Selling Travel 101: Taking Apart a Tour Package
by John Hawks

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Have you ever taken time, though, to look more closely at those tours? The time to really dive into the details of how these trips have been packaged by the tour company?

Some time this month, grab a cup of coffee and your favorite tour operator's latest brochure - and use this checklist to "take apart" some of the packages described there.

The tour operator's background. Let's start with the basics. Can you tell from the brochure where the tour operator is based, and how many offices it has in the field? Does the brochure give you any summary of the company's background, especially how long it's been in business? What does the overall feel and look of the brochure tell you about the company - is this a prosperous business, or does the catalog look as if it were thrown together on someone's kitchen table last week and printed at the local Kinko's?

The "terms and conditions" disclaimers. Trust me - few travelers (or travel agents) ever read the fine print in the typical tour brochure. As a savvy home-based agent, though, you've learned firsthand that there's lot of good information buried in that small type. Start by reviewing the operator's cancellation policies. How close to the tour's departure date can your clients cancel their plans? What is the company's refund policy? Does the tour operator offer trip interruption/delay/cancellation insurance - and, if so, is it self-funded (i.e., not underwritten by an independent insurer)? [Note: You're almost always better off selling independent travel insurance like OSSN's special program designed especially for home-based agents.] Read carefully to see whether these policies differ based on the air and land portions of the trip. Also, check the other fine print (e.g., health information, baggage allowances) for unusual requirements or clauses that could trip up unsuspecting clients down the road. (You should also compare this company's terms and conditions with the rules enforced by competing tour operators. You might be surprised at what you find with a side-by-side comparison.)

The itineraries for the various trips. Don't look solely at the pretty pictures. Add up the amount of time each tour spends traveling between stops (will your clients be on the bus more than on the ground?). Consider the amount of walking involved (how will your older or less mobile clients feel about that?). How much free/leisure time has been built into the trips (that fact alone will tell you whether the tour is better for first-time visitors to those destinations or return visitors who've already seen the basic sights). And, read the itinerary carefully to figure out which towns and cities are actual stops - and which ones are mere bumps on the road as the motorcoach or train speeds past.

The meals and hotels built into each tour. Take words like "luxury," "deluxe," and "upscale" with many grains of salt. One person's "deluxe" is another person's "disappointing." And, check the actual location of the hotels at each stop; if you're sightseeing by bus or car, hotels outside the city center won't be a problem, but you'll have upset clients if they're expected to make their own way back into town from a distant suburb. Regarding the meals, make sure you understand exactly what the tour operator means with abbreviations like "EP," "MAP," etc.

The pricing. Now, we're looking at the bottom-line question: What does the price include - and what's not included? Check carefully to see how the tour operator handles "extras" like airfare (including add-on fares from "secondary" cities), gratuities, taxes, and optional excursions. Also, look for notices about surcharges for things like high-season bookings or single travelers.