Why TripsGala Does Not Publish Prices

The short answer

TripsGala does not publish prices because no two journeys are alike, and a rate card would describe a holiday nobody is actually taking. You are quoted in writing for your own route, once it has been drafted.

A published figure has to assume a destination, a season, a class of hotel and a head count. Change one of those and the total is wrong by a wide margin, which helps nobody deciding whether to go.

What the number is built from

Six things move it more than anything else.

• Where you go, and in which weeks. Venice in Carnival week and Venice in November are not the same proposition.
• How long you stay. Fixed items such as transfers and a driver spread differently across nine nights than across four.
• How many of you there are, and how the rooms are arranged.
• The standard of accommodation, and how much of the ground transport is private.
• Entry fees, and whether you want someone with you at the sites. A guided morning at the Valley of the Kings in Luxor sits apart from an hour wandering a market.
• How much has to be arranged rather than simply booked: permits, timed entries, a boat held for one afternoon.

Season and distance usually swing the total the most, which is why we ask about timing early.

Why a 'from' price tells you nothing

Hotels and airlines sell the same room and the same seat at different rates in different weeks, and that is standard across the industry. A figure built on the quietest week of the year, the smallest room and two people sharing is technically true and practically useless.

So instead of advertising a floor almost nobody books at, we put real numbers against real travel dates. If a line in the written estimate looks heavier than you expected, you say so, and the itinerary is adjusted before anything is confirmed.

How a real number reaches you

Start with the Soul Compass, a free six-minute set of questions about your mood, needs and travel style. Name where you want to go, or leave that open. Within 48 hours a curator sends the Living Proposal, your personal day-by-day itinerary, with costs set against it. It stays open to changes for eight days, then it locks. Nothing is owed for the questions, and the decision comes after you have read the plan.

What to tell us so the estimate is accurate

Four lines are usually enough to move from a broad range to something you can weigh up:

• The month, or the precise dates if they are already fixed.
• How many travelers, and whether any are children.
• How many nights you can give it.
• Anything already settled: a wedding you are attending, a flight you hold, a hotel you will not leave.

If your timing is movable, say by how much. Shifting a week either side of a school break often changes the total more than any other single choice you make.

Start with the Soul Compass, the free six-minute set of questions, and your own figures follow with the curator's reply.