One company
Ireland Escorted, Eight Nights
A single operator runs the whole eight days: the coach, every hotel, the guide who stays with the group, and the entries at the places that need booking. One contract for the land, and nothing for you to join up.
| The company | What it owes you | Its own rule if you cancel | What happens if it fails |
|---|---|---|---|
| The tour operator | Eight nights in named hotels, all coach transport, a tour director for the full eight days, local guides at the sites that require one, breakfast daily and about half the dinners, and luggage handling at every hotel | A deposit that stops being refundable early, then a schedule stepping down from the balance date. Putting a different person on the booking is generally allowed until a stated day, against a charge, and that route usually costs less than abandoning it | Departures are cancelled occasionally when a date does not sell. The operator then offers a nearby date or a refund. We will tell you before you book which departures look thin |
What you are actually buying
The removal of about forty small decisions a day: which road, which entrance, which queue, where lunch is. On an eight day trip through a country you do not know, those decisions are most of the tiredness.
What you give up, said plainly: the schedule is not yours, the group waits for nobody, and the hotels are chosen because a coach can reach them rather than because they sit in the middle of a town.
from$2,180per person, two sharing, land only
Split across one company. What each of them charges, and what none of them charges, is on prices. The figure is confirmed in writing before anything is placed.
How we pick between operators
Four things, every time: the published maximum group size rather than the average, how many evenings are left free, where the hotels actually are rather than what they are called, and what the operator does on the afternoon a site closes unexpectedly. The last one is the whole difference between companies.