Choosing a Student Travel Organization
When planning your next class trip for your middle or high school student group you should keep in mind a few important factors when choosing your student travel organization.
Student travel operators should have extensive experience and knowledge of the destination you are looking to travel to. While comparing travel agents to student travel operators, travel agents tend to work with smaller groups and student travel operators work with small-large group sizes. Below you will find some key factors beyond student travel operators knowledge and experience:
Safety
Safety is the most critical aspect. At GO Educational Tours we do a pre-trip safety video call with all the parents and students. We discuss the standard procedures from the bus ride to the hotel and also how our GO Leaders do a daily safety review each day.
GO Educational Tours provides a safety green silicon bracelet with our 24/7 emergency travel number. We've found that this bracelet is more discrete for the students to wear. Other companies may provide name tags or lanyards.
Quality
Quality is a relative term yet we know what it is when we experience a bad trip. Vendor selection for sites, attractions, and restaurants should be judiciously picked.
We believe that meals are an important aspect of an itinerary. We have been told that many larger companies will default to 'voucher' type meals for almost all the meals. At GO, we prefer to offer a sit-down dinner to end each day. Sit-down dinners can encourage student interactions and time for the students to talk about the day’s experience.
Without quality, we feel it lessens the travel experience.
Pricing
At GO Educational Tours, we understand pricing will be a key driver in choosing the right school trip company, but not the only factor. Making school group tours affordable is part of our mission.
Typically, larger companies have heavy overheads and payrolls. Usually, larger companies close sales and request cash early. Our approach at GO Educational Tours is to make sure you have the best pricing that is customized and personalized for your school trip.
When you book a trip with our educational travel company you and your students get:
- 1 FREE Student for each 49 paid (for domestic trips)
- Get a FREE Group picture for each passenger (other companies charge +$10 or more)
- Free Trip Enrollment
- Your students can enroll first and once you have the numbers you can then open the trip to deposits. Don't forget we pioneered the GO Travel Scholarship. Simply refer GO to other organizers and colleagues and get up to $1,000 on your next trip when they book a trip with GO!
Service
Like all sturdy tables, it should have four legs. Service is an important leg. Quality, pricing, and safety will not matter to a trip organizer if you are not served as you wish.
Not all school trip companies will go the extra step. Need a live parent presentation? We will be there and walk you and the parents through the trip. If you are within a few hour’s drive, we'll even drive out to you. There's nothing better than sharing our passion in person!
Our team values each organizer and your time. Have a question about your trip or simply wish to make a few changes here and there? Call us anytime the whole team is here for you! When choosing a student travel organization, we suggest to consider the service you are receiving, the price point, the quality of that price point, and finally the safety of your students.
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