Every few years the world wobbles, a conflict, a scare, a headline cycle, and travel demand turns anxious overnight. Advisors who sell reassurance struggle through those seasons. Advisors who sell FLEXIBILITY keep booking, because in uncertain times the exit is the product.
“I'd rather lose money on tours than on hotels.”
Design the exits in
- Book hotel rooms cancelable to 24 hours before arrival, even at a premium over prepaid rates. I'd rather lose money on a tour than on a hotel, so I structure exposure exactly that way: refundable where the big money is, at-risk only where losses are small.
- Price group trips on single-occupancy logic so one traveler's cancellation never becomes your loss or another guest's problem.
- Offer defined postponement windows with a decision date, a one-time free move to next year's departure, decided by a deadline. A door with a frame calms people; an open-ended maybe paralyzes them.
- Say all of it in the marketing. "Fully flexible until 30 days out" is a conversion line, not fine print, in anxious seasons it's THE conversion line.
Flexibility costs margin, and it buys you the two things that compound: bookings your competitors aren't getting, and clients who watched you make leaving easy, and stayed. When the world calms down, they remember who built them a door.
Claire's own numbers
The framework, step by step
- 1
Book hotel rooms cancelable to 24 hours before arrival
even at a premium over prepaid rates. I'd rather lose money on a tour than on a hotel, so I structure exposure exactly that way: refundable where the
- 2
Price group trips on single-occupancy logic so one
traveler's cancellation never becomes your loss or another guest's problem
- 3
Offer defined postponement windows with a decision date
a one-time free move to next year's departure, decided by a deadline. A door with a frame calms people; an open-ended maybe paralyzes them
- 4
Say all of it in the marketing
"Fully flexible until 30 days out" is a conversion line, not fine print, in anxious seasons it's THE conversion line.
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.
Common Questions
How do you sell travel during uncertain times?
Sell the exit. Cancelable hotel rooms, single-occupancy pricing, and defined postponement windows with a decision date convert anxiety into bookings.
Where should a travel advisor take cancellation risk?
On the small items. Structure exposure so the big money is refundable and only low-value components are at risk.
Should flexibility be in your marketing?
Yes. In anxious seasons, a clear flexibility promise is the conversion line rather than the fine print.
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
