How do I tell customers when the weather cancels a trip?
Short answer: Decide early, at a fixed time, and tell every customer booked for that day in one go, each in their own language, with two choices: another day or their money back. People who knew from the moment they booked that the sea has the final say, and how you handle it when it does, accept the cancellation without argument. What loses customers is not the weather. It is finding out at the last minute and getting no answer.
Why this goes wrong
The swell comes up overnight, the skipper decides at seven in the morning and by then half the customers have already left the hotel. Someone starts ringing them one by one, two do not pick up, one visitor cannot follow the call in Portuguese, and there is always a family waiting on the quay asking why nobody told them. The trip did not go out and the morning was still lost.
Say from the booking that it can happen
Three lines on the site, in the confirmation and in the reminder are enough: we only go out if the sea allows it; if we cancel, you choose another day or get everything back; we let you know by a set time. People who read that before paying do not hold it against you. People who find out on the quay do.
A fixed time to decide
Agree one time and one person with the team: for instance, the skipper decides at six in the evening for the morning departures and at eight in the morning for the afternoon ones. From that moment on, the answer to "is it going out tomorrow?" is the same for everyone, and nobody on the team spends the evening replying "we do not know yet".
Some days you only know in the morning. On those, say so the evening before: we decide at seven and you will get a message at that time. A promised time that you keep is worth more than an early decision nobody heard about.
One message to everyone, not ten calls
- That today's ten o'clock trip is not going out, and why, in one line.
- The two choices: another day, with the free dates, or the money back.
- A link where the customer chooses by themselves, without having to call.
- How long they have to reply, and a number for anyone who needs to talk.
The message goes to every customer on that trip, in the language each one booked in. If you send it by hand, from a list on paper, one day you will miss someone, and that someone is the one left standing on the quay.
Where the booking system comes in
This is only simple when every booking is in one place: the ones from the site, from WhatsApp, the ones the hotel desk made and the ones from the platforms. With a single list, cancelling a trip means picking the departure, writing the line and pressing a button. Every reply comes back to the booking: whoever rebooked moves to the new day, whoever asked for a refund is marked for one.
The next step is letting the customer rebook by themselves from the free seats, and having an assistant that answers "is it going out tomorrow?" with whatever the skipper decided, at any hour and in any language. But start with the single list and the fixed time. The rest comes after.
What to do this week
- Write your weather rule in three lines and put it on the site and in the confirmation.
- Agree with the team who decides and at what time, and tell customers in the reminder.
- Save a ready-made cancellation message, in Portuguese and English, with the two choices, so you are not writing it in a rush at seven in the morning.
Written by The W2 Collective team, in Santa Cruz, Madeira.
