How We Protect Your Trip When You Choose to Use Us as Your Agents
Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert
Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist
Sometimes in our role helping you get the best possible trip; it is often not apparent about the way we handle your requests in a professional manner to protect you.
There are really 8 ways we add a layer of protection to help ensure your trip is an excellent experience and to help avoid the pitfalls that can happen during travel.
So, let’s learn together about our best practices and it should help you realize why our policies and practices help protect you when you decide to use us,
1. We Emphasize Terms and Conditions so there is no Confusion about our Policies and the Suppliers’ Policies.
No one really likes to read the fine print, but it is essential to know what you agree to when you make a deposit to a travel vendor.
In a typical offer we provide you, we explain the included invoice, to emphasize the dates of travel, the trip booked, the deposit amount (including any non-refundable portion of that amount), and final money due dates. It is a double check for both of us to avoid any possible mistakes or misunderstandings.
We also emphasize the key points of the contract and clearly advise you to read these carefully. Here is an example of this in an offer email we send to clients:
“Please also understand this is a binding contract and once you make the deposit, you agree to accept the terms and conditions listed in the 8 pages of this offer. Please read them carefully. This is really no different than any other travel company, but we want to point this out, so there are no surprises, and you understand what terms you are agreeing to, if you accept the offer.”
We also clearly explain our roles and responsibilities as your agent. Here is a typical example that we use in most offers:
“One last point--we are not providing any travel services; we are acting as your agents to help you make the best possible decisions for your wonderful trip, but we accept no liability if the services are not properly delivered. Please rest assured this is a great company and we expect they will exceed your expectations. Again, this is to point out the scope of our services.”
While you might think this is legalese for us to avoid liability, it is just the opposite—we are providing you an objective criteria to determine if our services are proper for you to use. We offer many benefits to you based on our expertise and vast experiences, but the vendor delivers the travel services, sets the prices and is the responsible party. We often need to remind you that they control your travel experience, not us. It also put the onus on us to only use the best suppliers, which benefits us both—there is no way the average consumer can determine which company can best fit their desired travel style. We can and vdo ett them and help increase the chances your trip will happen without major problems.
2. We Inform and Update You to Changes in Your Trip,
Our expertise benefits you to the changing conditions that could affect your travel experience if we have been notified by the vendor or from other sources. As travel industry experts, we can help you learn about changes in the trip, both minor and major, that will affect the quality of your travel experience.
Most conditions are minor—maybe a switch in hotel due to renovations that have only a minor effect on your travel experience, but sometimes it is quite a change, such as a last-minute change of a sailing vessel with less stateroom space than the original ship. Sometimes, these details are not properly reported to you the traveler, and that is where we spring into action.
No one likes surprises that change the quality of the trip, but we can help you be informed and help you gain a refund for lesser services if possible. We recently just had that happen to a client and we successful in resolving the refund issue quickly, despite our previous experience with a much slower process from the same company.
3. We Vett Our Suppliers and Explain the Key Points of Their Contract During the Offer Stage
It is amazing that many do not understand contracts of carriage (the legal term for the binding contract you are entering into with the supplier) and we work to help understand these finer points that are most likely to affect your travel experience.
Some areas are penalties based when a traveler decides to cancel their trip, responsibility to have proper travel documents, and the right of the company to change itineraries due to weather or circumstances beyond their control such as low/high water on rivers, damaged locks, restrictions by port authorities and other factors. These can really change the quality of the trip and we look for companies that have plans to minimize these travel situations.
We can’t prevent these problems, but we can tell you which suppliers handle these problems better than others. Quality comes in here—does the company recklessly schedule a trip in a known problem area on a river cruise at the most likely problem time, or do they modify their schedule to avoid these possible problem areas? Are their tour/cruise managers skilled enough and empowered to make wise decisions to keep the promised quality of the trip or do they accept the problem or are not empowered to make changes?
4. We always offer travel insurance and explain vendor provided insurance.
Travel Insurance is a confusing subject. Some think it is too expensive and a waste of money, but we feel it is essential protection. I often ask folks if they can roll down their car window and throw out $10,000 to $15,000 dollars then it may not be necessary for them, but we can’t! No one wants to lose money, but the point we make crystal clear is that we offer you trip insurance, and you must decide what risk you want to take or cover or not to cover for your trip. Also, we advise of the possibility of current coverage with a credit card.
Another confusing part of this is exactly what is covered by the companies. While we are both licensed to represent travel insurance companies, we cannot and will not try to tell you what is covered or not covered—only the insurance company can explain this based on your specific questions. It is another safeguard for you and part of our responsibility to you. For example, many are surprised to learn that Medicare usually can’t be used outside of the United States to cover health care issues and they might need additional coverage for accidents or health problems that might arise.
Also, in the past, we have helped some who have run into difficulties and had to end their trip early. We can help facilitate contact with the insurance company, perhaps find out what actions are best for the client to follow and perhaps help make sure the required documents are secured during hospital appointments or other evidence to help support a claim.
This may not ensure a favorable result, but it does increase the chances a claim will be supported.
5. We Help You Avoid Transportation Risks
Part of our due diligence is to recommend you use common carriers with good safety records and practices to help avoid transportation risks. Accidents involving buses, planes or sailing vessels can be quite serious or even life-threatening, so we avoid companies without a good safety record, or who we cannot learn enough about to help keep you safe during your travels.
There are those who want to use locals, who we can’t vett. This is why we recommend using cruise managers for transportation transfers and hotel staff. These folks know who is reliable and safe, and they won’t allow these vendors overcharge you.
Kris, an AmaWaterways cruise manager, is an excellent source to help with transfers during a river cruise.
6. We Only Use Companies that have Good Safety Practices for Activities that Have Higher Risks
This is more than just signing a waiver form. We investigate how companies conduct higher risk activities, so we can be sure their practices provide a reasonable level of safety during higher risk situations during your travels.
While we do not book high risk adventure travel, even something as simple as using bikes on a river cruise requires us to look at the procedures and determine if they are generally safe or not. Do they let you use a bike without first ensuring it is safe for you based on your physical condition and experience? Do they use bike helmets? Do they provide you with a waiver to sign, explaining the risks? How do they conduct the bike excursions—is there a safety plan for accidents or folks exceeding their capabilities? These are reasonable procedures that good companies follow.
7. We Protect Your Privacy
You never need to worry about us providing any personal information to anyone except as required by vendors. On or website, we indicate that we only collect necessary information, never provide that information to 3rd parties with the only goal of improving our service to you and to allow us to aid in the performance of the contract for the travel services you desire. It is on the bottom of every page of our website, in the footer section of each page.
We also respect your right to ask us to delete any personal information or unsubscribe from any of our electronic communications with you. While we can’t delete any past trip information in our data base (we are required by law and our insurance policies to keep records of past travel arrangements we have made on your behalf), we can make you an inactive member, so you will not receive any more offers from us.
In short, we respect you and your privacy.
8. How We Handle Credit Cards
We follow very strict practices about your credit cards to protect you from possible identity theft and unauthorized uses. Here is an example of how we inform you of some of our credit card practices:
“Once you make this decision, we will handle this purchase on your behalf with your credit card for any services you request. We always take credit card information over the phone for your safety and protection.”
We also never make any credit card charges without your permission. After trips are completed, we shred any credit card written records. We do not store any credit card information electronically.
Our Final Thoughts
You may not have understood our role as professional travel advisors and just how much responsibility we have besides providing great trips—we have important legal responsibilities to protect you and provide you with better service. We hope this blog helps you better understand how we approach this important part of our business relationship.
We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts. We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe. We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you. We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.
When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip. You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience. And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process. We think we have all these qualities.
Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@visitdd.com . We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!
ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry. Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA. Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations. She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors. An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.
HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 52 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:
AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent
