FORT LAUDERDALE -- When clients find themselves in a crisis situation in the course of their travels, three "f-words" are key to remember, according to Sally Black: fast, factual and fluid.
Black, the founder of Kunkletown, Pa.-based agency VacationKids, spoke to the topic during a panel about crisis management at CruiseWorld here on Friday morning.
"Crises always happen," Black said to the agents in attendance. "It's not a matter of what's going to happen, it's a matter of when it's going to happen."
To that end, she said, it's important that agents have a plan in place for when disaster strikes.
The first thing to do is be fast in response time, she said. It's also important to be factual, not speculative, with clients and, lastly, realize that crisis situations are fluid.
"You have to learn to go with the flow, and you have to learn to be flexible," Black said.
She encouraged agents to generate a list of possible crisis situations and potential responses before anything occurs so they're prepared in an emergency.
Vivian Ewart, vice president of passenger services at Norwegian Cruise Line, manages a team of 300 crisis management-trained individuals. Like similar teams at other cruise lines, she said, "We want to make sure that we are presenting ourselves in a way that's helpful, nonaggressive, showing a lot of empathy."
She agreed with Black that crisis situations are fluid. "So we probably don't have all of the answers immediately," she said, especially if the cruise line is rerouting itineraries.
She suggested agents use statements directly from cruise lines to communicate with their clients, as teams of press-relations experts craft them.
Encouraging clients to purchase travel insurance is also an important piece of an agency's crisis management plan, because then they can rely on the insurance company to help if disaster occurs, said Scott Walton, a regional sales director for RoamRight Travel Insurance.
"I look at insurance as kind of taking a burden off of you as a travel agent," he said.
If a client is reluctant to purchase insurance, he suggested agents point out its benefits like access to a 24-hour assistance service, medical evacuation coverage and more.
Keith Waldon, founder of Austin, Texas-based agency Departure Lounge, said agents can also become useful sources to local media when a crisis is occurring somewhere in the world.
For instance, if a hurricane is about to hit a Caribbean island, it's likely that a local news station would cover that. Agents should form relationships with news media so they can be called upon as experts in that case.
"You're needed," he said. "Your knowledge is special."