Choosing a good school tour provider Spark Languages share their tips on choosing the best school tour provider Organising any school trip away from the ‘safe zone’ of the controlled school environment is a challenge. A great way of off-setting both a lot of workload and filling the experience gap is to work with a skilled and experienced tour company. However, like any competitive field of work, there are those companies who are good at tours and should be trusted and those who aren’t so good. So how do you know who to entrust with your tour? It isn’t easy but here are some pointers that will help you to spot the good and the bad tour providers.
Be wary of choosing the ‘cheapest’ It will be tempting to gather multiple quotes and then choose the best offer. However, beware of this approach. Whilst price must be a decision factor in any tour, it should never be the foremost. Quality has a certain price and nine times out of ten a more expensive but quality programme will save in peace of mind, in parental complaints and potentially in the long run in preventing add-on costs. Not to mention it will be more likely to fulfil the set educational purpose of the trip. If a company over-states being the
cheapest, my tip would be steer clear as at best their focus is more on sales than production and at worst they are dangerously cutting too many corners. Saying this you can find bargains but make sure to check the bargain has never come at the expense of a core programme feature. Don’t choose a ‘yes’ company Whilst admittedly when going through the tiring process of organising a trip it can be a relief to have a trip provider always telling you ‘yes’ to your every request, this actually could be indicating something to worry about. ‘Yes’ answers without additional ‘but if’ information may mean you are organising a trip company very willing to promise things but perhaps not so likely to deliver. A good quality trip provider won’t just tell you straight forward ‘yes’ (or ‘no’), rather they tell you honestly about the impacts of requesting additional things, be that on the programme or in adding cost. In short you shouldn’t look for the company that promises perfection, you should rather look for the one who impresses you that they know best how to protect the quality of their core tour features. Ask ‘what if’ questions? ‘What if’ questions are a great way of spotting the difference between a tour provider who knows how to sell a school tour and one who actually knows how to organise and deliver one. You should be giving importance to seeking to find the latter. ‘What if a child falls sick? What if an emergency happens in the accommodation in the middle
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