Have you ever thought about the number of arrangements you, as a highly respected travel consultant, must manage to weave together seamlessly in order to create the perfect trip experience? I have, and I am thoroughly impressed.

In the midst of booking a private air charter for four, or a three-month world cruise for two, or a month-long river cruise/private tour combo for a family of 20, or a 10-day private hot air ballooning over castles in France for 12, or a two-week exotic deep sea dive on Lizard Island for eight, you will find the travel consultant.

Incredibly enough, 99 percent of the time you manage to arrange this bespoke travel perfectly, particularly, promptly and with love for your profession and for your clients time and time again.

Ahhh, I've embarrassed you. You're blushing! Let's just agree that you accomplish "world wonders" when you're booking your world wonders. However, inevitably, there will be those menacing, little (and big), unexpected situations that unfortunately occur.

Did you see them coming? Probably not, otherwise, you would have headed them off at the pass. Were they within your control? Likely not, because when you're in control, most often, all goes well. Did you fix them quickly? As fast as Superman caught Lois. Was that fast enough for your client? Probably not. Did you make the best effort to apologize, correct, compensate, etc.? I'm certain of it.

So what do we "experts" do when things go awry and we are left standing with one main goal in mind — how to keep our hard-earned, much-loved clients, as well as our sanity and self-respect? Sometimes it's one or the other.

Catering to Ms. NOW

Here's a true story about a client I'll refer to as "Ms. NOW." She was a lovely, high-end client who — over a time frame of six months — I booked over $200,000 in luxury cruises, fine hotels, private transfers, hair appointments, manicures and more. I request soft, lightly-feathered bed pillows for her, confirmed that she had received the exact measurements of the luggage requirements on all of her flights, noted the ever-changing pitch of her first-class seats, etc.

She was a little challenging, to say the least, but the truth is we enjoyed working together. It was an agent/client marriage made in heaven until ...

Her cruise documents, which I had asked the cruise company to FedEx to me to forward were sent directly to her by regular mail and floated about for more than three weeks' time, arriving when she wasn't at her main residence to her "great disappointment." Next, the airline canceled the flight she and her husband were planning to take to her husband's daughter's wedding on the day they disembarked from their Alaskan cruise. The rebook options were slim to none.

"Get me some alternatives NOW," she texted (in all caps). The problem was that there was nothing now. The only other flight departed too early, the train the cruise line offered got her to the airport too late, and the private transfer was "privately expensive." She was "not happy," and I was in shock. Fate had thrown us a curveball.

In the midst of this booking frenzy — agents, you'll appreciate this — the airline replaced the flight she was originally on. We rebooked her, and the storm subsided. But Ms. NOW never did. While on her cruise, she booked onboard without me.

I sighed for a moment, then quickly decided I'd rather be completely in love than just a little. I had been the most attentive agent I could possibly be, and loyalty was simply not one of Ms. NOW's attributes, which had much more to do with her decision to book without me than anything else, I'm sure of it.

Off she sailed into the sunset. If I sound miffed, it's because I am. After my serious commitment to excellence, a circumstance that was out of my control lost me a big client. But that snafu hadn't happened, it would have been something else in the near future. C'est la vie.

On a daily basis, my happiness takes precedence, as should yours. Off I went to my next booking, to my next complimentary upgrade, to my next complimentary surprise gifts. If Ms. NOW ever encounters another agent who cares for her travel like I did, I will be very impressed.

Helping Ms. Lovely

One more to share: About a year ago, I booked Ms. Lovely, her husband and another couple on a luxurious Mediterranean cruise — private transfers, fine hotels, private tours, complimentary upgrades in the hotels, welcome gifts in the hotels, shipboard credits and thoughtful gifts in the cabin on their cruise. She emailed me her thanks daily while enjoying the Med to the max.

Two days before she was to fly home from Rome to Atlanta, I confirmed her air reservation. "Seats assigned, frequent flyer numbers in the record, flight is on schedule," the airline rep smiled through the phone.

All was perfect, until about midnight on a Friday night. The phone rang, and I heard Ms. Lovely's trembling voice telling me that the airline had advised her that no ticket numbers existed in their booking and they had to buy new tickets (approx $10,000) to fly home in business class. Of course, I firmly advised her to stand by and assured her I would fix this immediately.

I made the usual calls, but no one of proper authority to help was manning the airline's emergency desks . Ultimately, she was forced to purchase new tickets, barely made her flight to New York. Though I tried all night long to reach an airline rep who could be of help, she and her husband again had to buy new tickets to ultimately get home to Atlanta.

This was a crushing blow to my professional ego, reputation and already broken heart. I was devastated. For a moment, I seriously considered never booking again.

I am pleased, proud and ever grateful to Ms. Lovely and her husband who understood completely that this was an unfortunate and rare problem that was simply not within my realm of control. Though I confirmed their air on the outbound, which went perfectly and confirmed their air on their return, no one ever noticed that there was a problem with ticket numbers.

Responsibility for the error is yet to be decided, but in the interim Ms. Lovely received a hefty cruise credit from the cruise line, and I plan to gift her and her husband gorgeously on their next trip as I immensely appreciate their understanding and loyalty, which remained unshakably steadfast in the throes of such a travel nightmare. Saga over, client and self-respect intact.

What we can learn

What can you take away from these two examples?

You're never the only person involved in creating your bookings. We can work forever making sure our clients' travel is streamlined, and still end up in an unsavory position. That is not always your fault, and rarely is it your fault alone.

Even though we work with the best partners in the business, they are human, too. Like all of us, they can make an occasional mistake. Be kind to one another when the world turns from rosy to red. You'll get past the problem faster and move on to another beautiful booking experience.

Never forget, you can't do any better than the best you can do, and you're quite accomplished at what you do. Take pride in your expertise and keep on booking.

Loyalty is a special trait. If you're lucky enough to have loyal clients, you deserve them. But, if they choose to wave goodbye, just wave back. If you're not appreciated in good times and bad, it feels good to make that choice.

Loyalty deserves rewarding. We know we will work profusely to compensate our VIP loyal clients when need be. Accept that you are a caring, responsible agent to the very end of each and every booking, and never feel guilty or unprofessional when the world spins out a bit.

Mistakes will always happen, it's how we address them that's most meaningful — personally and professionally.