| Date |
|---|
| 2nd June 2020 |
The recent times have been very challenging for Travel Management Companies, travel bookers, and travellers. We’ve been working hard to keep on top of the situation and keep you up to date with what we’ve been doing in the background as framework owners to support you.
Category Manager Jayne Thorn has been keeping in touch with the supply base to get updates on how bookings and refunds are being managed and how we can help institutions get their money back on cancelled trips. We have developed a set of FAQs that might help answer some of your questions around the refund system (you can find these at the bottom of the news story).
The impact of Covid-19 on the travel industry
Since bookings dropped by 95% when the world went into lockdown, many of the TMCs furloughed their staff under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme since they were no longer receiving any income. This has meant that the staff that have been kept working are dealing with a large number of cancellations, primarily across the airline sector. This has meant delays in getting some refunds, but they are returning all the funds straight back to you when they receive them. The airlines that are also not generating any income have furloughed many staff and many have changed the way that cancellations can be made, increasing delays in refunds. In many cases, cash is not being returned, but vouchers and credit notes. This also affects the workload of the TMCs when you do come to re-book because the process of ‘cashing in’ the vouchers is considerably more complex and time-consuming than standard bookings.
Supporting universities
SUPC has been working with all the TMCs and has written an open letter to the Business Travel Association (you can view this below) highlighting the unique funding of many of our institutions. Together we’ve asked the Business Travel Association to work with the airlines to provide cash refunds. If this isn’t possible, to provide a more flexible, but indemnified system of credits that will be turned into cash if not used in the next 12 months. By this time the travel industry should have picked up and the airlines will have better cash flow to make those refunds.
We are working on your behalf to get your money back as quickly and as easily as possible. We’re liaising with the TMCs on a regular basis and answering queries as soon as possible. We also need to be aware that while our budgets will be tightened as we emerge from lockdown and head into a new academic year, it’s in everyone’s interest to ensure we have a supply base as we ‘return to normal’. We are having discussions with all of the TMCs on the framework to understand how we can support them as they return to the new business as usual.