Our industry has so managed to confuse the consumer about what it is we do for a living that even something as basic as how we are compensated is generally misunderstood.
One of the hardest things to put in writing are the choices and charges individuals will face when contemplating private vs. group vacation options. I thought I might address this subject by producing a sample letter for an agency to use with clients who request custom arrangements.
This letter is composed of some of the best wording I've seen from successful agency communications. Of course, it would need to be modified by anyone using it. But it does address some of the tough realities of custom travel planning, particularly as it relates to Europe. I hope you find it helpful:
• • •
Dear client,
As a full-service travel firm, we sell cruises, tour packages and escorted tour programs. We also have the rare capability of arranging private tours, utilizing highly qualified English-speaking guides on a worldwide basis.
In the travel business, a custom planned vacation is called an FIT (Foreign Independent Tour). Some clients say this kind of planning is a lost art. One told us we are like "the last doctors who made house calls." But given the range of opportunities to produce dazzling memories, we are pleased to offer this service to our most discriminating clients.
As you consider working with us on your vacation, there are some things we would like you to know so you can be a fully involved participant in the planning process.
Planning fees
We do not charge fees of any kind in conjunction with our cruise and escorted tour arrangements. Our nonrefundable fee for customized private travel arrangements is $_____, which we must receive before any work begins. We want you to know why.
When a tour operator like Ritz Tours, Trafalgar, Tauck or Abercrombie & Kent designs an escorted vacation experience that will appear in their brochure, it normally takes a staff of two or three specialists almost two years, sometimes more, to design, develop and implement the new tour. Hotels must be contacted and rates negotiated, routes must be mapped and evaluated, restaurants must be personally contacted and guides must be selected based on specific criteria.
When our agency plans a personal journey for two or more, each of these same steps must be followed. But we don't have two years to work on the program, and we cannot share the cost among 40 guests. In addition, the vast majority of our custom clients request special arrangements such as cooking lessons, insider shopping opportunities or "closed to the public" cultural experiences.
We send our planning fee to the company overseas that will be handling the details of your vacation. In this way, the planning can begin immediately, since an initial payment for their many hours of work has been made.
The next steps
We will conduct a detailed consultation enabling us to produce a time line and list of inclusions. Hotel/resort types, room types and the amount and type of guided tours desired will be discussed. We will also discuss cost and try to establish an overall budget.
We then finalize everything and send it to the tour operator overseas.
Within two to three weeks, we will have a proposal and cost to show you. Changes can be requested at that time without additional fees. A final proposal is then presented, usually within a week after change requests are received. At that point, a nonrefundable deposit of $_____ is required. (Private villas, private islands, etc., might require different deposits.) Final payment is normally required 90 days prior to your arrival date.
Cost considerations
At this point, it is important that we discuss costs. Although some of our clients are affluent, unless instructed otherwise, we feel it is our duty to control costs wherever possible, without sacrificing the quality of your vacation. The following might be helpful:
• Custom travel arrangements can cost from 40% to 200% more than a group tour offered by a major tour operator.
• In Western Europe, private arrangements including a deluxe hotel, full-day sightseeing with a driver and English-speaking guide, special events, etc., can easily cost upwards of $750 per person per day. Guides who speak fluent English, have university degrees and are registered historians do not come cheap.
• We use only top-rated four- and five-star properties when planning private travel.
• Italy and France are currently the most expensive countries in Western Europe for customized travel arrangements. Greece and Turkey are still good values.
• Significant savings are achieved when two couples share one guide and one automobile. Keep in mind that a couple doing custom arrangements might require the same number of guides and drivers as a tour bus with 40 guests.
• In some countries, such as Italy, registered guides may only lead guests in the city where they live. So, for a day trip out of Florence to Siena, our Florence guide can take you there, but we must also hire a Sienese guide to take you around the city.
• Sometimes, rather than set up a private guided vacation, you would be better served booking local guides on an as-needed basis through your hotel. This is certainly less desirable, but it is also less costly. We utilize the best wholesalers to set up your entire vacation based on net rates for both land and air. We can, in effect, create a wholesale package for you that includes just the basics, transfers, hotels and airfare at a package rate that is lower than the components would cost on their own. For our clients who want the basics on an affordable basis, this is the best strategy. Just ask us for a wholesale package if this is what you would like. There are no planning fees for this kind of vacation.
• You will always receive a price for the entire vacation on a per-person basis. You will also receive a list of everything that is included. You might wonder why you won't receive a breakdown of what each hotel costs, etc. For the answer, imagine walking into any travel agency, picking up any brochure with a tour in it, and asking the agent what each hotel is actually costing the tour company. Your agent would have no way of knowing, because all net hotel rates are proprietary and, by contract, may not be divulged.
All our custom arrangements will be quoted to you as a total trip cost. If, for example, you'd like to reduce the cost of a first proposal, we can advise you about what we recommend eliminating. But we are never given the actual costs the wholesaler is using.
• Our capabilities are worldwide. We can have you making dim sum with the chef in the kitchen of the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. We can have a professor bring the history of ancient Ephesus alive as you walk its main street. We can rent an entire village in Italy for one prominent family. The only limit is your and our own creativity. From honeymoons to multigenerational family reunions, from individuals to groups of friends, our full-service approach and worldwide contacts can produce the best possible custom vacation for your needs.
Sincerely,
• • •
If demystifying the travel booking process is a worthy goal, utilizing portions of the client letter above to outline travel options could be a helpful tool for the leisure consultant. The most important services offered by an experienced agent often address the "How do I do it?" question, rather than "Where should I go?"
Contributing editor Richard Turen owns Churchill and Turen, a vacation-planning firm that has been named to Conde Nast Traveler's list of the World's Top Travel Specialists since the list began. Contact him at [email protected].