Happy ending for cleaner cheated of dream holiday due to travel agency closure

SINGAPORE — She had scrimped and saved for more than a year for a dream holiday to Hokkaido, only for the tour agency to fold on the day she was supposed to leave.

Now, Christmas has come early for Madam Teo Ino Meo, 68, and her two friends, with budget airline Scoot and travel activities platform Klook banding together to pay for their trip in February or March next year.

A delighted Mdm Teo, who was informed on Friday (Dec 9) that both her friends will also get to go on the sponsored trip, told TODAY in Mandarin that she was “numb with excitement”.

The part-time cleaner who earns S$250 a month had been wracked with guilt over the abrupt closure of Sky Travel and Tours as she had persuaded her friends Mdm Beh Choon Ann, 80, and Mdm Tham Kwang Aw, 70, to join her on the S$2,300 tour to Japan, and “they lost their money too”.

After saving for over a year for the trip, Mdm Teo was all packed up and ready to go when she received an SMS from the travel agency on Monday afternoon that it had closed down.

“I almost got a heart attack when I received the message. I was so angry and confused, how could they run away just like this,” she said.

After reading about her plight in The Straits Times, Klook regional marketing lead Marcus Yong, 29, said: “This is the festive peak travel season where everyone is going away and to have one’s holiday taken away from you like that just isn’t right.”

So the company kicked off a Facebook campaign on Wednesday evening to “find Mdm Teo” to give her a “surprise”. The post was shared almost 5,000 times with the help of local humour site SGAG. Klook tracked down Mdm Teo by 10.30am on Thursday.

On its part, a Scoot spokesman said: “We were heartened by Madam Teo’s hard work in saving up for months to travel to Hokkaido together with her friend, Madam Beh. We were therefore excited to come on board when Klook approached us to fly her to Hokkaido to realise her dream of enjoying a well-deserved vacation there.”

Scoot is also offering a 20 per cent discount on flights to Hokkaido to those registered on the same tour as Mdm Teo. The promotional code SUREFLY is valid till Dec 11.

While the companies initially offered the all-expenses-paid holiday only to Mdm Teo and Mdm Beh, they have since extended it to Mdm Tham after learning that she was part of the travelling party.

Mr Yong said: “Having met Madam Teo and friends this morning, we understand that they were planning the trip together with the common goal of seeing snow for the first time in their lives, and Klook is all about making magical travel moments like this happen.”