04/07/2020
To Our Customers and the Residents of The Communities We Serve:
We hope that everyone is staying safe and well in these uncertain times.
We’re writing, today, in response to a number of negative reviews regarding our cancellation policy and we wanted you all to hear the facts, directly from us.
Our general cancellation policy states that any charter cancelled within 30 days is subject to no refund and that any charter cancelled with a 30 day notice is subject to a $50.00 processing fee. To be clear, WE ARE NOT enforcing our standard cancellation policies during this time.
We have offered every single group that has cancelled with us, the option of either a 100% credit towards future travel with Gulf Coast Tours or a 50% refund.
When it first became clear that the pandemic was not only going to disrupt our industry, but rather, decimate it, we began the process of determining how we would be able to issue refunds/credits to the groups that were, now, unable to travel, while also keeping ourselves from going out of business, at the same time. It was important to us to be consistent in our revised policy. We wanted to ensure that every group received the same offer and that we were doing the best that we could for everyone involved. We had to be prepared for every group to opt for a refund versus a 100% credit and came to the conclusion that if that were going to be the case, a 50% refund was the most that we could afford to offer, while ensuring that we could meet that obligation for each and every group. Although that would deplete our accounts, we were happy to be able to offer the option of a 50% refund versus only that of a credit, as some vendors have done. Of course, we would have loved to provide a 100% refund to every group, but we are also trying to ensure that our employees have a job to return to, once this all passes. It has been implied by some that we are trying to profit off of these unfortunate circumstances; I assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. We are simply trying, desperately, to survive.
Although, you may see our large buses rolling around town, the fact is that we are a small family-owned business. There is no corporate office or mega-conglomerate backing us. Unfortunately, having over 200 charters cancel during our industries peak season is not something that we are built to withstand. When we reference a charter, that doesn’t mean that simply one bus cancelled. A single charter might consist of 10 buses going to Washington, D.C. for a week. We are counting that as one single cancellation of the 200+. Our industry was among the first affected and will be among the last to recover, as we have been largely overlooked in the government’s relief packages. We’ve had to lay off 95% of our staff. The few remaining employees are only there to help process the mass amount of cancellations. Not a single vehicle is moving. No new revenue is being generated.
We tell you all of this, not for sympathy, but rather to inform you as to why we have had to make these difficult decisions regarding our cancellation policy. We thank you for your understanding, during this difficult situation, and look forward to serving everyone again in the future. We wish you all well.
