Updated March 13, 2020 – 7:30PM EST
Hello all,
Since yesterday many of you have heard from either SolSeed or your Retreat Leader regarding our collective options as we look to the future. We kindly ask that you await further communication patiently, and rest assured that we are working tirelessly to do the best by our customers, their wonderful retreat attendees, and our valued partners world-wide.
We apologize if you’ve perceived a reduction in the speed with which we are replying to your many emails, calls, and text messages. We are trying to get back to you all in a timely manner, while balancing the demands of many other time sensitive conversations. Please grant us some leeway during the next couple of weeks.
We are also pleased to be greeting what will ultimately be our final retreat group of the spring tomorrow morning. This will further impair our ability to reply to everyone as quickly as we’d like. Only the highest priority communications will be sent between tonight and Monday afternoon.
Hopefully you all have a terrific weekend. Please keep a close eye out for communications from your retreat leader and us, as some of it is time sensitive, and if we’re asking your opinion, we’d like for it to be heard and duly considered.
Wishing you happiness and good health,
-Ian, Kristin, Janel & Tina
Updated March 12, 2020 – 9:15 EST
Hello all,
This is an email no one wants to send or receive. Clearly, things have truly escalated beyond reason. We are receiving all your emails, and we ask for your patience and compassion as we work through this very complex situation.
We have 15 trips for close to 300 travelers scheduled to leave between this Saturday and the end of May. We will work through these trips chronologically in terms of updates. As such, if your trip is in April or May, then you will be hearing from us after those whose trips begin in March.
Our first round of communication will be with your group leaders, which will be followed by an email detailing the course of action we will take regarding your specific trip.
We are cancelling all trips that have start dates prior to April 11th, given the new travel ban with the EU that was announced last night.
For those of you on trips in the later half of April and in May, if you have a strong preference on whether you’d like to “wait and see” or “cancel now”, please communicate your preference with your group leader, PRIVATELY. We don’t need group email discussions which will certainly degrade into a place of fear and vitriol. Please simply notify them of your personal stance, and be certain that whatever it may be, we will do our best to provide you the outcome you desire without impeding on anyone else’s choice.
Regardless, SolSeed implemented a policy of halting payments to vendors on behalf of our customers as of two weeks ago. This was done in an effort to limit everyone’s financial liability while we watched the situation unfold. As such, no further financial liability has been placed on any travelers, nor will there be while we work through this.
As of this morning, we also began the process of formal discussions with all our various vendors regarding cancellation of all spring retreats. We ask our customers for patience and compassion during this time. SolSeed does not work with any large chains of resorts. The effect of these mass cancellations is going to be very hard on our international partners. It will take us some time to wrap up the necessary conversations, and it is not likely that all our vendors will be able to return us all of our deposits.
Our low-cost, high-value pricing is a result of aggressive terms with vendors, meaning we agree to pay them early and without potential for refund. COVID-19 presents and extenuating circumstance, one which we are going to discuss with every partner, and our ask of them will be the same: patience for the world to settle down and for SolSeed’s renewed loyalty and business partnership; and compassion for all of our customers whose hard earned deposits they now hold.
We will also continue to research travel insurance offerings, and do our best to understand how packages purchased by our customers may help them under these new global conditions. However, we do encourage policy holders to reach out directly to their travel insurance company to start the discussion about opening a claim.
For every person that purchased travel insurance and can make a claim, we ask that you do so, so we can reduce the overall burden on our vendors, and on your fellow travelers.
We are heartbroken that it has come to this. Let us hope that out of these days, we as a global community grow in our capacity for empathy, and for love of one another.
Everyone please stay healthy.
-Ian, Kristin, Janel & Tina