Summary of BBC article
According to “We’ve booked two summer holidays for the same time” by Colletta Smith (2021), due to the Covid-19 situation, low and no-deposit booking have been offered by the hotels to make flexibility for the customers. As a consequence, plenty of customers booked two holidays for the same time. Lee and Louise Chambers, for example, will take their children on holiday to either Norfolk or the Canary Islands. They booked both destinations to ensure that they will go out for holiday. This causes many problems to the hotels. One chief commercial officer encourages customers to give the hotel as much notice as possible while a general manager says that if customers cancel with notice, the hotel should be able to deal with it. This is considered a win-win situation. Additionally, the bigger challenge for the hotels is to impress the customers so they come back the next year.
Response to BBC article
The article ‘We've booked two summer holidays for the same time' reports about the strategies of hotels and customers for holidays. I am going to talk about my three reasons why I am interested in the article.
First of all, this article shows what is going on in other parts of the world. The measures of allowing people to travel on holiday with low or no-deposit booking. Unlike Thailand at this moment, where the Thai population has to stay home as much as possible since there are more than 2000 new covid-19 cases daily this week.
Secondly, this reminds me of my last New Year holiday. My family planned to go to Phetchaburi for the holiday. My dad booked the hotel through ‘rao tieow duay gan’ which is the application launched by the government to help the hotels and tourists by paying 40 percent of the hotel's price and the tourists pay 60 percent of it. As a result, the tourists will go for a holiday because of the discount and the hotel will get more bookings and sales. By the New Year, there was a second wave in Thailand so we decided not to go on New year. However, we either had to cancel the booking and lose our deposit or postpone and pay the full-price. Finally, we decided to cancel the trip with no refunds. As a consequence, there is some ambiguity of this campaign that cannot really help the population and businesses. As you can see, Thailand’s government has a different measure compared to the UK's.
Lastly, I like how the hotels offer the flexibility of booking for the customers. I think this is good for the customers that do not have to take risks since no one can predict whether on the holiday there will be a lockdown or they can travel normally.
Question for readers
Reference
Smith, C. (2021, May 19th). ‘We’ve booked two summer holidays for the same time’. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57155307
Reading Aom's post I was reminded again how seriously disruptive Covid has been. Not only have I had to rapidly learn a lot of entirely new skills to work online from home (I enjoy the "from home" bit of that", but I've missed by annual visits to Australia to see family and friends and this year and last.
ReplyDeleteI usually go back for a week or two at Songkran, but because of the lock downs on flights into Australia, that has been impossible. Fortunately, the Internet lets me keep in touch with everyone, but I miss not sitting on my brother's verandah eating hearty, home cooked country breakfast of bacon, eggs and the rest as in the warm sun as listen to the birds calling in the trees and his cattle lowing down by the dam.
And because the hotels we like to stay at have also been shut, my friends and I haven't even been able to take trips in Thailand.
I don't think I'll double book as the people in Aom's summarized article are, but it will be great when things get back to normal. That won't be this week: the news in today's Bangokok Post was not encouraging. At least we can visit Paragon and sit down to a meal together tomorrow, but Laem Charoen reports that the domestic oyster supply has been disrupted, although I suspect my friend's son will suggest a simple solution to that Covid inconvenience.
Before Covid-19 started, my plan is on the way back to Thailand from MO, I will visit my cousin in LA. Moreover, I planned to visit my cousin in Virginia for 2 months and travel to Taiwan with my friends after I graduate from high school. However, covid-19 ruined all my plans too.
DeleteFor now, I don't want to get out of the house at all. Last week, I had to go to Siam to buy a university uniform because I had to take a college photo. I tried to buy as fast as possible due to my awareness from covid-19.
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ReplyDeleteAccording to Aom’s post, this idea is good for customers especially in the sensitive situation. I think this strategy has advantages and disadvantages. The benefit is that customers could book hotels easily without any payment and cancel anytime. However, the hotels will lose their money because customers may not show up. The booked rooms also are unavailable for other guests.
ReplyDeleteI think a good strategy should be benefit for customers and hotels. Generally, the online booking websites will require the deposit to secure your place. It could be refund in some reasons. Last year, I also booked the hotel in Koh Yao Noi but the Covid-19 situation looked bad. The hotel willing to give me a full refund.
I think they should set the deadline for no-deposit booking. As a consequence, the customers have time to decide and after the deadline they have to pay for the deposit. If the customers realize that they can’t make it, they will cancel the booking. As a result, the hotel can manage the rooms for other guests. However, if the customers pay for the deposit but they don’t show up, the hotel will have the deposit.
DeleteIn my opinion, this strategy may encourage people to travel during holidays as they can keep their options open for hotel booking and travel destination. Although there might be a new outbreak, there still a chance for tourists to go along with their second plan. Some hotels may lose its customers, on ther other hand, other hotels can have enough clients to revive their financial situation. As a result, I think that this strategy have more advantages than disadvantages and it is worth to try as grasping at straws for travel industry.
ReplyDelete