When it comes to multi-day guided tours, there’s a lot of variation—some companies include meals while others don’t, some include activities in the base price and others charge for each outing, and types of accommodations vary a lot by company as well. But there are some things you should expect from every tour, whether it’s a budget tour company or a luxe outfitter.
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If you’re not getting these things from your tour company, consider it a red flag and even potentially a reason to take your business elsewhere.
Clear communication
Every tour company, regardless of how much you pay for a tour, owes you clear communication throughout the tour booking and traveling process. That means being able to reach someone knowledgeable who can answer questions before you book, an easy way to access (increasingly, via an online portal) all your travel documents and a detailed itinerary, and once you’re on the tour, a guide who gives you clear understanding of each day’s activities and is able to answer questions in a knowledgable and friendly way.
Help when things go wrong
Sometimes, things go wrong. Whether it’s missing a flight or twisting an ankle, if it happens as part of a tour, the company should step in to help you navigate the situation. On a recent river cruise, my father-in-law had a fall on an excursion. Immediately, the guide (and some kind and helpful fellow travelers) rushed to his aid, and once back onboard, the ship doctor and the tour director coordinated to help get him to the hospital for the help he needed. When you’re with a tour, you should expect that whether it’s a small or a big problem, you’ll have help solving the issue.
A qualified expert on the ground
In my work with dozens of tour companies, something that strikes me about them is how proud they are about the caliber of guides they work with. Great tour companies hire great guides, and many go the extra mile and have both a guide whose specialty is making sure everything runs smoothly (and who can help people when things aren’t going as planned) plus a local expert who is there to give you an in-depth look into the culture and history—and who will have great recommendations about local restaurants and shopping.
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Safe and (relatively) comfortable transportation
On adventure-minded trips, tour transportation may be more rugged (safari Jeeps, all-wheel vans, and so on), but tour vehicles should always have seatbelts, be in good working order, and make you feel safe and relatively comfortable. And yes, since most transportation is administered by local companies, you may occasionally find a broken seatbelt or a window that rattles, but there should always be enough room on a vehicle that you can always find a seat that’s safe for the journey.
Good local advice
No matter how much research I do in advance of a tour, the best advice I get is always from local guides who have deep knowledge of a place and have a passion for showing travelers the best of their country. As a traveler, though, it’s up to you to engage your guide in conversation and ask them for advice for unstructured time in a destination. If you have a particular hankering, say trying a great causa in Cusco or gelato in Rome, be specific about the advice you’re looking for.
Personalized interactions
I remember being on a tour with a woman who had been an independent traveler well into her 50s, but who had shifted to group travel tours. She told me the reason she had started taking tours was because she had a bad back and wanted to know that if she didn’t show up on the bus in the morning, someone would know to look for her—a comfort she didn’t have when she traveled on her own.
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It’s knowing that you’re far away from home but have someone who knows not just your name but who also looks out for your wellbeing that draws people to tours. And it’s a fair expectation to have about your tour provider, whether you’re in a tour group of 10 or 50.
Follow up after the tour
Good tour companies are always looking for ways to improve, and post-trip surveys are a big part of how they figure out what they’re doing right and what they can do better. If your tour company doesn’t do this sort of outreach—either on the last day of the tour or after via an online survey, consider that strange. But also, check your spam folder, since these types of messages often get routed into junk email folders.
