We are delighted that you have chosen to place your trust in Travelwise International to plan your next vacation. We don’t take that trust lightly and will take great care to ensure that your trip is everything you imagine and more. Planning a vacation is a journey in its own right. Before we start down the path to your trip, it is important that you understand exactly how the process works. We want our relationship to be a long and happy one, so it’s vital that everything is clear from the start. You can view an easy step-by-step guide here. If you have any questions or concerns about anything as we develop your itinerary, please let us know.
What to Expect
Travelwise International recognizes the faith and trust you place in us to plan your travel. We will do our utmost to create and deliver the perfect trip for you. Our standard is to provide you with reliable and personalized service and to make the most of one of your most valuable assets, your leisure time
- We start our discussion by determining exactly what type of vacation you have in mind. A romantic beach getaway? Wine tasting in Europe? Active adventure? A multigenerational gathering? This is where you share your ultimate dreams and desires.
- We listen and provide an outline of ideas that reflect your initial goals.
- Once you decide to engage our services, we gather your required personal information as well as your individual travel preferences to complete your travel profile for this and future trips.
- Now, planning begins in earnest. We build your initial itinerary and share it with you for comments and approval. Based on your feedback, we make updates as necessary. During this phase, we work together to ensure the itinerary is just as you desire while juggling availability, logistics and costs.
- Once your dream itinerary is complete, we will go over the terms and conditions of your trip and collect a deposit. Congratulations, your itinerary is confirmed!
- After final payment is collected, we begin processing your personalized travel documents. This is a folio of all your confirmations, contact information and travel tips, delivered as a hard copy or digitally depending on your preference.
There are a few different ways to confirm your reservation. For example, if you book a full custom tour with us, we will work with one of our valued partners in the country you will be traveling to. Those services will be all-inclusive and pre-paid. But if you call us to secure air and hotel for a quick getaway, a credit card is given to the hotel to hold the space and charge at check out. Your Advisor will go over these details before confirming the space. Below are a couple of notes regarding custom itineraries:
Payment & Pricing- If you are confirming a trip that includes five or more hotels, a commitment deposit will be charged based on the length of the trip. This deposit starts at $250 and will either be applied to your confirmed itinerary or refunded after travel. If you do not confirm the trip, this amount becomes non-refundable.
- When working with a partner, trip costs include everything from hotels to transfers to guides to special events to meals to bank transaction charges to postage – those hard costs that go into planning your vacation. Changes to the itinerary, the number of participants, the dates or any of the details that make up the costs of the trip will affect the price.
- Travelwise International trips may be priced in U.S. dollar or in the currency of the country you are traveling to and are determined on a trip-by-trip basis.
- The payment schedule for custom trips varies by trip, but will typically include a deposit at confirmation, with final payment due 60 days prior to departure. If you are confirming a trip within 60 days of departure, full payment may be required.
- Terms and Conditions will be provided with your initial proposal and in your pre-trip documentation.
- Payments can be made by personal check, bank transfer or credit card (we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover). All initial deposits will be applied to your final payment. If the final payment is not received, Travelwise International reserves the right to release your reservation, assuming that you have canceled your trip. In this instance, standard cancellation fees will apply. However, we will make every attempt to contact you prior to releasing your reservations.
- In the event of dramatic currency fluctuation, Travelwise International reserves the right to re-price trips after they have initially been priced but before the final payment is received.
- The only instance where a non-refundable service fee will be applied is for requests after October 1st for travel during the December holiday season. Again, these will be discussed in your initial consultation.
Timing & Last Minute Requests Without exception, the more advanced notice we have, the faster and easier it is to plan a trip that truly meets your needs and budget. Last-minute requests invariably become more difficult when trying to secure hotels, flights and other services. Travel over the Christmas and New Year holidays or during Spring break require plenty of advanced notice. However, we understand that these things happen and will do our best to accommodate you as best as we can. The Length of the Planning Process We have planned complete trips in less than a week. Other trips take months to plan properly. The process relies on the clarity of your input, our expertise, and the feedback from our partners and suppliers (many of which are in different time zones). We do everything to move things along as efficiently as possible and are committed to processing your request in a timely manner. Why Use a Travel Partner We work with a select group of partners who are on the ground in-country to take care of any questions, concerns or changes you would like to see in your itinerary after you have left home. Our valued partners make your entire time in the country seamless and are available to you 24/7 while you are traveling. Price Breakdowns We do not provide line-item breakdowns of your custom trip costs. There are two reasons for this: Changes to Your Trip We work with a select group of partners who are on the ground in-country to take care of any questions, concerns or changes you would like to see in your itinerary after you have left home. Our valued partners make your entire time in the country seamless and are available to you 24/7 while you are traveling. Trip Cancellation The trip costs are subject to non-negotiable cancellation fees, which will be outlined by your Travel Advisor and in your documentation. If you do cancel, we cannot be held responsible for losses you may incur with third parties, such as airlines or hotels. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you purchase trip cancellation insurance. Travelwise International is an authorized retailer of trip cancellation insurance products offered by Travel Insured Insurance.
