TORONTO — With thousands of Canadians on their way back from Cuba – and many more here at home looking for refunds and rebookings amid suddenly cancelled vacations – travel advisors are doing what they do best: helping clients in turbulent times.

Agents also want to know what will happen to their commissions.

Abrupt cancellations have become a part of life for Canada’s travel advisors over the past several years – not just during the pandemic, but for tour operators pulling out of gateways too.

While Travelweek heard from agents helping travellers through the Cuba cancellations – and they are legion – the other part of the story is the non-payment of commissions and commission recalls, Niche Travel Group’s Faith Sproule tells Travelweek.

Sunwing Vacations has let travel advisors know that commissions will be recalled.

“If your clients have a vacation to Cuba scheduled to depart between now and April 25, 2026, they will receive a full refund issued to their original form of payment and commissions will be recalled,” said Sunwing in its heads up to agents.

Transat spokesperson Marie-Eve Vallières confirmed to Travelweek that Transat will be recalling commissions as well. “Commissions are issued once travel has taken place; therefore, no commission is issued for bookings that have not yet started. This also applies to bookings paid with a travel credit,” said Vallières.

As travel agents see their hard-earned commissions recalled due to circumstances beyond their control, “is ACTA stepping in to support advisors? Will the government step in to require sun suppliers to pay commissions, similar to the measures taken during COVID?” asked Sproule.

STEERED NEW CLIENTS TO OTHER DESTINATIONS

Sproule said she currently has no clients in Cuba, though a small number were originally set to depart later this month. “Out of thousands of bookings this year, only about 60 were to Cuba. After Cuba lost access to Venezuelan oil and overall travel uncertainty increased, we proactively asked our advisors to move existing bookings where possible and to steer new clients toward Mexico other Caribbean destinations and cruise,” she told Travelweek.

She added that most suppliers are now automatically cancelling affected files and issuing refunds, “which under the circumstances is actually a bit of a blessing. Now the hunt begins for new vacations, and demand is at an all-time high. Our hope is that the Canadian airlines add more southbound capacity this week – we’ll happily fill the seats.”

Sproule added: “My heart truly goes out to the people of Cuba.”

“A DEEP AFFINITY WITH THE PEOPLE THERE”

Wired for Travel’s Judith Coates shared similar sentiments. Coates told Travelweek her industry travels brought her to Cayo Coco twice a year from 2000 to 2020, “so I have a deep affinity with the people there, and still keep in touch with a lot of them. With so many hotels closing down, my heart is just aching to know that their livelihood has been taken away from them. They’ve all been working there since before we started going in 2000, day after day, even pitching in to clean up the area and get the resort back up and running after Hurricane Irma hit in 2017.”

Coates has clients in Cayo Coco who got moved to a different resort on Saturday, and they’re scheduled to come home today.  “I’ve been in touch with them since the news of their original resort’s closing, and they seem to be taking it in stride,” said Coates.

“CUSTOMERS MAY HAVE TO WAIT A WHILE FOR REFUNDS”

Jennifer DiNardo with Bella Vista Travel tells Travelweek she’s dealing with lots of cancellations for passengers going to Cuba. “These are people who go every year and were still fine to travel until their flights were cancelled,” she said.

Sometimes all it takes is clarity from an experienced travel advisor to clear up a confusing situation. When the airlines announced the end of seasonal service, DiNardo’s client currently in Holguin thought that meant she’d be stuck in Cuba until April 30. DiNardo explained the situation – and also got an email from Transat last night with a heads up that repatriation flight details for her client would be coming soon, plus a refund for unused days.

DiNardo tells Travelweek she’s grateful that the tour operators “took the initiative to just fully cancel and refund. No ambiguity about that.” The only downside: customers may have to wait a while for refunds. “And of course the travel agents lose lots of commissions for work done.”

“It’s been a hard go for travel agents,” said DiNardo.