Give travel gratitude where it is deserved. Cancellations today are less than a percent higher than in 2019.
So many gloom and doom travel stories these days. Travel gratitude is more needed than ever before. Headlines, not just in the travel industry media, but in national papers and on television, are howling at the travel industry.
About 98 percent of the pilots, travel agents, flight attendants, and other airport workers deserve plenty of thanks. They find ways to complete flights and assist passengers and keep the great majority of the network operating with only less than 3 percent of cancelations.
Air travel is not great, but imagine a system where 5 percent of flights are canceled … or more.
There are bright spots. Flight attendants go out of their way to make a flight pleasant, airline reservations and travel industry employees solve problems, and in an understaffed hospitality industry tired hotel people nonetheless do everything they can to give guests a great stay.
And here’s a simple tip for those moments: Take time to say thank you and respond with travel gratitude.
All the headlines are about air travel, but hotels have staffing shortages as well.
While hotels aren’t receiving as much coverage, hotels and resorts are also dealing with staffing issues. A sales manager at a famous London hotel that has historically had people reaching out to work for them confided in me that they are even having to recruit. She noted that she “couldn’t imagine what it was like trying to run a small place or a random Holiday Inn.”
The result of the staffing shortages means rooms may not be cleaned as quickly, and hotel service may be limited. Restaurants may be closed or have shortened hours, etc.
However, recently I’ve received several actually happy clients reporting on good things, especially from hotels. That is where they spend most of their trip — hotels that gave them a room early, upgraded the room, had a nice bottle of wine, or some nice snack awaiting them on arrival deserve travel gratitude.
When I get those good news stories, I cheer out loud at my computer. I immediately forward the email to the hotel mentioned, or to their sales representative if I’ve worked with them. Almost immediately, I get a thrilling response.
“So great to hear.” “It’s all due to our hardworking team.” “Thank you for making our day.” These responses always show gratitude for any compliment.
Compliments go a long way to let all workers know they are appreciated.
Of course, it’s harder with airlines since it’s not as easy to reach someone’s supervisor or a manager. But even so, if you have a really good experience with an airline or flight crew, it’s not too hard to comment through their website. Compliments do go into people’s files!
In general, almost everyone in the travel industry is dealing with complaints and problems all day. So when things go right or better than right, even the shortest email can make a big difference.
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Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
