtual retreats online experiences.
• Rise of wellness travel – wellbeing is predicted to dominate the decision making for the travelers post-covid.
• Rise of transformational travel – according to Skift report, travelers are increasingly drawn to travel as a form of self-actualization and personal transformation and growth.

The demands on the travel planner will be exponentially increased as the conduit for communications, tasks and experience. For travel designers that may turn into huge opportunities if met with the capacity to provide the human-focused service.

1. Be ready for thorough traveler checks & waivers

When it comes to global trends, I believe Elizabeth Becker, the author of Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism, said it the best:

“Be prepared for two dramatically different trends.

Some national and local governments will redesign their tourism strategies to keep down crowds, keep more money in the local economy, and enforce local regulations including those protecting the environment. Many health protocols will become permanent.

Other governments will compete for the shrinking tourist dollar by racing to the bottom, allowing the travel industry to regulate itself, using deep discounts to fill hotels and airplanes and revive over-tourism.

Smart travelers will trust places with good governance and health systems. They will take fewer trips and stay longer. They will see this pandemic as a forecast of what’s to come from the climate crisis. They will act like responsible citizens as well as passionate travelers.”

As a travel-related business, be sure to protect yourself and the travelers.

• Be aware or the current regulations in your region and the destination
• Collect all the necessary liability waivers
• Offer or even require travel insurance
• Consult with the legal representative, and collect explicit consent at the time of purchase
• Clearly communicate your refund policy and Terms & Conditions
• Always have copies of passport, medical approvals and waivers handy

More extensive trip planning, including educating travelers about the safety measures will play an even more significant role than before. Be prepared to answer questions like:

• Will I be required to report my location?
• How to connect with the local representatives in case of emergency?
• What regions prohibit or restrict tourism right now?
• What services are introduced to ensure travelers’ safety?

2. Build digital presence

Pre-covid, many tour operators and travel agents relied on offline channels and repeat business. After the great pause, having an online presence is critical for survival and eventually growth. But that doesn’t mean you have to invest in high-cost website development.

Smart travel booking platforms, like YouLive To Travel  (YouLi), offer smart DIY travel websites that support the needs of a travel agency or tour operator with minimum initial investment. YouLi is a simple all-in-one solution for organizing group trips that comes with branded landing pages  – use them instead of an expensive website, and grow into all it’s advanced features.

The Melbourne, Australia based team, founded by Jennifer Fein and Bron Thulke, is a collection of passionate travelers and tech experts. IT guru and the founder of Rocking Rose tech consulting, Steph Gaddin, named YouLi “The Squarespace for the travel industry”.

Unlike generic website builders, like squarespace, YouLi is designed to support all the needs of a personalized travel business, especially for groups. It turns itineraries into beautiful landing pages commonly used as registration forms absolutely free.

See how YouLi works: 

On premium plans, YouLi includes optimization tools, suchs as: pre-trip tasks for travelers, automated reminder emails, all-in-one document exchange portal, multiple integrations with platforms like Stripe, WordPress, Google Analytics, Unsplash, Zapier and more. As a cherry on top, YouLi gives you a mobile app for travelers, so you can deliver exceptional customer service to your clients even when they are offline.

As you (re)launch, use social platforms like Facebook and Instagram to build awareness. You can convert followers into subscribers with YouLi Trip Pages as interactive registration forms (aka Landing Pages). Then nurture them into bookings with messages directly from YouLi. No need to purchase an email or CRM platform, it’s all included!

Of course, if you already have another email or CRM solution, keep them in sync using their Zapier apps.

3. Reemphasize personal approach

Remember that the travel experience starts months before the trip departure. Utilize available technology to provide excellent service before, during, and after the trip.

Jake Haupert, the co-founder of the Transformational Travel Council, Roam Beyond and Explorer-X emphasizes the focus on setting travelers on a course for a journey that will support their personal development, aspirations, goals and intentions:

“The ultimate aim is mindful living, not just mindful traveling. It shifts attitudes and beliefs and values, and opens you up to a new way of engaging with the world.” – Jake Haupert

Elinor Fish, a Transformational Travel Ally and founder of the Run Wild Retreats for women, has recently reopened her doors and is now taking bookings with a new collection of wellness retreats and updated onboarding process powered by YouLi booking platform. Elinor’s retreats are now featuring more domestic experiences with smaller groups.

Transformational travel doesn’t require long-distance, a local road trip may become the best childhood memory impacting the direction of one’s life. Geoff Craig, the Head of Partnerships at YouLive To Travel, shares the emotional value of his childhood travel experiences in a conversation with a Melbourne 4WD club member.

In both, international or domestic travel, the importance of personal approach will increase with the rise of the “travel with purpose” movement:

• Simple checklists, like “Your Packing List” and “Health Questionnaire” can help to calm traveler anxiety and help keep things organized. Use YouLi Tasks to create a clear “To-Do List” with deadlines and reminders, host a pre-trip virtual meetup to stand out from the crowd of faceless OTAs.
• Add co-planners to collaborate with local vendors and partners. A few virtual walkthroughs prior to the trip will ease the anxiety for travelers, increase pre-trip engagement and ensure everyone is ready for the post-covid travel experience.

4. Provide premium experience to match the premium cost

With more global restrictions in place, the cost of travel is expected to go up, and so will expectations from travelers. While recovery is not an easy task, know that you have the support of the travel technology that can help you optimize the planning and ease the communications with travelers without taking too much of your time

For example, a time-consuming task like collecting and tracking bookings can be outsourced to the YouLi platform. Simply set up the payment options, installments and deadlines, and the system will send auto-reminders, track receivables and auto-generate invoices and even auto-charge their credit card.

No more exhausting nagging on your end. You can even integrate with accounting software, like the popular Xero accounting platform, and all your payments will be created for simple reconciliation with one click – an accountant’s “dream come true”.

To hear the experts’ opinions on How to Prepare Travelers for Post-Covid Travel, watch free educational webinars on The Rise of Transformational Travel, Interactive Tasks, Business Insurance post-covid and more, provided by the YouLi Community

About YouLi

The expert team at YouLi trip management software is committed to supporting the industry through the changes.

Travel Massive members can sign up to a YouLi account for free and receive complimentary onboarding sessions when upgrading to any paid subscription – please email viktoria@youlivetotravel.com to claim.

Follow YouLi on Travel Massive and learn more about them on YouLi’s website.