Travel agent rebooks or refunds nearly 1,300 holidays

Peakes Travel Elite in Mardol, Shrewsbury town centre, faced a tough start to 2020 with February flooding disaster. But the firm has tried to do right by its customers despite the devastation inflicted by the pandemic.

Yesterday, transport secretary Grant Shapps announced plans to reduce the 14-day quarantine period for holidaymakers returning from certain countries and a new airport testing regime to try and encourage Covid-safe travel.

Claire Moore, managing director at Peakes, believes people shouldn't be put off from travelling as there are "high levels" of protection and reassurance against cancellations.

She said: “If there is ever a time to book your holiday through a travel agent – that time is now! We can offer customers a high level of protection and reassurance. If you book with us, you benefit from ATOL bonded and ABTA protected holidays. We pass on that protection to our customers, which means they will always be refunded if anything goes wrong with their holiday plans.

"If you compare that to booking directly for example, you often would not get that refund, and you would probably end up spending hours on the phone trying to save your holiday plans or recoup your money.

“We’ve battled on for our customers. We’re still here, still on the high street, and still working hard to provide our customers with amazing holidays.

“As lockdown hit, we worked tirelessly day and night to bring our customers safely back to the UK. Since then we have rebooked and refunded well over a thousand holidays - steadfast to our commitment of providing premium customer service."

She said that the firm has stopped working with any tour operators who have treated the agency or their customers unfairly during the pandemic.

“We will continue to provide protection and reassurance to holidaymakers in the region, by always being here, no matter what is happening in the world," added Mrs Moore.