In the past few weeks, we've often been asked how we're doing and what's been happening. We'd love to share updates with you in this blog post during a turbulent time.
Uiteraard werken onze teams sinds half maart veelal vanuit huis en vinden onze meetings voornamelijk online plaats. We missen elkaar en de dynamiek van kantoor, bij UNIGLOBE Alliance Travel missen we het om voor onze zakenreizigers de beste routes en deals uit te zoeken.
Binnen UNIGLOBE Alliance Travel hebben de afgelopen 6 weken voornamelijk in het teken gestaan van:
Duty of Care is extremely important to us. In recent weeks, we have successfully repatriated thousands of business travelers and some fifty groups from all over the world. This was done in collaboration with our important airline partners. With the help of a list display (one push of a button within our system), we know within minutes where the business travelers and groups are located by company.
Naturally, this is our job, but in recent weeks we have only been able to complete this task with extra manpower, many overtime hours, and extra weekend shifts. Kudos to our teams.
Duizenden geplande zakenreizen hebben we omgeboekt of geannuleerd.
We have gone to great lengths to negotiate the best deals with our suppliers to minimize the costs of rebooking or cancellation. Not once, but twice or three times we went back to our suppliers within a single assignment. Thousands of emails and phone calls went back and forth, with only one goal: maximum results for everyone (taking into account the situation with the suppliers, because they too have been victimized).
Our sales team has approached all clients and listened to see if we as an organization could be of assistance in any way, but also to hear how they are doing during this extremely challenging period. The stories are very diverse. In some sectors, things are going very well (so far), while in other sectors, there are significant setbacks.
Despite everything, gratitude is often expressed towards us as an organization, and our services, dedication, inventiveness, and willingness to go the extra mile are highly appreciated, especially in recent weeks. We are grateful for all these wonderful responses to our efforts, even though this is “just” our job. Here are a few quotes that make us proud:
(Free) advice for stranded business travelers
Ondanks de enorme drukte voelden we ons ook geroepen in deze tijd belangeloos onze diensten aan te bieden aan bedrijven die geen zakelijk reisbureau hebben ingezet voor hun boeking. Door onze social media oproep half maart, zijn we dan ook veelvuldig benaderd door reizigers die geen hulp hadden, van een bureau als UNIGLOBE Alliance Travel, bij onderzoek naar een alternatief reisadvies. Op deze wijze hebben we kunnen bijdragen aan het repatriëren van nog meer gestrande reizigers. Want niets is erger dan gestrand zijn en niet weten hoe je terug naar huis kunt komen.
Proud of our teams!
We are proud of our teams, their endurance, and their boundless dedication. Everyone is now safely home, their travel has been rebooked or canceled, and we are entering a phase of administrative processing.
It was busier and more hectic than ever; it was truly a madhouse, with travelers panicking about whether they could still return, concerns about tickets, rescheduling, and cancellations, and airlines continuously changing conditions, and thus also ticket terms. There were also many worries about groups already abroad. Nevertheless, our team did everything they could to provide everyone with the right information and possible alternatives as quickly as possible.
As you know, our industry is going through a challenging time. But there is always light at the end of the tunnel! When the skies reopen, we are allowed to fly again, and we can organize meetings again, we hope you will find us again and we can arrange and take care of your business trips, group tours, and events with renewed passion and energy.
We are ready for you in any case!
