In light of the Prime Minister’s update last night regarding COVID-19, luxury tour operator If Only have released an updated statement
The statement is below in full:
In light of the Prime Minister’s update last night regarding COVID-19, luxury tour operator If Only have put important measures into place to adapt operations, in order to best support their staff, agent partners and the countrywide community. At present, If Only’s main priority is repatriating customers still overseas, and guaranteeing the safety of their wider team. As a result, the operator will be temporarily closed today, Tuesday 24th of March, to focus on the urgent repatriation of customers, and to allow time for all staff members to be fully set up working from home.
If Only Product & Distribution Director, Gordon McCreadie, talks through these new measures: “We will only be taking urgent calls today, the 24th of March, relating to passengers overseas. We need to ensure both the safety of our staff and the continuity of our customer service. We all have a duty to do our part in preventing the spread of COVID-19, and to support those caught up in the situation overseas. Today, our team will be focusing on the urgent repatriation of customers currently still abroad, so we would ask our travel agent partners only to get in touch today for urgent issues, by emailing info@ifonly.net or leaving a message on our normal reservations number.
“We will also be using the temporary closure of our phone lines to allow time to migrate our systems, enabling all members of staff to work from home, as per government advice. From tomorrow, Wednesday 25th of March, all calls will be redirected to our incredible reservations team working remotely and it is business as usual. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our valued travel agent partners and suppliers for their understanding and support at this time, and the wonderful team at If Only for all of their hard work and efforts over the past month.”
The operator asks that any urgent queries on Tuesday 24th March be sent via email to info@ifonly.net with the subject line ‘URGENT’, to be actioned with a call back from a member of the team as soon as possible. If calling, agents should use the standard reservations number – 0141 955 4000 – and leave a message. From tomorrow, Wednesday 25th March, If Only will be open for enquiries as usual, and ask for their agent partners’ patience, since transactions may take slightly longer than usual amidst these unprecedented circumstances. Any enquiries out of hours can be directed to the operator’s dedicated Out Of Hours Team, as always.
Meanwhile, the If Only marketing team have adapted their communications to provide agents with inspiring offers for late 2020 and 2021, encouraging the public to ‘Rebook their holiday. Reconnect the world’, and support our beloved industry at this challenging time.
For more information and full details of opening hours, please visit ifonly.co/COVID-19.
For any further information, please contact Nicole.Baines@ifonly.net
