Group Organisers Advice for Tour Organisers
Advice for Tour Organisers
1. TRY a Familiarisation tour. It will give you an idea of how our tours operate and what is involved in organising a group. And it could cost you nothing to participate. Click Here for more information
2. DISCUSS your ideas with us. We can help with deciding which destination might be of interest to your potential passengers and which activity might suit your group members. We can help with ideas on itinerary planning; hotel choices; and what to include in the tour.
3. DON'T assume you have to do everything. We will help -Plan the itinerary; choose the hotel standards; price the tour; and handle all the administration of monies. We will provide literature for you to give your potential clients. ALL you have to do is recruit the group members once we have together sorted out an itinerary.
4. IF YOU are going to be the Tour Leader we will provide you with comprehensive notes and documentation - passenger lists, contact details etc. But you do not have to be the Tour Leader; you do not actually have to even go on the tour if you do not want to. We will provide a Tour Leader if you so choose.
5. CHOOSE DATES quite a way ahead. It can take several months to organise and recruit for a tailor-made group. Potential group members may need time to save for their tour; to arrange their holiday time and to make a decision to book. Try to avoid school holidays - if no children are in the group - as costs will be lower and destinations less crowded. Conversely if children are involved in your plans then plan well ahead for school holiday times tend to get booked up.
6. TALK to us about how to sell to your prospective clients. We can help in explaining positive ways to put your itinerary across to your audience and to encourage them to book.
7. GET a deposit from people as soon as you can. It helps them to commit to your programme.
8. ONCE your itinerary is on sale, offer it to anyone you know; not just to the obvious people who you are sure will book. Bookings sometimes come from the most unlikely people who you did not think had the time or the interest to travel with you.
9. TRY local advertising - cost-free, Local newspapers may well run a story on your group if there is anything different or newsworthy about your plans. Similarly local radio stations are often happy to give you air time. We can help with ideas here.
10. REMEMBER you are the catalyst for this project. People will book because they know and trust you. Our literature will help but it is you - not us - that people are really booking with.
11. KEEP your group members and potential group members up to date with emails, giving them news of how the plans for the trip are progressing. It keeps them interested and committed and may encourage them to recruit their friends too.
12. RELAX - you do not have any liability for your group. You are simply recruiting the members. The Tailor-Made Groups Company has the ATOL licence necessary to organise the group tour under the Package Travel Regulations and provides full Financial protection for your group members. AS you do not directly handle the monies involved, you do not have any financial responsibility. All you have to do is recruit the members of the group.
