We don’t need to tell you that the future of travel is uncertain. But while the industry is reeling from restrictions around the world, we want to take the opportunity to share a few stories of success from what has been a pretty shaky year for everyone.
Our travel specialists love doing what they do best; making connections and building life-changing trips for their customers. With the challenges of COVID-19, it’s been harder to do this. But our team is committed to giving it their all and have been working tirelessly to support each other and their travellers during a really intense time.
Here’s some feedback that we recently received from our customers Roger and Elizabeth.
Roger and Elizabeth’s story
In early March this year, our customers Roger and Elizabeth Harris found themselves stranded in Argentina at the start of a global pandemic. Three days into their Rickshaw holiday – an adventure that would have taken them from Buenos Aires on a road trip across the Andes, to wine valleys and cowboy country – the Argentine President suspended all flights from the UK with immediate effect. The order was that all travellers who had arrived in the country within the previous fourteen days had to either go into quarantine for two weeks or leave Argentina immediately.
Understandably, Roger and Elizabeth, who are both in their seventies, were worried about their safety and how they would go about making their long journey home. With just two days to make arrangements, their Argentina travel specialist, Ross, was on hand to help. Ross, who has been a Latin America travel specialist for seven years at Rickshaw, listened to their concerns and worked around the clock to ensure Roger and Elizabeth’s safe return.
Working closely with our local partners based in Argentina, Ross made regular telephone check-ins with the couple at their hotel, extending their stay there before finding a flight that would get them home as soon as possible; avoiding the stress of quarantine in an unfamiliar city.
“From my first contact with Ross, I felt confident that I was dealing with a competent and experienced travel agent with extensive knowledge of Argentina. Nothing was too much trouble for him in tailoring the itinerary to meet our specific requirements. His commitment to our safety and wellbeing was exceptional in the three days into our holiday when the Argentine President suspended all flights from the UK.
I telephoned Ross with this information and he immediately set about trying to arrange a return flight for us. He kept in regular contact with us throughout the day, even though he doubtless had many other customers in a similar situation in South America. He finally managed to get us on a flight back to London via Madrid very late that same evening. I must also commend the helpfulness of the local partners in Argentina during what was a very stressful day for my wife and me, wondering how and when we would get home.
Even after the event, as I tried to resolve compensation issues with my Travel Insurers, Ross was on hand to offer advice. I cannot fault the service supplied by Rickshaw Travel, Ross especially, and other members of the friendly knowledgeable staff and would recommend the company without hesitation to anybody thinking of a trip to South America.”
– Roger Harris
We want to say a huge thank you to Roger, Elizabeth, and all of our customers for putting your trust in us and for sharing your story. As a small company, feedback means so much to us.
Being a small team has had its plus points lately. It’s meant that we can be agile. Our specialists work really closely together, sharing the latest guidance while getting to know each other’s customer’s names and their individual travel plans. When restrictions were first imposed, being a tight team was more important than ever. The industry was thrown into unchartered territory and our specialists had to act fast to get our customers home safely. They acted with compassion and faced many heart-wrenching conversations, all while working from their living rooms and dealing with their own personal worries about the pandemic.
So finally, a massive thanks to Ross and our whole team of travel specialists for putting so much compassion into what you do.
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