Guarenteed departures- what to do when you are the only person booked on a tour but the tour company won't give you a cut off date for cancellation
Well I'm not new to independent travel, but I am rather new to organised tours! I was hoping to travel to Mongolia this August, and given the difficulties of travelling independently there, paid a deposit back in February for what sounded like an excellent tour with Mongolian company 'Discover Mongolia'.
The problem is that it's now mid-June and I'm still the only one booked on the tour. I don't want to book my flights or apply for my visa if the tour is unlikely to go ahead, and get stranded in UB. However 'Discover Mongolia' are insisting that they still have time to attract more people and refuse to give me a 'cut off' date by which they'll make a call either way. I've looked into alternative tour options should they cancel last minute, but none are really floating my boat in the same way, and I'd rather make alternative plans entirely should the tour be cancelled.
So my questions are, in the hope that someone more experienced than me with organised expeditions might be reading:
- in your experience, what are the chances of Discover Mongolia actually managing to fill the tour in time? I.e. Are there really lots of people who book such major trips last minute and am I just an organised control-freak in comparison?
- secondly, how late in the day do companies tend to cancel trips if they haven't got enough people? What sort of notice period should I be expecting?
- and finally, if the tour company offers instead to put me on a different trip apart from the one I booked (which they are making noises about) am I likely to be able to refuse and claim my deposit back? (Checked the terms and conditions on this; no mention of alternative trips...)
Exceedingly grateful in advance for experience shared, advice given, or even people just telling me to chill out and it will all come right in the end! Thanks,
Westie
Reply to this Hello Liz,
You've asked a lot of great questions. In all our travels we've only done two tours. I have several friends who have done them and their experience is the same as mine and the companies generally cancel 30 days out if they are going to cancel but I am certain each company has their own policy. I would ask Discover Mongolia to provide you a written copy of their policy. You say they refuse to give you a date. I would put your request in writing and see if that helps.
On our recent trip to Israel we decided to do a tour and they had to switch us to another tour because the one we signed up for didn't get enough people to sign up. I think an honorable company will offer you a choice of a refund or you taking the other trip. But I'm not certain. The company we booked with gave us the choice. At this point, I would not dwell on the negative. I'm hopeful they will refund your money. If they offer you another itinerary I would be open to the second option.
I would suggest reading as many blogs on this site to see who has done the trip you want independently so you can make decisions about making the plans on your own if the trip is cancelled.
I believe the world is throwing you an opportunity to travel differently than you have traveled in the past. Maybe you are supposed to go without a plan.
You might want to take the Discover Mongolia itinerary and google places to stay in each of those locations. You might have a great time doing this on your own. I would do some research on trains and such.
Good luck. Turn this into a fun adventure!
.....and blog.....love to hear about your trip.
Reply to this In response to: Msg #196898 Hello Liz,
I have been participating in organized tours for a number of years. Well, partly, as I split my trips within many companies to lower the risk factor. But, first, I do the research from Trip Advisor, Lonely Planet as best as I could about the reputation of a company. Regardless, once I pay them in advance, I am kind of at their mercy. But depending on a destination, I have seen they have cancelled a trip 1-2 months prior to my departure, but rarely though. They usually know when they could fill it up and they usually they do, in my experience at least. My suggestion will be, keep on bugging Discover Mongolia asking for a deadline and to put you in a different trip if cancelled. Unless it's offices are in Europe or in North America, getting refund is very difficult. Rather, get an alternate date if they cancel the first one. If you get a refund, as David and Mary Jo suggested, take their itineraries and make your own plan. I have done that too, and that works very well. But your biggest hurdle would be, in my opinion, is to get the refund if they cancel the trip. If possible, keep phoning them along with emails. Let us know, what happened. I will check their website too...if I could figure out something I would let you know.
Reply to this We were traveling in South America and we met a couple who signed up for a tour and no one else signed up. The tour company sent them anyway but the company just put them on day tours organized by other companies. These people were very disappointed, no people to share the experience with. I would drop out before you are stuck on this trip alone or just a few people.
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