Questions You Should Ask Every Travel Company
Experience
1. How long have you been in the business and how many travelers do you take care of each year?
We have been in business for 7 years and last year we had about 200 clients on our tours in
Spain (not counting our tours in the rest of Europe) of which a little over half on our guided
tours.
2. Who will be my key contact person in your organization? How long have they been in the
travel industry and what is their background?
Pablo Muñoz with 12 years in the travel industry, he comes from the field of Marketing. He is
supported by Sjoukje (leaving March 2012) and Tamara (3 years in the tourism industry.
3. Who are the principals of the company and what is their background?
Pablo, see above
4. Can you provide past client references? Check out the company’s references. Travel companies
are no different from any other business. So if you’re unfamiliar with the prospective company,
check out their references. Check to see if they’re a reputable business, pay their bills on time,
and have been around long enough to trust.
References are on their way!
Financial Strength
1. What assurances do you provide to protect the traveler’s investment?
a. Can you supply business and banking references?
b. Can you provide a list of your company’s travel industry memberships and affiliations?
Check out the company’s memberships and affiliations. Active memberships in
business, trade and governmental programs do not confer any assurance of a company’s
financial health (none presently perform financial audits). However, long-standing
memberships in some of the more established organizations do represent some level of
security, since the unscrupulous companies are eventually tossed out.
c. Is your company a participant in a seller of travel/consumer protection program?
I am not sure how to answer this question! I don’t have access to banking references, you’d
have to talk to Pablo about that. However, I can tell you that, despite the economic climate in
Spain right now, tourism has gone up 8% in Madrid this year and we noticed this! We are
continuing to steadily grow, and keep investing in our company, buying a new fleet of bikes as
we speak and a new van is planned for in 2012. Also, we added a full time staff member to our
crew in 2011.
Operations
1. How is the educational component delivered on your tours?
Our guides are highly knowledgeable about bikes and biking, but also about the culture and
gastronomy of each area that we cover in our tours. They will make sure that you will get all
the inside information that you need to complete your educational needs!
2. What is the typical caliber of your leaders? Can you provide leader references?
Young, and good in shape (on some tours, a guide cycles along with the group), intelligent and
with great people skills. Please refer to the other references.
3. What type of educational materials do you provide travelers prior to departure?
We provide a detailed PDF document with in depth information about tour preparation and
interesting information about the areas to be visited (cultural info, food, wines, etc).
4. Does your company subcontract for services in the field? If so, what are the credentials of your
subcontractor(s)?
For our guided tours we don’t, except for hotels. In exceptional occasions we might hire a
larger bus, for example but all of our other services are in-house.
5. What type of experience does your guides/field staff have? What type of certifications,
qualifications, training, etc. do they have?
They have cpr, first aid, emergency procedures and years of experience.
6. Do you provide in-house air ticketing services?
Yes, but not for large groups.
7. Do you have a risk management plan?
a. Do you have 24-hour on call operations staff?
Yes
b. Does your field staff carry radios, phones, etc.?
Radios depending on the type of tour, mobile phones always.
c. Do you provide 24-hour on call physician staffed medical assistance and evacuation
coverage for every trip participant?
The guide is always there to assist in case of an emergency. If travelers contract
insurance, they are available 24h.
d. Do you have a formal medical policy concerning the screening of prospective trip
members?
No
e. Do you have a policy concerning medical care delivered during a trip and the usage of
certain types of medical equipment (e.g., Gamov hyperbaric bags fir trips going to
altitude)? What kinds of health education materials do you provide each traveler?
No, hasn’t been necessary thus far. We have a first aid kit on board of our vans.
8. Do you have a social and environmental business practices operating policy?
No
9. What materials and guidelines do you provide for your clients, either prior to departure or
during the trip, to help them minimize the environmental and cultural impact of their visit?
We expect our clients to use their common sense (aka not throw trash into nature) and we do
the same. We have noticed over the year though that cyclists usually are very environmentally
aware and we have never needed to be ‘strict’ about this.
10. How do you monitor the operations of your in-country operators regarding their environmental
and cultural practices?
By teaching and training them well, and through feedback from our clients.
11. Does your company encourage travelers to become personally involved in the
conservation/preservation of the areas they visit? If so how?
No
12. What are the main obstacles that you find in minimizing the environmental impact of your
business?
We’d need vans that ride on electricity! Other than that, the tours already are very
environmentally friendly.
13. What environmental issues do you currently face with your tours, or in the areas that you visit?
None
Marketing Support
1. Can you offer assistance in the development of marketing and advertising materials
(copywriting, design, artwork/photography, production and printing)?
You can use the info on our web and we can send you photographs to market the tours.
2. Are you available to make presentations for constituent events/seminars?
Please fly me in 
Insurance/Legal
1. Do you have a pro-forma letter of agreement or memorandum of understanding?
2. What are your terms and conditions? What are your terms in the event of a Department of State
advisory/warning?
3. What are the upper limits of your liability insurance coverage?
4. Can you add our organization as an additional insured to your policy?
5. How detailed is your Limitation of Liability and Assumption of Risk statement? Can you add
our organization to this form?