Five things to settle before confirming an experience

Almost every problem I have seen arise between the person organising and the person travelling starts from the same place: something taken for granted on one side and understood differently on the other. Almost always it would have been avoided by one more question before confirming.

The five questions

1. How long does it really take, door to door? Not the length of the activity, but the time you leave the property and the time you get back to it. That is the number that changes a day.
2. What is included and what is not? Transport, entry fees, guide, meals, accommodation, activities. And above all the list of what is left out, which is where misunderstandings start.
3. What happens if the weather or the conditions change? Is it moved, replaced, refunded? The answer has to be there beforehand, not improvised on the morning itself.
4. What are the cancellation conditions, for your date and your experience? Not the general rule on the website: the one that applies to you.
5. Who is accompanying you, and how do you contact them on the day? A name, a number, a way of reaching them if something doesn't add up.

The written summary is not a formality

A chat message saying “all fine for Thursday” is not a confirmation. The confirmation is the document where you find availability, itinerary, price, conditions and payment terms, and which you can go back to in two weeks' time when you no longer remember what was said.

If someone is reluctant to put these things in writing, that reluctance is already the information you were after.

None of these five questions is rude. They are the same ones I would ask if I were organising a trip to the other side of the world, and anyone who works seriously is glad to answer them.