Sounding Off: The truest test of a travel brand? Disruption

Each Friday, PhocusWire dissects and debates an industry trend or new development covered by PhocusWire that week.

Airlines and their airport partners are generally at the sharp end of customer angst whenever disruption hits services.

Delayed or cancelled flights, industrial action, lost luggage - so many things can go awry in the world of aviation and passengers often feel rightly aggrieved.

Hotels and attractions face similar issues but not in such an concentrated and intense way, most people would concede.

But "disruption" is an issue that travel companies face a lot, leaving customers with negative opinions about a brand or service when problems cannot be fixed in a timely or effective way.

The last 12 months (so far) have given the industry the biggest disruptive moment in its history - way beyond that felt by an Icelandic ash cloud or the grounding of a fleet of aircraft.

As 2021 unravels and companies disclose their financial performance over the last year, or simply close the curtains after failing to survive a tumultuous period, it's perhaps still far too early to assess the long-term damage to a brand's reputation as a result of the way it handled the non-financial aspects of the pandemic.

Numerous news reports have detailed the delays customers have faced in getting refunds after being impacted by the first lockdown in March to June last year.

The blame game (online travel agencies saying airlines still owe them money, for example) is a valid one but when fought in public it might tend to leave a bad taste in the mouth of consumers about all the parties involved.

It would appear that the truest test, as Simon Dempsey calls it, will be found in a combination of honesty, the speed with which a brand makes good on any issues it has with outstanding refunds, implementing health protocols, not capitalizing publicly on the misfortune of other companies and following the science, not the politics.  

Hard to do but vital components for survival and recovery.