Hurricane Beryl leaves more than destruction in its wake

Hurricane Beryl tore through the Caribbean last week, wreaking havoc not just on some islands, but on travelers’ plans.

Barbados was largely spared, with structural damage isolated to the southwest shores. Grantley Adams Airport reopened the day after the storm passed, while the cruise terminal at the Bridgetown Port had minimal damage and reopened last week. However, Grenada’s sister islands Carriacou and Petite Martinique, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Union Island suffered nearly complete devastation.

Cayman Islands saw minimal damage. In Jamaica, the primary tourist and resort areas were spared the damage that southern parishes saw.

“We are grateful that there has been no wide-scale impact to our general tourism infrastructure and our tourism industry is fully operational,” said Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s minister of tourism.

As of last week, Pleasant Holidays had 230 travelers mid-trip in the Caribbean in Jamaica, St. Lucia and Barbados, said CEO Jack Richards.

One of the biggest challenges during a storm is communication between advisors and clients. Cellphone towers, internet service and electrical grids can likely be down, so it makes it difficult, if not impossible, to contact clients by phone or email. 

“Our travel support team assists these travelers with hotel extensions, flight changes, airport transfers and other services,” Richards said. “We maintain contact with the resort regarding cancellation waivers and similar [tasks]. We are also in contact with our ground operators, airlines and tourist boards to get accurate information we can communicate to travel advisors and their clients. Once the storm passes, we try to get travelers to the airport as soon as possible for the trip home.”

In the meantime, if flights are suspended, travelers must remain at the resort, which may involve extending their stay at an additional cost and moving into a room with fewer windows. That’s what Richards faced in 2019, when Hurricane Humberto skirted eastern portions of the Bahamas while he was staying at the Sandals Emerald Bay, on Great Exuma.

“High winds, floods and debris are the largest risks, so I moved into a room away from the beach, brought all patio furniture inside to avoid flying debris and closed the blinds,” Richards said. “Clients can also be moved into a grand ballroom at the resort for safety reasons and daily briefings from the hotel staff.”

For this, among other reasons, Pleasant Holidays’ Cancel for Any Reason coverage is a popular sell for trips to the Caribbean during the hurricane season June through November, Richards said.

Kristen Steuber, owner and director of supplier relations of Steuber Travel Group, said it can be a struggle to get clients to understand the importance of travel insurance, particularly with younger travelers who “may never have felt the financial impact of a trip that is interrupted or canceled.”

“We strongly encourage our clients to purchase travel insurance if they are traveling to the Caribbean or Mexico during hurricane season,” Steuber said. “This will be key in the event the destination to which they are traveling is inaccessible or uninhabitable or there is a delay or interruption to their trip due to a hurricane.”

While most tropical cyclone activity occurs mid-August through mid-October, Hurricane Beryl made landfall on July 1. The phenomenon known as rapid intensification made it a concern, Richards said. Hurricane Beryl’s wind speeds doubled from 65 mph to 130 mph in one day. It broke several records, including being the first Category 4 or 5 storm in the Atlantic Ocean in June and the most rapid intensification of a hurricane before Sept. 1.