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Prepare your business for post-COVID travelers
Erin Gunnuscio • May 27, 2020
Markets are re-opening and travelers are planning their trips now.
Tours and activities in various markets across the globe are being given the green light to reopen (following local restrictions and safety measures), and your customers are eager to get out and experience what you have to offer. In fact, 63% of travelers worldwide have spent time in the last week planning researching trips, according to a recent survey of Tripadvisor travelers.
Now more than ever, your customers want to feel confident and safe when they are making a booking decision. Consider adding private tours as a new product offering. Use your product descriptions to add details about safety measures you are taking. Prepare your business for re-opening, no matter where you are located:
☑ Confirm with local authorities
- Check with your local government
- Gather resources and safety checklists from your county or city
☑ Prepare your employees
- Identify staff members who will be working during the initial reopening
- Confirm that they’re in good health to work
- Schedule and distribute their upcoming shifts
☑ Implement post-COVID-19 health and safety measures
- Have signage reminding all staff and customers about physical distancing
- Arm your employees with protective equipment including masks and gloves
- Increase the availability of hand sanitizers and wipes
- Institute a cleaning policy in order to frequently clean high-touch areas
- Consider modifying your cancellation policy
- Limit guest capacity to allow for appropriate social distancing
- Adjust operating hours
☑ Update your Bókun account:
- Availability: The benefit of using Bókun is you only need to update your availability in one place — your Bókun account account. But that means it is crucial that the availability listed in your Bókun account is accurate. It will be reflected across everywhere you’re connected to and selling, be that OTAs like Viator or Expedia or your website.
- Product description: When potential customers are researching and comparison shopping, you need to help them feel confident and safe about your business. Use your product descriptions to add details about safety measures you have in place.
- Pricing: If you are amending your products to be private tours, you may want to consider adjusting pricing accordingly.
- Capacity: Make sure to factor social distancing and other local requirements into your capacity allowance.
☑ Check with your OTA partners
- Keep an eye out for communications from all of your distribution partners, such as Viator, Expedia, and other OTAs, to ensure that you have updated your products to their recommendations. You should be ensuring that you are communicating what you have done for safety to help travelers feel confident and safe.
☑ Consider adding private tours
- Adjust your current products to have less capacity, or you may want to create brand new products that are private tours.
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