From the Desk at EF, in Boston, MA.
Travel (group travel in particular) will be a new experience for many of your travelers. It is important from the start to set appropriate expectations so your participants know what to expect.
Itinerary and date flexibility
We coordinate multiple groups at the same time, balancing their requests with available flight and hotel space. Then, we combine small groups into larger ones to fill each tour bus. By making the best use of our tour resources, we’re able to offer all travelers quality programs at our unbeatable prices.
When availability is limited, we may need to transfer your group to a comparable itinerary, or to the tour you’ve selected as your second or third choice. If the new tour’s Program Fee is lower than the original, we’ll refund you the difference. If the new tour is more expensive, you are responsible for the additional amount. Other changes may include reversing and/or modifying the order in which cities are visited, altering the duration of your stay in a city or country or, for flight-related reasons, arranging ground transportation to an alternate gateway.
If we need to shift your departure date, we will make every effort to ensure that the new tour departs within one to two days of the originally requested date for tours departing October through April, and within four days for tours departing May through September.
Hotels
Except where noted, EF uses first-class, superior tourist-class or tourist-class hotels, as defined by the Official Hotel Guide. Hotel rooms abroad are often less modern and standardized than in North America. Each room will have a private bathroom. Here are some other common differences from North American hotels:
Meals
You expect food and eating habits to be different from what they are accustomed to at home. You will be expected to pay for soft drinks, bottled water and other beverages with their meals. Breakfast typically includes cereal, bread or rolls, jam, juice, coffee or tea.
EF walking tours
Many sightseeing tours are on foot, so we will do a lot of walking. Educational tours are generally fast-paced.
Tipping
While all non-discretionary gratuities are included in the EF Program Fee, it is customary to present the tour director and coach driver with a token of appreciation at the conclusion of the tour. We recommend $7 per person per day for the tour director and $3 per person per day for the coach driver. Many group leaders also tip local guides for half-day sightseeing tours. On a full-day excursion, giving a small tip to both the professional local guide and the day’s driver is typical. Tipping,then, totals $10 per person per day. I will collect all tip money from you prior to leaving on tour.
Itinerary and date flexibility
We coordinate multiple groups at the same time, balancing their requests with available flight and hotel space. Then, we combine small groups into larger ones to fill each tour bus. By making the best use of our tour resources, we’re able to offer all travelers quality programs at our unbeatable prices.
When availability is limited, we may need to transfer your group to a comparable itinerary, or to the tour you’ve selected as your second or third choice. If the new tour’s Program Fee is lower than the original, we’ll refund you the difference. If the new tour is more expensive, you are responsible for the additional amount. Other changes may include reversing and/or modifying the order in which cities are visited, altering the duration of your stay in a city or country or, for flight-related reasons, arranging ground transportation to an alternate gateway.
If we need to shift your departure date, we will make every effort to ensure that the new tour departs within one to two days of the originally requested date for tours departing October through April, and within four days for tours departing May through September.
Hotels
Except where noted, EF uses first-class, superior tourist-class or tourist-class hotels, as defined by the Official Hotel Guide. Hotel rooms abroad are often less modern and standardized than in North America. Each room will have a private bathroom. Here are some other common differences from North American hotels:
- In simpler, family-run hotels, the rooms and beds are usually smaller than those in North America and rooms seldom have air conditioning or televisions.
- Some older European hotels do not have elevators.
- Shower pressure tends to be much weaker than in North America and in some countries the shower head may be directly above the toilet or sink.
Meals
You expect food and eating habits to be different from what they are accustomed to at home. You will be expected to pay for soft drinks, bottled water and other beverages with their meals. Breakfast typically includes cereal, bread or rolls, jam, juice, coffee or tea.
EF walking tours
Many sightseeing tours are on foot, so we will do a lot of walking. Educational tours are generally fast-paced.
Tipping
While all non-discretionary gratuities are included in the EF Program Fee, it is customary to present the tour director and coach driver with a token of appreciation at the conclusion of the tour. We recommend $7 per person per day for the tour director and $3 per person per day for the coach driver. Many group leaders also tip local guides for half-day sightseeing tours. On a full-day excursion, giving a small tip to both the professional local guide and the day’s driver is typical. Tipping,then, totals $10 per person per day. I will collect all tip money from you prior to leaving on tour.