Would have appreciated a ‘ranked waiting list’

ITN was mailed a copy of the following letter, sent by a reader to Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT), a subsidiary of Grand Circle Travel (GCT).

Thank you so much for your recent “form letter” noting that we had not chosen to travel with Grand Circle Travel or Overseas Adventure Travel this year and offering us a “frequent traveler credit.” This “generous offer” combined with the incessant mailings from Grand Circle Travel and Overseas Adventure Travel are really annoying in light of the way we were treated after we were confirmed in September 2004 for an OAT barge trip to Provence scheduled to depart on May 25, 2005.

After accepting our payment in full and issuing us plane tickets for the trip, you notified us just 12 days prior to departure that, due to an error, you had “overbooked” this trip and would not be able to honor our reservation. While you did offer to move us to a late-July departure at a reduced fare, this alternative trip was not convenient for my wife and me.

At the time that we booked in September, there was no indication that our reservation was not confirmed or that we had been placed on a waiting list. In light of the sophisticated reservation systems that OAT apparently uses, I do not see how such overbooking could occur and why it was not caught until just prior to our departure, leaving no chance to make alternative plans.

If we had known that the Provence trip was full and that there was a chance of being bumped, we would have made alternative plans. However, by springing this situation on us at the last minute, we were not able to find a suitable substitute trip.

In addition, when we received our refund after three weeks, it was not for the full amount. After calling your office in Boston, I was able to find out that the balance was being credited to my credit card. There was no explanation with the refund check as to why the refund was handled in this manner.

Because of what we feel was misleading treatment by Overseas Adventure Travel, we wrote a letter to Mr. Gregg Marston, president of OAT, asking for some clarification of the company policy. I do not think that a customer should have to be a “Philadelphia lawyer” to decipher company policy. Since traveling on a foreign trip is not like booking an air flight domestically where there is a backup within a couple of hours, overbooking on foreign travel seems inexcusable.

I specifically asked why GCT/OAT could not institute a policy of a ranked waiting list. Neither Mr. Marston nor his staff has had the courtesy to respond to our earlier letter. For a company that relies heavily on referrals from previous travelers, this does not seem like good business policy.

Needless to say, we will not be recommending OAT to our friends, based on our experience. This is particularly unfortunate as our first trip with GCT to Holland and Belgium was excellent.

ROBERT L. MAJOR
Norfolk, VA

ITN mailed another copy of the above letter to Overseas Adventure Travel and was sent a copy of their reply to Mr. Major, as follows.

Thank you for taking the time to write to Overseas Adventure Travel. We have received your letter regarding your inquiry about not being able to accommodate you on the “Cruising Provence & The Camargue” barge cruise. I realize you would like to hear from Mr. Lewis or Mr. Marston, however they have asked Quality Management to respond to passenger letters on their behalf.

First, I apologize for our delay in responding to your correspondence and for not sending you the appropriate acknowledgement that the letter was in review.

I also would like to apologize to you for the disappointment and inconvenience you experienced because of the overbooking of the May 25th departure. Since the time your reservations were made, we have updated our “Terms and Conditions” to clearly state our overbooking policy. We did offer to accommodate you on the later departures of July 20th or on any departures of our other barge or river cruises. It’s unfortunate that none of these suited your schedule or travel preference.

We then issued a refund to you for a total of $8,852.60 and offered a Goodwill Certificate toward future travel, in the amount of $1,195 per person, which you returned to us.

Although Overseas Adventure Travel does overbook its vacations, we do so by far fewer bookings than the historic cancellation rate of each trip. When a trip is overbooked, we begin contacting passengers to identify volunteers who can move their departure date without any inconvenience. Because we overbook by a small number, these volunteers usually free up the needed space.

In an instance when a traveler cannot change a vacation departure date and we cannot accommodate them on that date or any other preferred date or trip, as was your case, we offer a full refund and a Goodwill Certificate toward future travel. We understand that changing a departure date may not only be an inconvenience but also a disappointment for the people we’re in business to serve.

Regrettably, our “Terms and Conditions” did not state our overbooking policy as clearly as it could have at the time your reservation was booked for the “Cruising Provence & The Camargue” barge cruise. I regret that this was to be your first experience with Overseas Adventure Travel.

This year nearly 50,000 people will travel with OAT, and, of the 77% of our travelers who respond to post-trip questionnaires, 96% rate their experience “good to excellent” overall. For this reason, I hope that you will consider using the Goodwill Certificate and travel with us again in the future. The Goodwill Certificate will be kept on file and listed under your club number should you decide to use it.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to write to Mr. Lewis and bring your concerns to our attention. I regret that our overall performance may keep you from traveling with us again, but I hope you will consider OAT at another time. In the meantime, we wish you the best.

SALLY BOOTH, Quality Management, Grand Circle Corporation, 347 Congress St., Boston, MA 02210