Joanne Mullen, Director of Product Implementation and Documents, Globus Family
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1. Mumbai Attacks A Business Response to Terror
2. Introduction
Joanne Mullen
Director of Product Implementation & Documents
About Group Voyagers
With more than 80 years in travel, Group Voyagers, Inc. is the
company that markets and sells the Globus family of brands Globus,
Cosmos, Monograms and Avalon Waterways which have given millions of
travelers memorable vacation moments and experiences while handling
all of the details, allowing them to relax and enjoy more more
sights, more insight and more fun.
3. Incident Response Team
Team assembled in event of incidents
Sample incidents
Terrorism
Floods
Hurricanes
Earthquakes
Volcanic Ash
Travel Warnings
Coach accident with injuries
Ship/motor coach accidents
4. Preparation
Our incident team has a series of steps it takes in any
incident to verify information, establish communications, determine
policies and regulate an incident.
We have our Incident Response manual to guide us
We have our well tenured staff to provide the experience
We have the leaders to make decisions
What we have learned over the years
MAKE NO ASSUMPTIONS
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
5. Mission Statement
It is our intent to care first and foremost for clients and
their families when an incident occurs.We aim to provide that care
swiftly to minimize distress and disappointment.This frame of
reference should prevail when decisions are made in the initial
hours and days after an incident is recognized.All other business
and financial considerations related to the incident will be
regarded as secondary, and dealt with once the immediate needs are
responded to.
All parts of Globus family of brands are expected to adopt this
standard when involved in resolving an incident.
Do we have any tours in the area?Any immediate danger to
travelers?
10.
Record time (12 minute response)
Ask operations to check in with passengers.Operations incident
response team would handle on-site the passenger care and
concern.
Thanksgiving was back on!
WRONG!!!
NO ASSUMPTIONS 11. How Close?
3 Minutes later phone call from call center staff
Trident connected by lobby to OBEROI!
Initiate full incident response meet in War Room
TridentOberoiMrs. Jones 12. War Room 13. War Room what was
missing
Had all the jacks set up for extra computers, but all the
computers were in the technology department.Everyone in technology
had left for the weekend
1 phone line not enough needed one for inbound calls, outbound
calls and one for back up if either was in use.Instead we had to
rely on personal phones to manage calls
Causes distractions when using a conference phone
No printer
No pencil sharpener
Check that space is usable clear of objects 14. Communication
Guide states this: Incident had this: 15. First Learning
Most travelers do not register with US Embassies while
traveling abroad
Most of our travelers do not carry international mobile
phones
We do not require the collection of emergency contact
information prior to departure.
16. Helpless
Communicate with travel agents with passengers
Prepare for media inquires.Prepare for passenger / agent
inquiries
17. Possible Scenarios
Not being able to reach our passengers, we determined the
following were possible scenarios for them:
They escaped when the fire broke out in the hotel (there was
one blast in the lobby)
They were hiding in their rooms or elsewhere in the hotel
They could be hostages
(or so we thought) 18. Resilient or crazy?
Mrs. Jones
Expect the unexpected 19. Still no news
Only information was from newscasts.Most on Taj hotel
Ground handlers also seems at a stand-still because local
authorities were not allowing them near the hotels or providing
information
We needed to think about upcoming departures too
Closed for holiday weekend and next departure in 12 days.
Needed action plan for handling inquiries
Insurance coverage for cancellations due to the event
What about other tour operators in the area.Could they help?Did
they need help?
Protect the industry
What about our India office?
20. Mrs. Jones our lifeline
Her concerns were not expected
Not as concerned with terrorist
Friends
Plans
How to make those plans
Mrs. Jones was not using cell but hotel phone
MAKE NO ASSUMPTIONS 21. Going Home 22. Hostages(and Mrs.
Jones)
Update at 8:00 pm that there were 5 hostages being held on the
19 thfloor.
Our passengers were on the 20 th , 27 th , and 33 rd
Mrs. Jones calling again
Provided emergency phone numbers to her for Littleton and
Australia office
Error should have provided ground handler phone numbers
23. Good news
Good news was finally received at 10:00pm from Canada
office
No news from staff & No news from police Worst part =
looking for instructions and getting none. 24. And so on Then the
rescue storming by the troops 25. Rescue Mission 26. 27. Return
Home
We took care of all flights
Mrs. Jones continued to Dubai
Met passengers at airport upon return home
Provided with senior management phone numbers
Offered counseling services
Followed up a few days later to see how they were
adjusting
Further counseling offered
We also verified and picked up all expenses paid by the client
during the incident
Final closure announcement sent to all personnel along with
instructions for proper protocol for media inquires
A thank you follow up to everyone involved
28. Debriefing
General Observations
What worked well?
Thorough communication.As soon as information was received from
one source, it was passed quickly.Passengers, ground handlers and
offices were pleased with the prompt replies
One point person for communications from each office
Excellent ground handler they were prepared with own Incident
Response preparations
Team remained focused on best interest of passengers.Mission
statement followed
Roles and responsibilities managed well we had the right
team
A variety of communication points for ground handler in initial
minutes
They were able to reach us when operations was not
available.That 30 minutes was critical
29. Debriefing continued
General Observations
What did not work well?
Initial communications we didnt go through operations and
started communications directly with ground handler.Hard to stop
that mid-stream.
Canada office started communicating with operations
directly.Created double work.They needed to work through us
No contacts for clients
Signage for potential passengers outside of hotel was not
available until many hours into the process. IF we had passengers
outside the hotel, we would have struggled to find them.
Emergency phone numbers need to be available 24 hours.Emergency
numbers were not answered
Not all incident response members had phones in which to check
email away from the office
During an incident is not time to question if further training
is needed for team
30. Debriefing continued
Tools
What worked well?
Smart phones rapid access to information
Reporting being able to pull reservation data instantly to get
snap shot of who is where on tour.
What did not work well?
War room was not set up or updated correctly
Reporting tool was available but pre-canned reports are not
created (time loss to pull information)
Phone management inbound and outbound lines were not
available
Dont chain chairs to desks!(Watch cords and space set up)
Use the tools we had a room of whiteboard but found ourselves
all huddled around one piece of paper
If you use smart phones, can the team be disciplined enough to
turn them off?
31. Debriefing continued
Logistics
What did not work well?
No prior planning for how to travel to a destination quickly
i.e. how to secure visas
Client information is managed by the Travel Agent.We need to
collect and store it better
Team Comfort
What worked well?
Team really watched our for each other, always asking on a
personal level if they were ok.Staff welfare also repeatedly
checked in to ask
What did not work well?
Recommend members of the same household not be on the same
incident response team
32. Debriefing continued
Communications
What did not work well?
Email was excellent for logging and tracking information
Media statements developed and stored with appropriate
access
Counseling firm was prepared and ready when we needed them
What did not work well?
When using email to communicate, change the subject line for
each new communication string.
Teach and reconfirm when and how to reply to all
Smart phones cannot access documents via links to internal
systems
33. Final Considerations
How would the situation have been different if we had 40 people
instead of 5 impacted
We would have opened our 1-800 crisis line which we can gate to
certain work areas
We would have struggled with out-of-town schedules, leaving us
with less trained staff
Need more training
We would have established shifts for the incident (not everyone
working the 48 hours all the way through)
Need to establish better communication plan with family
members: establish one family member in which to communicate
We would need more frequent holding statements and media
updates
We recognized two different levels which would change the
situation
Passengers in harms way
Passengers not in harms way
34. Conclusion
Situation was one we considered, but only high level.Need to be
prepared for anything to happen
We had a fortunate outcome.
Care and concern first and foremost
Dont get caught up in power roles or finances
Be prepared with information that is accurate and timely
No incident will fit neatly into your guides and manuals
Common sense is golden
Dont make assumptions ask the questions (even those in your
head ask out loud)