Minimum on a trip

Has anyone ever had a trip canceled because of a low number of booked guests. Our upcoming trip is still showing as “available”. I checked with Tauck and learned that our trip that starts in 4 weeks has only 7 people booked.

Comments

  • Yes, pre Covid, we had a trip cancelled, Tauck called us and offered another date. They offered to pay for any flight changes and so it cost them over $1000 fr the price difference for our business class seats. Then Covid happened and the tour was cancelled anyway. I’ve come across others who have had tours cancelled but Tauck has offerd them generous incentives to change their date.
    People have reported here that tours have gone ahead with as few as 4 people during Covid times. Tauck want to maintain good relationships with their customers. So many things have changed since these Covid times. Iy May also depend on the tour and so on. So I would call Tauck again and express your concerns. Once you have paid for the entirety tour, then it is less likely the tour will be cancelled

  • We depart business class from Newark to Cape Town in 26 days. The trip is paid for. No word on a cancelation. But it seems that a 6 person 12 day tour wouldn’t be good for Tauck. On the other hand, I’d be a lost customer (we’ve had a number of previous Tauck trips) if they cancel at this point for a lack of adequate numbers. We’ve had shots, purchased meds, built our calendars around this, etc.. I hope we go.

  • Your trip will go if it is an AFRICA trip. The groups are smaller in Africa anyway. Wish I could join you. We canceled our tour to that area early in the year because there were no suitable flights at the time we were looking. It had been booked for almost two years.

  • Ours also is a Covid two year holdover. Your Alaska trip will be over in plenty of time to join us. There are still empty business class seats on United Newark direct to Cape Town and Jo-burg back to Newark. You and Mr. B can drive to Newark and fly with the 4 of us. We’ll arrange transportation to the hotel. Look for a driver with a Tauck sign. We’ll have pre-paid him. 😊

  • Mike, Our trip to South Africa in January '22 proceeded as planned with only 8 people! Based on my recent experience, you'll likely go. As well as keeping their customers happy, they probably need to keep up the relationship with their employees and travel partners. It was nice to have only 4 people to a safari vehicle! We flew Chgo to Newark to Capetown. It was a great flight. FIngers crossed your trip is a go!

  • Thanks, KH!! We are excited about the trip.

  • I had booked a trip (Pre-Covid) to Viet Nam/Laos/Cambodia. I knew the trip wasn’t fully booked; I was only told that there were plenty of openings. I was extremely concerned that the trip would be cancelled (I made many calls to Tauck to determine if more reservations had been made). The trip happened with 8 travelers!! It was a great trip!! I have confidence that Tauck will do the right thing!! Safe travels!!

  • I was once told (TA?) that Tauck never cancels trips due to low enrollment. Was I misinformed or did their policy change?

  • You were misinformed, BKMD. As British reported, I also had a land tour canceled because of insufficient bookings. That was a very long time ago and if my memory serves me correctly, the tour was the first one ever offered for that particular itinerary. In typical fashion Tauck was most gracious in having us join a different departure date.

  • I’m guessing that these cancellations were done long before the final 4 weeks before departure. My contact at Tauck says our trip is a “go”. There are 4 in our party. Well, even with the TD that’s only 4 new names to learn. 😊

  • Well you can look at it as though you’re getting a private tour for the price of a group tour! It’s a win win. However, I enjoy meeting people.

  • Mike, would love to join you, we wanted to use Qatar air to go to our Botswana tour. You will have a fantastic time. We have to recover from this Alaska trip before we go to Singapore in early September, shame becaise we are now excellent animal spotters these days😀

  • Mike I only had one couple on my trip last September, it was wonderful almost like a private tour.

  • Gladys, that had to feel pretty special. With these unusually small groups, I wonder if Tauck pays the TD more to make up for lost tips. Assuming we get a good one (always have so far), I’d probably tip extra. Again, it looks as if there will only be 7 of us.

  • I’d like to explore my comment to Gladys above. Our upcoming tour has just a few guests on it. What is your opinion about tipping the TD? Do you think Tauck makes up for the lack of numbers? Would you tip extra, assuming good service of course?

  • We were generous in our tips to the TD we had in France last year when our classic sized group was only 9 travelers. She was the best TD we've ever had and truly made the tour special.

  • If you want to tip extra, then that is up to you. I don’t think Tauck give TD’s extra. They do if it is classed as a Small Group Tour

  • I don't know if Tauck pays the TD extra if there's a much smaller group than expected, how you tip the TD is actually up to you.

  • I was on a Week in Scotland tour in June 2022. We had 7 people in the group. We had a great time.

  • Everyone we have encountered on our pandemic tours are really happy to be working. It will not be possible to compensate for the last minute cancellations, which seem to be routine. We tip at a level appropriate for the service provided, but we don’t try to compensate for the people who are not there. I’m pretty sure the TD’s don’t expect that either. Our last TD is still communicating with me, so I guess we did OK. He got some extra money. By the way, if you are on a trip and need dollars, or Euros, don’t go to a bank, go to your TD.

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