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NEED-TO-KNOW’s BEFORE PLANNING A TOUR:

Tour Planning Misconceptions:

  1. Multi-day "tours" are presented by the tour industry and understood by the traveling public as "travel plans"… but this premise is simply a fallacy!  All tours are always only a component of a greater travel plan… not "the" travel plan!

    The tour industry presents tours this way for exactly one reason… it makes them easier to sell to the public!  As with cruises… tours are sold by tour companies and online tour resellers as "widgets"… not travel services!

    For a travel agent who understands what is behind the "tour curtain", booking a tour is far from being a "click and play" exercise!  For travel professionals like CM TRAVEL 4FUN, booking a multi-day tour if often far more demanding than booking a cruise or vacation (at the same destination)!

    There is a list of reasons why travelers have bad experiences on tours and return home vowing to never take another multi-day tour.  Some of those issues we will discuss later, but for now… let’s discuss why many travelers end up unhappy with touring before they even finish booking their tour!

    The problem:  When a consumer buys a tour believing the tour is a "travel plan", there instantly appears two deep holes into which the consumer’s travel plans (and budget) can be lost:

    (1) Consumers may discover some or all of the air, rail, hotels, transfers, etc. they need at both ends of their tour are not available, or are too expensive to purchase – if they try to book these travel components after their tour has been puchased! 

    (2) Similarly, if the other travel components required to access a tour are booked before the tour itself is booked, consumers may discover the tour they had planned all the other travel around… is now unaffordable, or unavailable on the dates all the other travel components were booked around!

    When either of these events happen, consumers either take a financial hit… or do not travel at all!
     
  2. Each day, more than a thousand different tours are advertised worldwide.  Most travelers who read these tour ads assume these tours are as advertised!

    Specifically, consumers assume advertised tours always:
    > are "real" tours
    > will operate as advertised
    > will always run on the dates advertised

    However, in a growing number of cases, one or more of these assumptions is not true!  

    Fraud is becoming rampant in the tour industry!  Consumers need to vet tours prior-to-purchase – else booking a tour can be a very risky investment!

    CM TRAVEL 4FUN always vets tours prior to booking.  In 2015, during the tour vetting process, the total number of problems we found with tour vendors… exceeded the total number of similar problems we discovered with all other types of travel vendors… combined
     
  3. Most travelers firmly believe if they purchase tours from an established well-known online travel, tour, or cruise company, then the tours they are buying have been vetted.

    In reality, just the opposite is now becoming true!  The growing failure of large online travel retailers to properly vet their tour providers – has become a primary driver in the proliferation of problems with tour fraud!

    In the past, established large online travel companies always carefully vetted tour companies… but that is now changing!  Rather than properly vet tour providers, companies are now changing the "fine print" in their tour purchase contracts… to shift all responsibility of negative tour outcomes to the traveler… meaning the traveler must now recover any losses and damages directly from the tour provider (often impossible for the consumer to do).  Why?  It saves the online travel company money and increases profits!

    But this means consumers are now unknowingly buying tours from these companies on a "buyer beware" basis!

Not only does CM TRAVEL 4FUN pre-vet all tours it books for clients, but in the event of a tour loss claim… CM TRAVEL 4FUN will always be there for the client… and will follow up with the vendor in support of the client (to help insure such a claim is fairly resolved)!

Other common issues encountered by tour travelers:

  • Unreliable, uninsured, unlicensed, and/or unsafe tour companies.
  • Hidden entry fees, taxes, and other expenses associated with a tour.
  • Tour destination (or itinerary) health, safety, and security issues.
  • Tour accommodation issues including size, quality, safety, and security.
  • Hidden charges for supplies or equipment the traveler assumes to be included with the tour.
  • Reliable access to emergency medical care while on the tour.
  • Tour vehicle (other equipment?) condition, reliability and safety concerns.
  • Age, health, and mobility requirements that are not pre-defined for a tour.
  • Insect, disease, or other health exposures associated with the tour.
  • Poorly trained, unlicensed, or inexperienced tour guides.
  • Tour guide(s) with poor or no English language skills.

Given the above information… consider:

  • Why "hope" your expensive tour travel plan investment ends well… when the CM TRAVEL 4FUN tour vetting assures 99%+ happy outcomes?
  • Why worry about unexpected problems with a tour when, in the event of an emergency, you have the support of your CM TRAVEL 4FUN agent (a level of support no other travel, cruise or tour company will provide)?

CM TRAVEL 4FUN Tours:

  • are price competitive, client matched, reliable, and safe.
  • include traveler education and advisories about the tour to best insure safe and secure outcomes.
  • are integrated and connect flawlessly with other travel components in every CM TRAVEL 4FUN travel plan.
  • offer more choices and customization options than other travel companies. 
  • save the traveler significant time otherwise spent researching, vetting, and booking their own tours.

Using CM TRAVEL 4FUN to plan and arrange your tours "is just good sense!"


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