Travel stress can make you feel crazy!
The shift in the travel industry
In recent years, the travel landscape has been dominated by a handful of large corporations, leading to a focus on efficiency and profit margin and not the needs of individual customers. The result: stress.
Declining customer service, automated systems, reduced staffing, hidden fees, unclear policies, overcrowding, overbooking, no carry-on storage, long wait times, and deteriorating standards can leave you feeling ripped off, frustrated, anxious, helpless and disrespected.
Whether you travel for work or play, none of this is good for your stress level or mental health.
The mental health impact
The anticipatory and on-the-spot stress from uncertainty about logistics, potential disruptions, delays or cancellations can begin even before you leave home.
When you’re faced with poor service and unresponsive systems (or staff), you might feel powerless and helpless. Add to this the frustration of not having your needs met.
It’s unlikely that travel industry standards for customer care will improve, and more likely they’ll get worse. Admittedly, with all the troubles in this world, this seems like pretty small potatoes indeed. However, it is part of a growing systemic disintegration of respect for the customer by large corporate interests. This translates to a further decrease for ordinary people, who cannot afford first class.
What can you do
Almost everyone who travels nowadays has stories of bad experiences. Telling these stories to others can help, as can writing letters of complaint or providing feedback. Example: based on a scale from 1 to 10 (where 1 is never), how likely would you be to recommend our company? Feels good to think about even if you don’t answer. As does deleting the feedback survey.
When you can, choose customer-focused companies, the ones that make customer service a priority. Or consider booking with local operators or smaller businesses who often provide more personalized service.
And, as part of self-care, practice acceptance. And maybe learn how to better manage anxiety, frustration or whatever types of stress happens to you when you travel.