Andavo Travel is the luxury vacation division of Christopherson Business Travel. Their experienced network of professional travel advisors have direct access to the world’s finest hotels, resorts, spas, cruise lines, and tour operators. As a longtime member of Virtuoso®, a leading global luxury travel network, Andavo’s advisors use their worldwide connections to plan memorable experiences for their clients. We are pleased to introduce them as our guest writer today, sharing the need for and benefits of using travel advisors in a post-pandemic world.
Travel Planning is Different After COVID-19
As we entered 2020, no one could have predicted how profoundly the world would change and how much travelers would miss getting out into the world to see it. There’s no question the travel industry has changed dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic began, abruptly putting everyone’s lives on hold.
But flash forward to 2021 as we turn a new page and look to the future with renewed hope, approved vaccinations, and excitement for the certainty of traveling again. Only travel planning will look different than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic. Now more than ever, travelers need the expertise of a trusted travel advisor to get them to their destination and home again safely.
Travel Advisors Have Invaluable Travel Knowledge
The post-pandemic travel environment is fluid, with ever-changing restrictions, protocols, requirements, and pivots. Travel advisors remain at the forefront, watching for the latest updates in air travel, hotels, tours, and cruises, while also monitoring the reopening of borders, entry requirements, and health and safety procedures.
Travel advisors have continued working through the pandemic, studying the travel industry’s future, attending education, development, and destination webinars, and gaining valuable insight that they can then pass on to travelers. This level of expertise and heightened understanding of the post-pandemic global travel landscape elevates both the value of and the need for a travel advisor when planning your next vacation.
Travelers Benefit from Travel Agents’ Relationships
The best travel agents have extensive relationships with travel vendors around the world. Andavo Travel advisors specifically are members of Virtuoso, a global consortium of more than 20,000 industry experts and more than 1,800 elite travel companies. The extensive benefits of belonging to Virtuoso are then passed along to you, the traveler. Such benefits include global relationships, VIP access, insider knowledge, travel perks, personalized planning, and most of all, peace of mind.
Relying on a travel advisor also gives you essential insight into your vacation destination and support through every step of planning. You have a partner to call when unexpected changes arise. One challenge travelers who use online booking sites faced when COVID-19 began and their travel plans were canceled was the difficulty of connecting with people at the companies they booked with. In many situations, those travelers were left with little to no recourse for getting a refund. Conversely, Andavo Travel advisors were able to quickly reach out to travel companies they had established relationships with on behalf of their travelers, and negotiate outside of the company’s standard policies.
Travel Advisors Are Essential to Navigating the New World of Travel
Navigating post-COVID-19 restrictions and requirements will be a new experience for all of us. Even the most savvy travelers are going to need a bit of handholding as we return to travel. New rules and policy updates are posted daily from myriad companies and destinations around the world. Keeping track of passport requirements, travel insurance, airport and airline guidelines, cruise protocols, road trips, villas, or national park guidelines, may feel overwhelming and confusing. This is where professional travel advisors can help. Working with a travel advisor gives you access to an expert that delivers the peace of mind you deserve.
Andavo Travel advisors are passionate about travel. They have traveled extensively all around the world and have personal relationships with countless domestic and international partners. Regardless of the destination, our advisors spend significant time researching and leaning on their connections to gain detailed knowledge of the location, procedures, and best experiences available so they can help you create lasting memories.
While it will certainly be different than before, we will travel again, and the value of a professional travel advisor will be more important than ever. Working with a travel advisor will increase your comfort level, keep you informed of your destination’s health and safety procedures, and allow you to start putting those bucket list travels back on the horizon.
The world is waiting to welcome us all back and the economic and social recovery that comes as a result of travel will be necessary for our world to heal. We are beginning to see some of that recovery in various stages and destinations and we remain hopeful for continued progress. Our wanderlust continues to grow and we look forward to both experiencing the excitement, joy, and enrichment travel brings to our lives and planning the same for you.
In the words of the Anthony Bourdain,
Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.
If you would like assistance with planning and booking your next vacation, we hope you’ll consider relying on the expertise of an Andavo Travel advisor.