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Notes on Booking to Travel in 2021 and Beyond

May 12, 2021 | Lois Farley

There has been lots in the news about travel starting up again from the US and Canada, and countries re-opening for international tourism. We featured a couple of these countries in recent newsletters, namely Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

We wanted to update you on a few things regarding booking travel at this time. It’s important to note that, even though a country has decided to accept international tourists again, the availability of accommodations and tours will be limited. And may be for quite a while.

Using Iceland as an example, a good number of the moderate hotels in Reykjavik have been designated as Red Cross quarantine hotels, so are not available for tourism stays.

Many countryside hotels outside of Reykjavik had forecast for travel to resume in late summer, so aren’t yet ready to open for the season. A lot of them were using this down time to do renovations, which may or may not be finished. As well, it takes time to gear up for business any year, but especially this one, after having been closed for so many months. Reservation systems need to be reactivated, staff needs to be re-hired and supplies need to be restocked before being able to accept new guests. This severely limits the properties and number of rooms we can book for our clients. We’re not saying we can’t design and put into place a customized travel program for you, we’re just saying it will take us a bit more time and creativity to get everything finalized.

We’ve also found that when we’re re-booking cancelled 2021 Arctic expedition cruises onto sailings in 2022 and 2023, some cabin categories are already unavailable and some cruises are completely sold out. The same situation is happening for Churchill polar bear tours and other small-group programs around the world. Less supply (at least temporarily), more demand (because people are chomping at the bit to travel again)!

So, what have our clients’ recent bookings taught us? The most important lesson is that, as travel starts up again, there will be limited inventory for a time and high pent-up demand for the programs that are operating. We highly recommend that, if you hope to travel later in 2021, in 2022 and even 2023, that you book soon.

We know, suggesting you book now for travel a year and even two years from now probably sounds a bit crazy, right? But, doing that, you can avoid the disappointment of not getting space on the trip you really want, take advantage of the awesome early booking offers that are currently in place and relax knowing you have definite reservations in place for your future adventures (and we all need something to look forward to these days!). With flexible and generous cancellation and rebooking policies in place with most airlines, hotels, tour companies and rental car companies, getting space booked now on the trip of your choice is the best plan. Your reservations can be changed as needed later on, depending on travel restrictions, with minimal hassle and little to no financial risk. In fact, many companies are offering bonuses on future travel credits or are holding current prices for future, rebooked trips. So, there really is no downside to getting booked now. Contact us so we can start researching your desired plans and getting reservations put into place. Stop dreaming and let us work with you to create Your Best Days Ever!