Trench Talk Podcast: Andy Buerckner

Andy Buerckner is a Director at Platinum Travel Corporation.

Platinum Travel is a family owned and operated agency with offices in Australia and New Zealand, they won both the Travel Agency of the Year in 2018 and the Corporate Travel Agency of the Year in 2019.

I wanted to talk to Andy for this episode after I watched an interview he did recently for the Sky Business channel where he spoke about the travel industry and how the current coronavirus pandemic has decimated almost the entire sector. Many providers in the travel space including not only travel agents, like Platinum, but airlines, hotels, tour companies, cruise ship operators etc. have all seen their revenue drop to virtual zero overnight.

But it gets worse, and here’s the bit I hadn’t thought about until I watched the Sky Business interview. Not only did their revenue stop, they had to start the process of handing back past profits in the form of refunds as travellers began to ask for their money to be returned due to enforced travel restrictions

The logistics of how that is done and the mental impact on both employers and employees in the sector are challenges the travel sector has had to face for the very first time.

It’s not all bad news though, and as you’ll hear Andy believes that coronavirus may actually be very good for the travel industry and has started to identify opportunities he believes will emerge as travel returns.

During this chat, we covered:

• working through the impact of coronavirus
• travel trends
• working with family and how to best communicate with team members
• networking
• a couple of stories from wayward corporate travels
• chasing those highly valuable (at least for some) gold and platinum frequent flyer status and membership levels
• the coming opportunities for the travel industry and, as always,
• much more

 

To find out more about Andy, you can connect with him on LinkedIn and you’ll find the Platinum Travel Corporation at platinumtravelcorp.com.au.

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Enjoy Trench Talk Episode #074 with Andy Buerckner…

 

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