Customers who have booked ahead
Cancellations & protecting your bookings

Reassuring customers

NEXT STEPS

Customers who have booked ahead

Once the first announcements about the emergency incident in the media have passed, over the next few weeks people who are planning to visit your business are likely to be anxious about whether you are open for business and what condition the local area is in. 

Your website is a great way to update visitors on the local situation, perhaps with a newsflash alert on the homepage so it can’t be missed. 

Also, prepare scripts for staff to help them respond to visitors’ telephone or email inquiries in an upbeat and positive way, and to tactfully address any misinformation that they may have. Good leadership sometimes means over-communicating.

It is likely that once a natural or manmade disaster has occurred, certain attractions will not be open for business.  Help visitors to plan new itineraries; identify alternative, enjoyable attractions that suit a range of interests.  (See Revising Your Product section.

Cancellations & protecting your bookings

NEXT STEPS

Once you have dealt with customers who are immediately affected by the emergency incident, for example those who are on-site when the emergency hits or have bookings for the few days following, it is important to protect the business on your books. It is better to be proactive in this area rather than to assume that silence from your customers means that all is well.

There are a few things you can do to reinforce the business as usual message:

1. Review your bookings and identify any that are particularly valuable.
2. Prepare a message for your future bookings in letter, telephone script, email and web form.
3. Identify the positive reasons why customers should still travel.
4. Contact all your customers and tell them that you are looking forward to welcoming them. 

LOOKING FORWARD

A few weeks after a crisis has hit your business or region, you may be in a position to recommence your marketing program. The danger has passed, emergency authorities have reopened roads and public transport is up and running.  You’ve dealt with the first onslaught of cancellations and postponements. Assuming that any clean up or repairs to your business premises are largely done, it is time to turn your emergency update message to one of come and stay (or play). There are some useful tips on winning back customers in the Recovery Marketing section.