Sports Tours International Covid response and customer feedback

It has been an extremely challenging period for the travel industry. The situation for the Sports Tours International Group of companies has been no exception to this. As a sports tour operator that specialises in providing travel packages to people taking in international sports events, it’s clear to see how the mass cancellation of events has had an impact us. Throughout this difficult period we are proud to say that we have continued to look after our customers.

For us it all started in March. Our spring cycling training camp in Spain just managed to take place but our first main events to be cancelled were Strade Bianche Gran Fondo and the Tokyo Marathon. It took us a couple of weeks to get used to this new situation and to formulate our strategy on how we were going to deal with refunds but we haven’t looked back since. Since then nearly every event has been cancelled. We had a few rays of light with a number of Pro cycling events still taking place like the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana but all mass participation events were cancelled.

We’re proud that throughout the Covid crisis we’ve adhered to the Law. We haven’t just acted quickly to communicate options to our customers, we’ve also stuck to the legal deadlines for issuing refunds. EU law states that a Tour Operator has to refund a customer within 2 weeks if the Tour Operator cancels the package holiday. Airlines have to refund customers within a week. Many Tour Operators have not been respecting the deadline or they have not offered a refund as an option. We have been offering cash refunds within 14 days of cancellation. Many of our customers decided to opt for a roll-over to 2021 rather than taking the refund which is a testament to the trust that our customers place in us.

Book your next sports holiday with confidence. The experienced Sports Tours International team have been successfully taking people to amazing sports events across the globe for nearly 50 years. It has never been more important to book with a Tour Operator. We will provide you with REASSURANCE, CONFIDENCE and  PEACE OF MIND throughout your journey with us.

54% of our customers chose to leave their deposit and postpone their booking to 2021 with us

We believe this is a great vote of confidence in Sports Tours international and it shows that our customers trust us.

46% of our customers chose to receive a refund

In some cases we’ve chosen to do the right thing for our customers even to our own financial detriment.

Below is some of the feedback that we’ve received from our customers

“This will pass, no one can predict when. I had been thinking about other events with you when Covid hit and the manner in which I’ve been treated makes booking those and more events/travel with you a certainty. I had also booked with [company name removed] and need say no more other than (and I’ll be monitoring the owners behind them) I’ll never book with them again. I’ll be looking to support those businesses that have supported their staff and customers first and only those.

I’ll repeat it but everyone I’ve touched at Sports Tours has been a pleasure to deal with both here in the UK and those on the supported trips abroad. Everyone I touched at [company name removed] gave an entirely different and disappointing experience and used every trick in the book to block reviews of my experience”

“I will try again sometime in the future. Thank you so much for your help” – Paris Roubaix

“thank you for the prompt information and the possibilities you offer” – Ride London

“Thank you for getting this out so quickly, Just for the record at the moment I would be happy to defer everything to next year leaving everything in place with you to ensure running Boston in 2021.”

Many many thanks to you and all your staff for an excellent job done with professionalism We appreciate your work and congratulate you on a fine performance Regards J & M” – NYC

“Many thanks Simon for getting this sorted – unless you can work any magic we will stick with the booking arrangements 😀 We very much look forward to attending next year for my delayed 50th birthday celebrations” – Tour de France

Really sending the love to you guys in the horrible times for the travel industry – keep on smiling, folks like me are rooting for you every step of the way.” – P. Berlin Marathon

“Thank you. And thank you for the great customer service, support and communication. I know this has been a very strange time for everyone. Let’s NOT do this again!” D. – Berlin Marathon

“It’s been a tough year, hang in there and I’ll see you in 2021!” D. Berlin.

Thank you very much for your efforts. I’m looking forward to 2021. Best regards and stay healthy. Karl, 15th July, Etape du Tour

“Totally nothing urgent – just wishing you and all your wonderful colleagues well at this difficult time. – Lots of love to you all” P. – Boston Marathon

“Thanks for keeping us informed during the past months and for making it an easy refund option. Many other event organizers made it very difficult and we appreciate that Sports Tours provides the refund without discussion.” P. – Paris Roubaix 2020

I would like to accept your offer of cancelling my booking for the 2020 Etape du Tour and would like to receive a refund for the package element and an ASO Entry Voucher. I would like to say how much your company’s approach to this is appreciated. I first took part in an Etape twenty years ago with Graham Baxter and am very disappointed to miss this one. Your customer service on this has been impressive and I hope everything gets back to something like normal soon and I can book further events through you. Michael, 7th July, Etape du Tour

That’s fantastic. Looking forward to next year already ! Fingers crossed. Keep safe. Many thanks. Andy, 23rd June, Etape du Tour

Thank you for the updated position. I do wish to travel with you in the future but at this point these options may not work for me. In the meantime, I’d be grateful if you could refund the full value of the booking. Rest assured, when we have matters more under control, I absolutely will be booking tours with yourselves as my experience is overwhelmingly positive. David, 1st June, Tour de France

The trip was planned as a big group event with friends from the UK, Hong Kong and Spain and unfortunately the revised dates make it impossible for us to all do the event as planned. Since we have not made any plans for 2021 we prefer a refund at this time. Thanks for keeping us informed during the past months and for make it an easy refund option. Many other event organizers made it very difficult and we appreciate that Sports Tours provides the refund without discussion. Tim, 2nd June, Paris-Roubaix

“I will absolutely use you in the future and my request for a full refund is no reflection on your company. You have been nothing other than great during this uncertain time” Etape du Tour

“On a secondary point, I think your communications on this matter has been excellent! Thanks team!” New York Marathon

“Many thanks for your fast response and your help with this, it’s much appreciated” – Berlin Marathon

“Thank you for all your hard work in enabling this to go ahead” – Berlin Marathon

“Thanks for this update – it’s greatly appreciated. Very clear and an extremely fair set of options – well done!” – Berlin Marathon

“This has been a dreadful year for everyone and it will make the 2021 event even more special. Thank you for the opportunity to be part of it and for all your hard work” – New York Marathon

“Thanks so much 🙂 thanks you (Julie) and Steve who been so amazing keeping us in loop. Hopefully we use you guys again When it settle downs . Thanks again Love Elly xx” – New York Marathon

Thank you for bringing this to such a speedy conclusion. We will look forward to a holiday with Freewheel in the future.

Thank you so much, the money has gone through. We’ll really look forward to booking with Freewheel, as soon as things have settled down. Kind regards. Jane

Good morning Paul, Thank you for your email and update. You seem to have everything organised, so fingers crossed you have a better year next year. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, Sally

Thanks for that. I will be booking again in the future with you company.

Very well noted, thanks for the prompt response. Berlin Marathon

Thank you for making this disappointing cancellation, hassle free. Kathryn. Berlin Marathon

Appreciate all the hard work you the team have had to do on all these races and to get nothing out of it. Hopefully I’ll be doing many events with you in the future ! Boston Marathon

Thanks for your excellent support in extremely difficult circumstances as a direct result of the cancellation of the major marathons this year. David London Marathon

Thanks very much for your help and communication throughout the past few months. Very much appreciated. Trev. London Marathon

When things change, I’ll be delighted to book a running event with you in future; I’ve been impressed by your customer service so far. Sabine. London Marathon

You have been very helpful throughout all of this. Philip. Boston Marathon

Thank you very much for the update. We have been really impressed with how you all have handled the 2020 London marathon cancellation, keeping us updated, and allowing flexibility. We really appreciate it and didn’t want it to go unnoticed. Thomas. London Marathon

2020 London marathon – « Nous vous remercions pour cette annulation et le remboursement intégral prévu mi juillet 2020. Nous apprécions la qualité de votre relation client et la mesure exceptionnelle que vous avez prise en cette période exceptionnelle de pandémie. »

2020 Liege Bastogne Liege – « Je vous remercie d’avoir procédé au remboursement et ce, sans aucun frais. Je ne manquerai pas de repasser par vos services pour la saison 2021. Un tout grand merci pour vos informations ainsi que votre aide; »

“thank you for refunding my booking without any charge. For sure I will contact you for the 2021 season. Thanks a lot for all your information and help.”

“Vicki, Thank you very much for confirming my booking for next year’s race. I can imagine how busy and chaotic it must be for you at this time. All my details are correct, I’m already excited about next year! Many thanks for all you efforts, they are hugely appreciated!” – Rajesh

If the circumstances were different, I would certainly be there. But travel from the US is impossible for me with my nation’s careless response to Covid-19. I look forward to joining the tour in 2021”

We are now on sale for 2021!

2021 Sports Tours International Running programme

2021 Sports Tours International Cycling programme

2021 Sports Tours International Triathlon programme

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