A
CUSTOM TOUR!... SOUNDS INTERESTING!... BUT, HOW DOES IT WORK? WHO WE ARE 1)
How long
has Circa Tours been in
business? THE CUSTOM TOUR PROCESS 5)
What's the difference between a custom tour
and a scheduled group tour? OTHER QUESTIONS 15)
Who are your typical customers? 1) How long has Circa Tours been in business? Circa Tours was founded in 2002 and is operated by a husband and wife team, Pierre and Carolyn Mainguené. Both are seasoned world travelers (Pierre was born and raised in Brittany, France). We believe in the art of traveling well and in focusing on the discovery of the local culture and heritage. Click here for more about us. [top] 2) What is your area of expertise? We specialize in tours and river cruises in France, Spain and Portugal (we do not offer travel services in any other country). We have traveled to those three countries dozens of times and continue to do so every year, several times a year. Pierre is a Travel-Institute certified France and Spain Specialist. And both Pierre and Carolyn are recognized by the Tourist Office of Portugal as certified Portugal Specialists. [top] 3) How do you choose your partners overseas? We find most of our service providers in France, Spain and Portugal by attending various functions organized by the tourist offices of these countries (familiarization trips, conferences, trade shows, etc.) as well as our own personal travels and encounters. We continually assess these suppliers based on feedback from our clients and recommendations by other travel professionals. [top] 4) Why should I have Circa Tours work on my tour? The Internet offers a wide range of options, including working directly with a travel agent in the country you plan to visit. Although this may appear to be a good way to go, working with a U.S.-based travel company offers substantial advantages: -
The first one is the fact that we're available, in the U.S., to discuss your project
at your convenience. Emails are a great tool, but it is hard to replace a "heart
to heart" telephone conversation. 5) What's the difference between a custom tour and a scheduled group tour? Custom tours are created to fit your specific requirements (interests, budget, schedule, etc.). They are specially designed for you - nobody else. On a custom tour, you start when you want, you go where you want, you stay as long as you want and you take as many day trips as you want. You have total flexibility with your schedule and itinerary. Regular scheduled/package group tours, on the other hand, operate on set dates, schedules and itineraries and are open to anyone. They do not usually offer a lot of flexibility. [top] 6) What do your custom packages include? They normally include the following 4 components: hotel rooms, train tickets, airport transfers and guided tours (day/half-day trips) shared with a group OR escorted by a private guide (the very best way to go!). If needed, we can also include a rental car. We do not sell airline tickets. [top] 7) Can you describe the planning process for a custom tour? Yes, it's easy. Here's a typical scenario: Phase 1- Preliminary Consultation: You give us an outline of your project by filling out the "Tour Wish List" on our website: http://www.circatours.com/Forms/Custom-Tour-Questionnaire.htm. We discuss your goals and expectations by phone and review the various options (no time limit for this conversation - whatever it takes). Phase 2- Tentative Itinerary: We prepare a tentative itinerary based on the ideas exchanged during the preliminary consultation and we give you an estimated price. Click here for an example. Please note! specific hotel names are not provided at this stage. The planning work of the first two phases is free. After phase 2, we require a small good-faith commitment* (usually $100) which will be refunded if you book your tour with us. Phase 3 - Formal Proposal: Upon receipt of your commitment, we prepare a formal quotation based on the budget, the schedule of activities and the category of hotels specified. This proposal includes a detailed itinerary and the names of the hotels for each destination. If you do not like the properties we propose, we change them to your satisfaction. Click here for an example. * Here's why we require a good-faith commitment: Over the years, we have found that many people's primary goal is to use our free consulting services to help them do their own bookings online. This is understandable. So much information is available on the Internet these days!. As you may (or may not) imagine, discussing travel plans, creating custom itineraries and preparing handcrafted proposals is a time-consuming operation. It often takes a day's work (sometimes more) to complete the process. So, taking advantage of our free services is a great arrangement for do-it-yourself travelers. But, for obvious reasons, it is not good business for us. We are happy to offer reasonable amounts of preliminary professional advice at no charge. However, giving away countless hours of expert work is not a sustainable proposition. We must emphasize that this good-faith commitment is not, on your part, a blind leap of faith into the unknown - quite the opposite, in fact. Please remember that before getting to that stage, you have ample opportunities to verify our credentials and test our capabilities (including the equivalent of a "job interview" by phone). If, after doing this due diligence, you have positive feelings about our knowledge and professionalism (and you value expert advice), a small commitment should be acceptable. Also, please remember! Before sending your commitment, you will have received an itinerary and an estimated price from us. In other words, you will know where you will be going, what you will be doing on your trip and approximately how much it will cost (and, as mentioned earlier, the payment will be refunded if you book your tour with us). Is this procedure standard in the travel industry? Well... The current trend, for specialized travel professionals like us, is to charge an up-front, non-refundable consulting fee. As you can see, we don't do that. We feel that our system is more than fair for all parties concerned. (see Question #5 below). Please
note! The above scenario assumes a typical project of somewhere around 10
to 12 days or less, involving two people. For complex assignments (longer duration,
greater number of destinations and more participants) an up-front planning fee
(which will be refunded if you book your tour with us) may be required after our
initial free consultation. [top] 8) Do we need to discuss the project by phone? Yes, absolutely! To do a professional job, we need to know much more than where and when you want to go, and how many people will be with you. We need to have a thorough understanding of your goals, expectations, travel style, likes, dislikes, etc. Emails alone are not a good tool for communicating this kind of in-depth information. [top] 9) Do you charge a planning fee? No. The large amount of information on our website (sample itineraries, highlights, walking tours, etc.) is free. We offer our initial consulting at no charge. We prepare a tentative itinerary and give you an estimate also for free. Once this preliminary work is completed, however, we ask for a small good-faith commitment which will be refunded if you book your tour with us (see #3 above). [top] 10) Can I get an itemized pricing for my package? No. Booking a custom tour is like buying a car (you do not pay for brakes, doors, bumpers, etc. separately). Our programs are offered with an all-inclusive price for the complete package. We do not provide a breakdown of that amount. [top] 11) Can you offer options within my program? Yes, of course. Our goal is to be as accommodating and flexible as possible. [top] 12) Do you offer self-drive packages? Yes and no. We provide self-drive packages/rental cars only if they are part of a larger custom program that includes hotel rooms, train tickets, airport transfers and guided tours. We do not offer "stand-alone" self-drive packages. Your trip must include a minimum of five guided day trips for us to include a rental car in your program. Please note! Since, during a self-drive tour, your exact activities are, by definition, unknown (and serendipity is in fact the primary reason for driving around the countryside on your own), we do not produce a detailed itinerary for that portion of your trip. The "Highlights" published on our website are an excellent reference for this as are the many travel books available. [top] 13) How does the booking and payment process work? It's very simple. You pay us for the complete package. We do all the bookings, make all the on-the-ground reservations and pay each individual provider on your behalf. Since we pre-pay all the suppliers (hotels, guides, day tours, etc.), your payment in full will be due before your departure. Before departure, we will send you the travel documents (hotel reservations, train tickets, etc.) which you will give to each service provider as you go through your itinerary. These vouchers (receipts) give the name of the provider who will be taking care of you, their phone number, etc. They also give your name and a description of the service to be provided. Click here for an example. [top] 14) Sounds expensive. Is there a cheaper way to go? Expensive... not necessarily. Cheaper... maybe, maybe not. You can do the research online if you have the time, and doing the work yourself may give you the feeling of saving a few dollars. But, that may only be an illusion. Please remember: If you go that route you will not benefit from the high level of one-on-one consulting and in-depth expertise we provide (which can also save you money). It all depends on your personal preferences and priorities. [top] 15) Who are your typical customers? We cater to travelers who value expert professional advice and are primarily interested in activities related to the cultural heritage of France, Spain and Portugal (including food and wine). In other words... -
If all you want to do is lie on the beach for a week, you don't really need our
help. 16) How do you go about selecting hotels? This is an important and difficult subject. To choose hotels, we take four primary factors into account. Availability is #1, of course. Then, we look at ratings, price, and location. We consider online ratings important because they provide a reasonably balanced and consistent system of performance measurement. About travelers reviews: In addition to numerical ratings and rankings, online reporting systems usually provide comments written by travelers. Unfortunately, these postings raise very significant issues: - Validity. Some of the reports are fabricated. That's right... completely made up. This is a well-known fact in the industry, but there is no way to know how many are fake and which ones they are. - Bias. Each and every review is, by default, a personal opinion written by an anonymous individual (a complete stranger) who is not subjected to any kind professional standards. It is not the advice of someone you know well and whose opinion you trust. But let's assume, for a minute, that all complaints are genuine. Even in this best possible situation, the following questions always remain unanswered: Were the travelers' expectations reasonable and realistic? (one person's music can be the next person's noise). Did they behave properly? (Many tourists are rude and they are not aware of it. Being overly friendly, jovial and outgoing - as one is inclined to be when on a vacation - is often considered unacceptable in places where people are naturally more formal and reserved). Was the problem described in the review an isolated incident? How frivolous are the accusations? etc. As stated before, the answers to these questions are never available in the reviews. As you can see, the subject of traveler reviews raises many serious doubts and suspicions. So, with all that in mind, we find it difficult to give much credence to individual traveler reviews. Their subjectivity makes many of them misleading. In our opinion, using such unreliable information is a misguided way to go about choosing a hotel. We
believe that the best way to use online reporting systems is to look beyond the
individual reviews and to focus on the overall ratings. This is our standard
practice and this is the best we can do for you when selecting your hotel accommodations.
Since it is all but impossible to find properties with unanimous positive recognition,
all we can do is to offer those with the best ratings. Please note! We recommend 4-star hotels (5-star if your budget allows it) because the quality at that level is generally higher and more consistent than in lower categories. There are well-rated 3-star hotels, of course, but they are harder to find. And, most importantly, the rooms in these lower-category hotels are usually much smaller (often "tiny" by American standards), and you may encounter other unpleasant surprises such as narrow antiquated two-person elevators, small beds, constricted bathrooms, etc. One more comment about hotels... If, before accepting our proposal, you don't like the properties we offer, we change them to your satisfaction. Fair enough? [top] 17) How do you make money? This is a very personal question! But let's try to answer it. As professionals in the travel business, we normally receive preferential pricing from our suppliers overseas (if we do not get discounted prices we add a markup, of course). The arrangements we have with our suppliers are confidential. We assemble the package of hotels, ground transportation and guided tours, and price them as a complete entity. Our pricing method is also confidential. [top] 18) Can I buy my airline ticket from you? We do not sell airfare to individuals. Many people use frequent flier miles and it is very easy (and often cheaper) to buy airline tickets online nowadays. [top] 19) Do I need to buy travel insurance? We highly recommend that you purchase travel insurance to protect your investment in the case of unforeseen problems such as illness, death in the family, strikes (frequent in Europe), volcano eruptions in Iceland (it happened in 2010 and created havoc with air traffic) and many more. Circa Tours offers travel insurance but we do not require that you buy it from us. [top] 20) Do you recommend private walking tours? Private walking tours are wonderful! Here are 10 reasons: 1)
They do not take up a lot of your sightseeing time (2-3 hours) 21) Can you get bullfight tickets for us? Well, getting tickets to a bullfight, as an American tourist, is not as easy as one might think, for several reasons. The first challenge is the fact that performances are not scheduled on a regular basis (except in Madrid) and are usually not announced much ahead of time (even in Madrid). This makes it difficult for most American travelers who usually plan their trips months in advance. The other difficulty is the fact that, in cases of "big-ticket" performances, the names of the matadors are not made public until closer to the date of the performance. With famous matadors, needless to say, prices go up significantly and tickets can be very hard to get. To complicate matters, some of the bullfights are not fought the way we're used to (by matadors on foot and on the ground, using the traditional cape). Instead, in what is called "corrida de rejoneadores," the matadors are on horseback and fight the bull from the horse - not a typical bullfight as one would normally expect! So, getting tickets to a bullfight under such circumstances can be a challenge. However, there is a kind of bullfight where tickets are more readily available: the "novilladas." These performances are with amateur matadors fighting young and smaller bulls. The fees for these fights are lower and the bullring doesn't always fill up. Buying tickets at the bullring on the day of the performance is a viable option in these cases. Therefore,
as a visitor to Spain, on a set and limited schedule, your best bet for a bullfight
is Madrid. At the Las Ventas bullring, they offer performances every Sunday, from
March to October. Seville is another good place for bullfights, but they hold
them in the spring and the fall only (summers are too hot), at the famous Maestranza.
Many other cities around the country also have bullfights but far more sporadically
- usually only during local festivals. Please note! Beginning in 2012, bullfights
will be banned in Catalonia and therefore in Barcelona. Madrid: Seville: Please
note! Ticket prices vary depending on: 1) how high your seat is located in the
bullring (just like theaters) and 2) whether your seat is in the sun or in the
shade (being in the shade - la sombra - is obviously a better location and therefore
more expensive). [top] 22)
Why isn't my question answered here? Good question! If any of the above
is unclear to you or if you need to know more, you can call us at 1-800-906-6117
(U.S. only) or 1-951-676-6117, OR you can email
us. [top] |
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