When world events turn scary, every advisor's phone fills with the same call: should I cancel? The industry's default answer, a warm blanket of "it's perfectly safe, you'll be fine", is worthless, because generic reassurance sounds exactly like what someone says when they haven't checked. So don't reassure. Open the booking.
“I am responsible, and your family will say that I'm reckless.”
Specificity is the medicine
- Answer the actual fear with their actual routing: you're not going through the hub you're worried about, look, I'm in your reservation: one connection, and it's nowhere near there.
- When a routing CAN avoid a feared region, reroute proactively and tell them you did. Action beats assurance.
- Offer a real exit: a penalty-free postponement window with a decision date. Fear shrinks when there's a door, and most clients, given the door, choose not to use it.
- Watch the pattern, not just the client: when a whole season's demand turns anxious, that's product feedback, flexibility becomes the feature to sell.
Claire's own numbers
The framework, step by step
- 1
Answer the actual fear with their actual routing
you're not going through the hub you're worried about, look, I'm in your reservation: one connection, and it's nowhere near there.
- 2
When a routing CAN avoid a feared region
reroute proactively and tell them you did. Action beats assurance.
- 3
Offer a real exit
a penalty-free postponement window with a decision date. Fear shrinks when there's a door, and most clients, given the door, choose not to use it.
- 4
Watch the pattern
not just the client: when a whole season's demand turns anxious, that's product feedback, flexibility becomes the feature to sell.
Claire's own framework from this essay, in the order she teaches it.
Source: Claire B. Soares, from her own travel business and live trainings.
Why this is the brand
Anyone can host a trip when the world is calm. Clients remember who they trusted when it wasn't, and trust, in those weeks, is built out of specifics: the checked routing, the named alternative, the scheduled callback. Reassurance is a feeling you're asking them to borrow. The itinerary is evidence you're handing them. Hand them evidence.
Common Questions
How should a travel advisor respond to client fear about world events?
With specifics rather than reassurance. Open their actual booking and show the routing, because generic comfort sounds exactly like what someone says when they have not checked.
Should you offer to postpone a trip during a crisis?
Offer a real exit with a decision date. Fear shrinks when there is a door, and most clients given the door choose not to use it.
What does a demand slump during a crisis tell you?
That flexibility has become the feature to sell. When a whole season turns anxious, that is product feedback, not just a bad quarter.
Written By
Claire B. Soares
Claire B. Soares is the founder of Travel AI University, a 6x Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist, and a Certified AI Consultant with a B.S. in Computer Science. A top 10% enterprise sales executive, she sold $3.4B+ in enterprise software to Google, Microsoft, IBM, Boeing, the federal government, and the DoD, then built $16M+ in luxury travel sales.
About Claire
