it pays to plan ahead

Here’s something that’s kind of mind-boggling: 72% of Americans didn’t take a summer vacation this year. But even more stunning is that 44% of all Americans didn’t use any of their paid time off, last year. Not a single day. Crazy, right? Don’t believe us? Check it out.

It does make sense, though. After all, we’re living through a pandemic, unemployment is rampant, and if people do have jobs, they have been self-isolating and working from home for the most part. But we also know that we’re going to be on the other side of the current crisis eventually. And when we are, there will be a lot of pent-up demand to travel that gets, um, well, “un-pented.”

We’re starting to see that happen, already. Our hosted trips for 2021 — even those in the spring — are starting to fill-up, and we’re getting more and more frequent inquiries about travel next year. On top of that, many resorts and tour operators are reducing capacity so that people can continue to travel safely while distancing from each other or traveling in a bubble. So, if you’re looking to go big in 2021, we’d suggest that you start the planning process as soon as possible.

We’d also suggest that you use a travel advisor. We’re staying on top of all of the latest policies from our network of preferred partner suppliers, so we know how to protect your investment in your vacation. If you trust a financial advisor to protect the value of your investment portfolio, shouldn’t you have a travel advisor to help protect your investment in your valuable vacation time?

And we’ve been keeping a list of those companies that were asleep at the switch during the crisis. If a tour operator was slow to fix a problem, or a hotel tried to burn one of our clients—we won’t be “canceling” them publicly, but rest assured, we’ll never book our clients with them, again. If an airline refused a refund or charged a change fee, when their stated policy (and US law) said otherwise—that airline is going on our personal “no-fly” list. So, don’t be surprised if we politely decline to book a “too good to be true” deal that you might have found online. We’re coordinating with hundreds of other independent travel advisors to make sure that we’re sharing the best information with each other so that we can leverage our buying power to work for our clients.

If you’re ready to get ahead of the curve by planning for 2021, we’re ready to plan your next trip. Whether it’s a bucket-list adventure, or just a simple domestic trip to see family that you couldn’t visit this year, we’re ready to make your travel seamless and hassle-free.